Ain’t Nobody’s Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton by Martha Ackmann — a larger-than-life biography of an American original.
From an impoverished childhood in the Smoky Mountains to international stardom as a singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, and philanthropist, Dolly Parton has exceeded nearly everyone’s expectations — except her own.
Martha Ackmann traces the social, historical, and personal forces that shaped her: the hardscrabble family life, the leap to Nashville, the years with Porter Wagoner, the decision to keep the rights to “I Will Always Love You,” the building of Dollywood, the Imagination Library, and a late-career return to bluegrass that renewed her artistry. The book also follows the costs of that ambition — industry resistance, lawsuits, exhaustion, and depression — and the grit that brought her back.
Drawn from interviews with friends, family, schoolmates, band members, studio musicians, producers, and Nashville neighbors, and illustrated with previously unseen photographs and documents, Ain’t Nobody’s Fool goes deeper than rhinestones and catchy hooks. It is a portrait of a woman who always knew who she was.
Dolly Parton ain’t nobody’s fool. This biography shows why.
