[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 189 (Tuesday, December 6, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6994-S6995]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO DOLLY PARTON

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, on November 5, the Rock and Roll 
Hall of Fame honored Dolly Parton as part of their 2022 class of 
inductees. Anyone familiar with Dolly's path to official ``rock star'' 
status will remember that, when she discovered the Rock Hall was 
considering her for a nomination, she declined. She told them she felt 
she hadn't earned the right to say yes.
  Never has such universal outrage sprung from such universal 
admiration. Country fans had no time for humility. Rock fans weren't 
having it either--although, to be fair, humility and rock `n' roll go 
together like oil and water. Even people who aren't fans of Dolly's 
music said that surely she was worthy of any honor bestowed by an 
organization whose mission is to ``engage, teach, and inspire through 
the power of rock & roll.''
  By my estimation, this may have been the first time in history that a 
debate over a nominee to the Rock Hall has not devolved into a debate 
over what rock and roll is and who should and should not attempt to 
create it. I will not attempt to define it here today, but suffice it 
to say that, in six decades and over the course of more than 50 studio 
albums and 3,000 songs, Dolly discovered the genre's secrets and 
mastered them all.
  Twenty years ago, Dolly famously mused, ``If somebody said, `You're

[[Page S6995]]

going to have to do one or the other. You're going to have to give up 
your music or you're going to go back to being poor,' I would go poor, 
totally broke, and start over and do my music. That's how much I love 
it.''
  On behalf of all Tennesseans, I thank you, Dolly, for giving so much 
of yourself to us. The world is a better and richer place because of 
your music, and we love you for it.

                          ____________________