Dolly Parton's America: Sad Ass Songs

Radiolab is revisiting an episode from its 2017 series Dolly Parton's America, made in the wake of the singer's death. The episode digs into Dolly's early "sad ass songs," arguing they quietly told stories of female pain, slut-shaming, and domestic violence years ahead of their time. As the reporters tell it, Dolly took the old Appalachian murder ballad — traditionally sung from a man's point of view about killing a woman — and flipped it to the woman's perspective. The episode traces how her later songs moved from depicting that pain toward stories of women leaving abuse behind.

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