When beloved country music superstar, actress and philanthropist Dolly Parton died on Aug. 25, fans across the world mourned the loss of an artist known for powerful hit songs, big hair, and outfits that were as sparkly as her personality. This week, a local musician is bringing that reverence for Parton to the Pioneer Valley.
Local singer-songwriter Naomi Nye will host a singalong of Dolly Parton’s music at Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity on Friday, Oct. 23, at 8 p.m., joined by Lexi Weege, Sandy Bailey, and a house band, with music direction by Ryan Hommel.
“It’s gonna be such a great time for anyone who comes. … I’m really hoping we can fill the room and have a nice, loud celebration,” Nye said.
The setlist for the show will include some of Parton’s biggest hits, including “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” and “9 to 5,” as well as songs like “Love Is Like a Butterfly” and “My Tennessee Mountain Home.” If you don’t know all of the lyrics, don’t worry. The venue will provide printed lyrics in a program, and they may also project them, Nye said.
Parton wrote thousands of songs (for herself and other artists) in her lifetime — as many as 5,000, by her own estimate. At a recent rehearsal, Nye and the other musicians were talking about the singalong setlist: “We’re mentioning all the songs we are not doing, and we’re like, ‘We should just do a Dolly singalong every month for a couple of years so we can get into all the good ones!” Nye said with a laugh.
The show will also feature two special guests: Ray Dumont, the new executive director of the Academy of Music in Northampton; and John Losito, operations manager at Bombyx and a musician himself. Dumont will be singing a duet with Nye, which she said would be “a fun way to welcome him to the music scene and introduce the music scene to him.” Losito’s appearance, she added, is likewise special because “it’s always nice when the people doing the work of a venue get to step onto [the] stage.”
Nye is relatively new to Parton’s music because she grew up in a strict religious household. She discovered Parton as a young adult: “Her voice is just incredible, and her songs are really magical and lively,” she said. Her sister-in-law grew up near Parton’s hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee, so she told Nye about Parton’s work, her early life in a poor mountain household, and “how much more she is than ‘Jolene.’”
When Nye and her children listened to a podcast episode about Parton’s life story, though, she “really locked in,” she said, and thought, “Wow, this is someone I really, really want to be emulating in life.” She resonated with Parton’s “attitude of embracing herself and her situation and always moving with love and kindness, but not holding herself back from shining and being amazing.”
“It is sort of a newer thing for me to be an expansive version of myself instead of making myself smaller, and I just think she lives that so loud and in such a beautiful way,” Nye said.
When Nye spoke to the Gazette a few days before the show, she hadn’t yet decided what her outfit would be, but she said it would likely feature pink, Parton’s signature color and a color Nye herself loves, too. She wasn’t sure if she was going to wear a wig — she has curly blonde hair of her own, but it’s “not quite Dolly,” she said — but she knew she wanted her look to be “something that feels like the Naomi version of Dolly Parton fabulous.”
This singalong isn’t just a celebration of Parton’s music: it’s also a fundraiser. All proceeds after expenses will be donated to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which provides free books to children from birth until the age of five.
“I think a Dolly Parton singalong is gonna be a feel-good event for anyone who goes,” Nye said, “and so, to know that we can also push that impact further and think of the generation of kids growing up, and the importance that they have access to books … [it will] continue Dolly’s legacy.”
Tickets are $30 general admission or $15 Card to Culture at bombyx.ludus.com.
