Friends of Dolly Parton know that the country singer’s preferred method of communication is rather unconventional. The music icon is a self-proclaimed “low-tech girl in a high-tech world,” opting not to text on her cellphone.
Why Doesn’t Dolly Parton Text?
Dolly dropped the bombshell about not enjoying texting during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show.
“I don’t want to talk to everybody that wants to talk to me,” she admitted during the episode to host Drew Barrymore on November 27, 2023. “I don’t text because I don’t want to have to answer.”
The “9 to 5” singer is also very selective with the phone calls she answers.
“If somebody calls me, I’ll answer if I want to talk to them or I’ll call them back when I can,” Dolly continued. “Otherwise, I got too much to think about to clutter my mind up with everything else.”
What Is Dolly Parton’s Preferred Method of Communication?
The music icon has a pretty jam-packed schedule, performing her hits all over the country and focusing on her entrepreneurial projects.
“I’m certainly not a stupid person,” Dolly, who has been married to husband Carl Thomas Dean since 1966, explained. “I could learn it if I wanted to, but I’d rather just have my fax machine, call in my creative stuff to my crew and I’ve got the best crew in the world.”
Dolly further commented on distancing herself from texting and social media while visiting The View in October 2023.
“Actually, I don’t want to get into that world,” she told cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin about cellphones. “I’m surrounded by enough people.”
Several of the “Jolene” singer’s famous friends shared their honest opinions about her communication style.
“Kenny Rogers used to aggravate me about it,” Dolly said of the late star, who died in March 2020. “I said, ‘Look, I’ll send you a message by carrier pigeon if I need to get in touch with you. You always seem to know how to reach me when you want something!’”
Miley Cyrus, Dolly’s goddaughter, explained the process of trying to get in touch with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
“Every time I coordinate and kind of communicate with Dolly, it’s still through fax,” Miley said during an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers in May 2021. “We do use the phone, but she does a fax, and then someone scans the fax, and then they put it into a text message. And then that gets sent to me, and it’s always signed.”
Miley concluded, “She has a phone, she just doesn’t use it.”