'Music is a great connector': How Dolly Parton became one of the world's best-loved stars

Apart from her songwriting prowess, the singer – who has died aged 80 – gave little away about her private life, and presented an almost cartoonish public image. We examine her enduring appeal. I witnessed the Dolly effect first-hand at the Glastonbury Festival in 2014, when she drew one of the biggest crowds in the event's history. It was an achievement made all the more remarkable by the fact that only two of the songs she recorded – Jolene and the Kenny Rogers duet Islands in the Stream – have ever made the UK Top 40. Throw in the floor-filling 9 to 5, and the showstopping I Will Always Love You, and she still has just four undeniably famous songs in her vast catalogue: far fewer than Kylie Minogue, Barry Gibb or other artists to have played the Sunday afternoon legend slot. Her between-song patter, polished to a high shine, was the primary source of delight. Festival-goers enjoyed the music but they loved the person even more. Parton's fame used to have two distinct lanes. One was musical. As a writer and performer, she sits at country music's top table with Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. She could play around 20 instruments, including the fiddle, dulcimer, mandolin and pan-flu