For former Tennessee Governors Phil Bredesen and Bill Haslam, Dolly Parton was more than a Tennessee icon. She was a friend, a partner in serving the state and a rare example of someone who could take a stand without pushing people away.
In a special episode of You Might Be Right, the governors remember Parton through the moments they shared with her and the qualities that made her one of Tennessee’s most beloved figures.
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Governor Bredesen recalls Parton’s humility, her instinct to accept people without judgment and their work together to put books in the hands of Tennessee children through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Governor Haslam shares memories from his own time working with Parton, including her ability to laugh at herself, her sharp instincts as a businesswoman and the generosity she continued to show her home state even after achieving global success.
Their stories also reveal something harder to define about Parton: her ability to connect with people across backgrounds, beliefs and political differences without losing a strong sense of who she was.
It is a quality that brings the governors back to a question at the heart of You Might Be Right: What can we learn from people who bring others together?
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