In this episode, we go back up the mountain to visit Dolly’s actual Tennessee mountain home. But, can you ever go home again? Dolly tells us stories about her first trips out of the holler, and shares with us where she lives now. Back on the mountaintop, standing under the rain by the Little Pigeon River, the trip triggers memories of Jad’s first visit to his father's childhood home, and opens the gateway to dizzying stories of music and migration.
Listener supported WNYC Studios do you remember the first time you left home or left?
Well, the first trip I ever made about my music and the first trip I ever made.
I was young.
I was little then.
12, 11 was to go to Lake Charles, Louisiana, from Knoxville.
You know, it was a long trip.
They put us on a bus.
Do you remember how that felt to be on that bus?
Yeah, it felt well.
I like the wheels.
I remember loving the motion.
So there was the studio there, and so Uncle Bill thought I should come down there and make a record.
And, oh, I saw Spanish Moss for the first time.
I thought it was the strangest, most wonderful, mysterious thing I'd ever seen.
Cause it was so different, you know, that swamp and those cypress trees and the drive.
I just remember that's the first time I ever seen, like, the sand and the beach and the ocean.
First true love, too.
It was my first record.
And I got a crush on Johnny.
Little Johnny.