Whether you're a fan or in the music industry, you probably have a story about how Dolly Parton (who passed away Tuesday, Aug. 25) touched you.
Here's mine.
It was Dolly Parton’s theater, in Dolly Parton’s Dollywood amusement park, in Dolly Parton’s east Tennessee town. Yet during soundcheck for the 2018 Dollywood pre-season media day, things were going horribly wrong.
I was there as the booking agent for Orleans, the group behind hits like "Dance With Me" and "Still the One". Dolly particularly loved the later track and wanted to perform it and Cat Steven's "Pease Train" that day with Orleans as her backing band. So in typical fashion, she flew the band in and paid them well.
But as Dolly Parton and the band stood onstage doing soundcheck, the front-end audio was muddy and the monitor mix was awful.
In my 35 years as the agent for dozens of national touring acts, I've seen every possible reaction to a bad mix. Most artists will say something passive-aggressive from the stage, and some curse and humiliate the house technician in front of everyone.
But Dolly Parton showed infinite patience, trying to work through the sound problems diplomatically.
When, after what seemed like an eternity, that didn't fix the mix, she didn't throw a fit over the PA system. Instead, she quietly walked off the stage and walked straight up the the stairs to the front-of-house soundboard. Because I was standing near the sound board, I got to hear her whispered conversation firsthand.
She looked at him and softly said so (almost) no one could here, "Honey, you are a beautiful young man, but this isn't really working for me, so can I let Orleans' sound man do the mix?"
She stepped back, nodded to the new engineer to take over, and within a minute or two of soundcheck resuming, the sound was immaculate.
Dolly Parton went the extra mile to make sure nobody in that room heard the critique except the man behind the board. She protected his dignity while instantly fixing the performance.
How an artist treats staff and crew creates immediate defensiveness and destroys production momentum. It also can help define an artist's longevity in the business.
Raw talent might get you booked, but word travels fast across venue crews, production managers, talent buyers and agents. Approaching technical issues with quiet authority yields faster results, preserves relationships, and builds a reputation that lasts a lifetime.
R.I.P. Dolly Parton, and thank you for this lesson in grace and kindness.
Hypebot's Bottom Line
Your reputation depends as much on how you handle a bad soundcheck as much as how you hit the high notes.
True headliners address problems professionally and privately, and remember that grace under pressure always produces a better show than a public meltdown.
