If the state of the world has you down, here’s a reprieve, two interviews with the great Dolly Parton.  The first is my extended interview with her, 13 years ago about her Imagination Library; the second piece is my report for the NewsHour, also from 2013.

During my 41 years in journalism, I interviewed or spent time with a lot of charismatic people, and no one, not even Bill Clinton, came close to Dolly.  She had the gift of magnetic intensity–100% positive–that made the interviewer feel as if this conversation was, for her, the most important one she was ever going to have, ever!  And there was nothing contrived about it.  She listened to the questions with 100% concentration and then answered directly and thoughtfully.  I’m sure she had been asked my questions hundreds of times, maybe thousands, but she answered as if this was the first time.  

I spent maybe 30 minutes or so with her, that’s all, but I can tell you that all the wonderful things that have been said about her, and are now being said, believe them….