Even in the 21st century, the best way to contact Dolly Parton is through fax. While the rest of the world has moved onto speedier forms of communication, such as email or text, Parton continues to hold onto her fax machine. And she doesn’t budge on that for anyone, not even those closest to her.
Dolly can’t be bothered with new technology
So, why does Parton continue to use fax machines? Well, she says she’s not interested in getting “into that world” of emails, text messages, or even social media platforms. “I’m surrounded by enough people,” she said. But it wasn’t for a lack of trying. People around her have tried to convince her to move away from the fax machine and embrace new technology, but she just won’t have it.
“Kenny Rogers used to aggravate me about it,” she said at the time. “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!'”
“So I actually, I never did get into getting involved in all that because it’ll take up too much of my time if I tried to get in touch with everybody who is trying to get in touch with me,” she explained. “So I just say, ‘Fax me! Fax me or call me and I’ll call you back.'”
It’s well known that you need to fax her to get ahold of her
Apparently, this is a well-known fact about the country music legend. Over her more than 50-year career, she has collaborated with several other artists, and they have been forced to contact her using the good ol’ fax machine. In fact, some even commented on it.
Reba McEntire, a country music legend in her own right, discussed collaborating with Parton on their duet version of 1993’s “Does He Love You.” She said, “You don’t call Dolly, you fax her. You fax your people and your people talk to her people. That’s the only way I know to get ahold of her.”
Even her goddaughter gets faxes from her
It’s not just collaborators who have to pull out the fax machine to send and receive messages from Parton; even those closest to her do it, too. Her goddaughter, Miley Cyrus, gets messages from Parton via fax machine all the time. The two have always been close, with Cyrus even saying, “Dolly’s been like a mother to me.”
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“No one else faxes. I literally have to access my lawyer’s office, because the lawyer is the only person who can still receive a fax,” she explained. On one Mother’s Day, Cyrus recalled how “Dolly wrote to me to say: ‘How much do I love you? As much as my heart can hold and as far as my arms can reach.’ It gets me choked up.”
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We think it’s cool how she sticks with the fax machine, a true nod to her days working 9 to 5.