“Dolly Parton’s Dreambox,” on The Atlas Obscura Podcast, features an interview with Lydia Hamessley, the Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Music.
Hamessley shared some of her vast knowledge of Dolly Parton’s life and music, from childhood to superstar, in an episode about Parton’s Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
Also discussed was the “Dream Box” – or time capsule – on display at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort. Though some of the contents of the Dream Box have been made public, at least one of its contents has not – a secret “last song” that will only be heard when the box is opened on Parton’s 100th birthday, Jan. 19, 2046.
When asked about what she thought that song might be like, Hamessley said, “I wouldn’t dare predict what she has done because she can always surprise me,” but added that she hopes it would be “a song that really harkens back to her mountain roots.”
