Dorothy

As the beloved “Dreamer in Chief” at Dollywood, the country legend — who passed away at 80 Tuesday — drew millions to the formerly depressed rural area to enjoy a one-of-kind and down-home experience she personally curated.

Parton died on Tuesday and even as an octogenarian, she was remarkably youthful in both appearance and vigor. She of course wore heavy makeup and over the years was candid about undergoing various cosmetic surgeries and procedures. She told the BBC in 2019 that she stays “looking so young” with the work of “good lighting, good doctors and good makeup.” That’s the life of a celebrity entertainer that the average person can’t realistically match, but it’s worth noting that unlike many other figures of Parton’s stature, she didn’t pluck and tuck her face or body unrecognizable in some ill-fated attempt to achieve the eternal appearance of a hot 20-something.

How did Dolly, a rags-to-riches country music superstar with a Tennessee twang and bedazzled everything, manage to endear herself to Americans of every political stripe?

Her ability to project radical kindness without sounding naïve, and to address moral questions without looking partisan, inspired near-universal adoration at a time when Americans can agree on virtually nothing and no one else. And her strategic ambiguity around both her personal life and her political views allowed everyone from Christian conservatives to New York City gays to claim her as their personal representative.

Parton died at the age of 80 on Tuesday in Nashville after a "brief battle" with cancer, according to her publicist.

There’s a reason for that. Dolly Parton coded country. She coded Christian. She coded optimism. She coded entertainment.

President Donald Trump reacted to news of Dolly Parton’s death by claiming that the country music icon secretly “really liked me” and that her death feels like losing “a member of the family.”