Dave Moss on KLCC: The Story Behind Dolly Parton’s Connection to Eugene
Michael Dunne talks to the Eugene Symphony’s Executive Director Dave Moss about one of the upcoming concerts: Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony and the history of Dolly’s song, “Eugene Oregon.”
Listen to the episode or read the transcript below:
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Michael Dunne: I'm Michael Dunne. A very select few celebrities can go anywhere in the world and be instantly recognized by only their first name, and certainly Dolly Parton is one of those people. With more chart-topping hits than one can count, Parton is a true icon in several genres of music. Today on the show, the leader of the Eugene Symphony drops by to talk about their latest homage to Parton: a symphonic rendition of her famous songs, and some amazing links between Dolly and Eugene. In fact, when she first came to town more than 50 years ago, she was ill and almost canceled her show, but the love she felt from the fans inspired her not just to go on stage, but to write a song about Eugene. Dave Moss, Executive Director of the Eugene Symphony, always great to see you. Thanks for coming in.
Dave Moss: Thanks for having me.
Dunne: So let's talk about this upcoming performance, "Dolly Parton's Threads: My Songs and Symphony." Tell us about it.
Moss: Well, why Dolly Parton? Why the Eugene Symphony? Those two things might not immediately connect, but when you look more closely, I think it comes together in a way that only things do here in Eugene, Oregon. For those who don't know the history, Dolly Parton made a tour stop here back in 1972. I found the Register-Guard review, headlined "Dolly Parton's Down Home Music Brings Eugene Fans to Their Feet." She was touring with Porter Wagoner, one of the household names of country music in the '70s. The announcer said from the stage, "Country music is alive and well in the Springfield-Eugene area." Something very special happened that night. There were 1,500 people in attendance at the agricultural building at the Lane County Fairgrounds. Parton didn't want to come out on stage. She had been homesick for Tennessee and had been physically ill. My understanding is she skipped a couple of evenings of performances, but she decided to push through. She has a quote that she sat in the back of the tour bus crying during the first part of the show, and then managed to come out on stage. After performing "Coat of Many Colors," she received her first standing ovation as a musician in little old Eugene, Oregon.
Dunne: Of course, 1,500 people back then. Now you'd have to double the size of Autzen Stadium if Dolly Parton were to come.
Moss: Oh, my goodness, yes. And the connection to Autzen Stadium: I'm glad you brought that up, because not the first song, but I believe the second song after the Ducks play at Autzen is a little number called "Eugene Oregon," played by none other than Dolly Parton. Following that 1972 performance, she was so moved by the way the community accepted her that she wrote a song called "Eugene Oregon." But it wasn't released in 1972. It came out in 2009, more than 35 years later, when she was already a massive star. She didn't need to release a song about Eugene, Oregon, but all those years later she still had that connection to the place. I'll read the opening lines: "Eugene, Oregon, I'll remember you the rest of my life. I won't forget how good you were to me. No, I won't be forgetting all the kindness that you showed to a homesick country girl a long, long way from Tennessee."
Dunne: Wow. I got chills as you were reading that. Talk about the music itself and this symphony performance. To a layperson like myself, Dolly Parton was a pop and country icon with so many legendary hits. I think she wrote "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene" in about 30 minutes. But how do you translate that to a symphonic rendition?
Moss: Well, this show was produced by Dolly Parton herself. She no longer tours, and she put this show together. It debuted with the Nashville Symphony in March of last year and has been performing all over the country. It was that historical connection to Dolly here in Eugene that caused us at the Eugene Symphony to say, this is perfect programming for us. Just this week they announced six full weeks of performances in Nashville because they've sold out so many times there. The music is performed by two young singers covering all of Dolly's catalog: Blair Lamb and Katelyn Drye. Drye was one of the big success stories of "The Voice," Team Blake, for those who follow that show. We have incredible symphonic arrangements by David Hamilton that take all of Dolly Parton's music and set it for a full symphony orchestra, with more than 70 musicians on stage. Then you have these young artists singing the songs in a way that honors Dolly's style. She has personally mentored them for these performances. And this is not going to be one of those symphony shows where you sit on your hands the whole evening. We have plenty of those. If you're a Dolly Parton fan, or curious about Dolly Parton, or curious about Eugene and that connection, between each of the songs Dolly appears on the big screen to tell the story of her life and the story behind the songs, including "Jolene." It's that narrative storytelling Dolly is known for, and it's going to come across beautifully.
Dunne: As I'm listening to you talk, you know, when I was a kid, Dolly Parton was all over the radio, in popular music as well as country. These are standards, so well known. To translate them into a symphonic rendition alongside live performers, I imagine there's a sense of reverence in that. I realize, of course, when you're playing something by Handel or Mozart that's revered, but nobody who knew those composers is still living. Dolly crosses generations. What is it like for the performers doing this kind of show?
Moss: Well, I think the main performer I've been talking to about this is Alex Prior, our music director. He's in his first season with us. We have some Handel coming up on April 23, and the way Alex talks about Mahler, Bruckner, Beethoven and Dvorak is the same way he talks about Dolly Parton. His last post was in Edmonton, and he fell in love with country music while he was there. It's rare to get a music director who says, "I want to conduct the pop show." But for Dolly Parton, Alex is just as artistically excited as he is about the Handel or Schumann coming up. The musicians are excited too. And your point about not being able to hear Handel discuss the "Water Music," or how the "Messiah" came together, is well taken. With this show, Dolly Parton will literally be on screen talking about how these pieces came together.
