Reviews

GRAND PRAIRIE – How does one not enjoy a Dolly Parton concert? That's not a rhetorical question. The country icon and pop-culture giant always puts on a good show, no matter how many times you've seen her before.

At Nokia Theatre Sunday night during a stop on her Backwoods Barbie trek the Tennessee native, backed by her 11-piece band, sounded splendid, looked fabulous and seemed incredibly personable as she offered songs seasoned and fresh. In other words, Miss Dolly was on – again.

SONYA N. HEBERT/DMN

Dolly Parton brought her trademark sass and glamour to Nokia Theatre, where she performed to an adoring crowd.

Sometimes it's easy to take her for granted. She's been around so long and has pretty consistently charmed us with her musical talents, her down-home wit and that signature image often copied but never duplicated. Yet never forget that at 62 Ms. Parton remains artistically viable. Pick up a copy of Backwoods Barbie, her great new CD, and you can hear how this legend continues to polish off more gems.

She did four tunes from Barbie in the first 80 minutes of the performance, all that deadlines would allow us to see. The best was the autobiographical title cut, an old-fashioned country hoedown that's as heartfelt as it is humorous. She played acoustic guitar during that one. For "The Lonesomes," she played a white piano to capture the bluesy-jazzy, deserted-saloon feel of the ballad. It was exquisite.

And how cool that she whipped out a few odd numbers. "Baby I'm Burning," a song she doesn't usually do onstage, was disco-fueled fun. The majestic "Eagle When She Flies," which she said she wrote as a possible theme song for the film Steel Magnolias, was dedicated to all the mothers in the audience.

Plus, how cool to hear "White Limozeen" and "Why'd You Come In Here Lookin' Like That" from 1989's wonderful White Limozeen disc. Those tunes deserve to be classics alongside "Jolene" and "Coat of Many Colors." Oh, she did those, too. It was a quintessential Dolly gig.