Who Did Dolly Parton Once Call Her 'All-Time Favorite Singer?'

Dolly Parton is an American songwriter turned singer known for her impact on country music. After her debut album in 1967, the pop culture icon released solo and duet albums that sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

Parton has over 20 no. 1 Billboard country music songs and over 110 careers charted singles in her music career.

This 11 time Grammy winner is known as one of the greatest country musicians. One of her famous songs is a duet called "The Blues Man," with fellow country singer George Jones. Jones is an American singer and songwriter best known for his song "He Stopped Loving Her Today."

For the last two decades of his life, the musician was referred to as "The Greatest Country Musician" until he died on April 26, 2013. When he died, Parton posted her condolences and referred to him as her "all time favorite singer" and "one of her favorite people in the world."

Billboard reported that Parton, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, and other big names in country music took Jones's death really hard. The country music legend died aged 81 from hypoxic respiratory failure. He was called "The Rolls Royce Of Country Music" and had over 160 chart singles from 1955 till his death in 2013.

Parton talked about how devastated she felt about the loss on her website. "My heart is absolutely broken," Parton wrote. "George Jones was my all-time favorite singer and one of my favorite people in the world. My heart goes out to Nancy and the rest of his family."

After recording "The Blues Man," the two country musicians made a music video together which contained references to Jones' arrests and some of his canceled shows. Some of the more popular lyrics of the song are, "So I started drinkin', took some things that messed up my thinkin’/I was sure sinkin' when she came along/ I was alone in the spotlight, not too much left in sight/ She changed all that one night when she sang me this song."

In a 2016 interview with The Guardian, Parton talked about her musical inspirations. One of her inspirations was the faith-based songs that her mother favored. The country artist said she usually fasted before writing as a "private and spiritual" ritual.

"This gets me into a clean, spiritual frame of mind and opens me up to inspiration," she said.

"I bring along a whole suitcase of titles and half-written songs, and I take all my different instruments. If I'm writing mountain songs I like to play mountain instruments, whether it's the dulcimer, the autoharp or the banjo, but mainly I write with the guitar."

In May 1999, Jones was charged with drunk driving for an accident that almost killed him two months earlier. The musician pled guilty and ended up not having any prison time. The condition was that he had to complete alcohol counseling and avoid anything that could get him arrested for a year.

Jones was also fined $500 for the Driving While Impaired charge and $50 for Open Container Violation. He retained his license because this charge was less serious than Driving Under the Influence.

According to Associated Press, the musician spoke at a news conference after the court hearing. "I don't remember much about the day of the accident, but I do know that I was drinking, and obviously, my driving was impaired. I did wrong that day, and I take full responsibility for what happened.

Around 1960, Jones was known for showing up drunk to shows or not showing up at all. He drank a lot and eventually started using amphetamines. This lifestyle caught up to him in 1967, when the singer had to be admitted into the hospital for treatment for his drinking problem. The musician was known for the lengths he would go to get drunk.

One of his more popular stories happened while he was married to his second wife, Shirley Jones. Shirley hid all the keys of their cars so Jones couldn't drive to Beaumont, about 8 miles away, to purchase liquor. However, he ended up using his lawnmower to cover the distance.

In his memoir, he described the moment as, "There, gleaming in the glow, was that ten-horsepower rotary engine under a seat. A key glistening in the ignition. I imagine the top speed for that old mower was five miles per hour. It might have taken an hour and a half or more for me to get to the liquor store, but get there I did."

Parton and Jones were definitely polar opposites in their music-making process, but that wasn't any hindrance to them. The two artists came to respect each other greatly and even released a song together.