Dunne: You have live performers and a video screen, which newer generations expect as part of an entertainment experience. It really does need to be an immersive experience.
Moss: Absolutely. Our attention spans have gotten shorter, and this immersive combination of screen and live artists is designed for that. There will also be great lobby activities, and one I'm especially excited about involves a partnership connected to Dolly Parton's literacy work.
Dunne: I was just going to ask you about that.
Moss: Through her Imagination Library, we're very fortunate to have great partners here in Eugene, including the Eugene Library Foundation, United Way in the broader Lane County area, and statewide efforts with the Imagination Library. They'll be at the show. We'll be talking not just about Dolly's music, but the work she's doing with the Imagination Library, because Dolly's work and her legacy extend far beyond her music. It's the impact she wants to leave on this world.
Dunne: That's one of the reasons she has such staying power. The bulk of her success came decades ago, but she resonates with people because she is such a giving person.
Moss: And that is becoming more rare in our society. I think artists feel pressure to stay inside their political lane or just focus on what they do, because our world is so polarizing. Dolly has never shied away from being exactly who she is. She is unapologetic for it, and she knows the work she's done will have a lasting impact well beyond her career. Many might call that refreshing.
Dunne: Let's talk about some upcoming shows for this season with the Eugene Symphony. A lot going on. What are you looking forward to?
Moss: We're in a very busy few weeks. Our season typically runs from September through May, so we have about a month left. Coming up on Thursday, April 23, Alex is conducting a wonderful program called "Majestic Horizons." It features Handel's "Water Music" as reimagined by Prior, and it's going to be a very fun, campy rendition, as he would say. We also have a Trumpet Concerto by Bohm, performed by our principal trumpet player, Bryce Schmidt. Bryce is a local, grew up in Salem, now lives in Los Angeles, but won a position as principal trumpet with the Eugene Symphony a couple of years ago and flies back to play with us every month. He'll be our soloist for that. The program concludes with Schumann's Third Symphony, his final symphony. Really great, exciting programming. Then, of course, we have our annual homage to Star Wars on May 3. We'll call it May 4 Eve, since it is on May 3. It's a Sunday matinee, which allows a lot more families to attend, and we're very keen to have families for Star Wars. This one always sells out. We are performing "Return of the Jedi" this year. If you haven't been to one of these, it's the full symphony orchestra on stage with the film playing, and the music is perfectly synced to all the action. I'm not doing Darth Vader; Darth Vader is doing Darth Vader. And if you're a Star Wars fan, this is a great tradition. We have cosplay characters in the lobby for photos, and it's just a really great event. Our season then wraps up in May with Nielsen's "Inextinguishable" Symphony, which is a wonderful work. I think "inextinguishable" is how we'd describe our music director, Prior, and it's a great way to close his first full season with us. It also features the Grieg Piano Concerto, one of those evergreen hits that audiences love. That will close out our 2025-2026 season.
Dunne: Inside-baseball question: How do you and your team decide which shows to bring to Eugene?
Moss: That's a great question, and it's something that is shifting as the market shifts. Here locally, we're fortunate to be a resident company of the Hult Center, and the Hult Center puts on great programming through their Broadway series and Hult Presents. So some of our broader, blockbuster-type shows, we program with an eye toward what's coming to the Hult Center. We'll have more of those shows next season. We just announced our 2026-2027 season, and full-season subscriptions are available now. It's a complex process, really: the artistic aspirations of an incredible music director in Prior, the financial realities of an orchestra operating on roughly a $3.5 million budget in this community, and how we do incredible artistic things while meeting our budget. A big piece of that is how we market our shows and understanding the market we serve. Our Director of Marketing, Jen Bell, is one of the absolute best. So it's a real conversation across many departments to build a season. And there's some personal passion in there too. I'm a Dolly Parton fan, so you can see a little of that in the programming. I'll say that in the first three weeks of season subscriptions being on sale, we have not seen subscription renewals and new acquisitions quite as strong as they are this year.
Dunne: That's exciting, and it leads to my last question. I know many organizations are always looking at how to attract a younger audience. How do you do that?
Moss: Shows like Dolly Parton and Star Wars, and we have five family concerts next season. Those kinds of opportunities bring in younger patrons once or twice a year, so that when the kids are grown and they can commit to a symphony subscription, they're already connected to us. That's how we view audience development for the symphony, making sure we're a point of accessibility for the community when it comes to music.
Dunne: He's Dave Moss, Executive Director of the Eugene Symphony. Always great to catch up with you. Thanks so much.
Moss: Thanks so much for having me. Great to be here.
Dunne: That's the show for today. All episodes of "Oregon on the Record" are available as a podcast at KLCC.org. Tomorrow on the show, we'll get an update on the replacement for CAHOOTS and the Eugene Airport. I'm Michael Dunne, host of "Oregon on the Record." Thanks for listening.
Executive Director Dave Moss