NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — I've met quite a few people who share how Dolly Parton changed their lives, but I don't think anyone has a story quite like Ron Davis.
"I am a fan of Dolly Parton, yes," Davis told me with a smile. "Who isn't?"
I originally met Davis in 2022. He was showcasing a 550-square foot tiny home he owned in Tracy City, Tennessee. It's a vacation rental full of all this great Dolly Parton stuff.
"One of her actual high heel shoes from her 1987 album called Rainbow!" Davis said, pointing to a shoe hung from a wall.
Let's go back. By the late 80s, Parton was set to star in a weekly variety show. Davis was a teenager in California who'd just gotten his driver's license.
"22 episodes of the Dolly Show, I was at 20 of them," Davis remembered. "Half the time I skipped school to go. My mom's just learning that now. I was also sneaking a camera in. You weren't allowed to take pictures. [Dolly] came over to an audience riser where I was sitting. 'Hi. I've seen you a few times. I just wanted to say hi personally.' I said, 'oh my God.' Had very few words. I handed her a stack of pictures I'd taken. 'You're not supposed to take pictures.' She said, 'I won't tell!'"
You'd expect the story to go that the teenager breaking the rules would get kicked out of the audience. Not with Parton. It's this next part that got me to go catch up with Davis again today.
"My life path, I was meant to go to a Harvard or a Princeton and become a CEO of a Fortune 500 company," Davis said. "Dolly Parton happened."
Parton gave that sneaky teenager a job.
"I came home from school and my mom said, 'Dolly Parton called,'" Davis remembered. "I said, 'WHAT?' 'Dolly Parton wants to know if you can go take pictures at the opening of Dollywood.'"
"I became her personal photographer at 16, 17 years old," Davis continued. "I turned it into the only Dolly Parton fan newspaper called Paper Dolly, which I'm still proud of. I got unprecedented access to her, taking pictures at really unique places like backstage at the Tonight Show. It was super cool for someone who was 17 to get to do that. She gave me my first ever professional photoshoot. Dolly Parton. At 17-years-old."
"These are napkins from the premiere [of Steel Magnolias] in Louisiana in 1989," Davis continued, showing more from his collection. "I got to go and take pictures. This is one of my pictures of Dolly and Daryl [Hannah] at that premiere."
Davis went on to many high profile photography gigs, including several Reba McEntire albums.
Back at that tiny home in Tracy City, Davis has a Dolly Parton quote on the wall; find out who you are and do it on purpose.
"I think she just liked giving a boy a chance," Davis said, thinking back. "I took a left out of the life I was headed for, and I'm grateful for her for that. My whole life changed cause Dolly gave me access to Dolly."
"What would you want her to know?" I asked Davis.
"What would I want Dolly to know? Thank you so much."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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