<p id=”par-1_59″>When Porter Wagoner and <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/dolly-parton/”>Dolly Parton</a> started working together, he wanted her to sign to his record label, RCA. The head of the label in Nashville didn’t think this was a good idea, not believing Parton had the <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/music/”>vocal</a> talent to make it. Wagoner insisted, though. He even took a major financial risk in order to help Parton’s career.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-porter-wagoner-wanted-dolly-parton-to-sign-with-his-label”>Porter Wagoner wanted Dolly Parton to sign with his label</h2>
<p id=”par-2_32″>After Parton <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/porter-wagoner-said-allow-dolly-partons-ideas-tv-show.html/”>joined Wagoner’s television program</a>, <em>The Porter Wagoner Show</em>, he wanted to get her signed to the same label as him. Chet Atkins, the head of RCA in Nashville, had concerns. </p>
<p id=”par-3_28″>“This girl just can’t sing,” Atkins reportedly told Wagoner, per the book <em><a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.amazon.com/Dolly-Alanna-Nash/dp/0891695230″ rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Dolly: The Biography</a></em> by Alanna Nash. “I don’t think she’d sell, because she just <em>cannot </em>sing.”</p>
<p id=”par-4_24″>Wagoner was insistent, however. He told Atkins that if Parton was a disaster for the label, they could take losses out of his royalties. </p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Parton-Wagoner.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”A black and white picture of Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton sitting on stools in front of their backing band, The Wagonmasters. The band stands.” class=”wp-image-3792785″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, and The Wagonmasters | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-5_29″>“Well, I’ll tell you what,” Wagoner said. “You take out of my royalties what she loses this year because I believe she <em>can </em>sing, and that she’ll make it.”</p>
<p id=”par-6_31″>It was a risk, but it paid off with no harm to Wagoner’s royalties. Parton’s first single with RCA, “<a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-parton-wrote-just-because-im-a-woman-after-husband-asked-shed-ever-been-with-anybody-else.html/”>Just Because I’m a Woman,</a>” hit No. 1 and sold 150,000 copies.</p>
<p id=”par-7_55″>“Porter’s a man I have great respect for,” Parton said in 1975, adding, “He gave me a chance. He believed in me, when a lot of people didn’t, because of my unique sound. He believed that I had a lot of potential, that it could be almost like a gimmick. That I could catch on.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-porter-wagoner-was-reportedly-used-to-getting-things-his-way-while-working-with-dolly-parton”>Porter Wagoner was reportedly used to getting things his way while working with Dolly Parton</h2>
<p id=”par-8_26″>Wagoner went on to work with Parton until the mid-1970s. He was used to getting his way in their collaboration, just as he had with Atkins.</p>
<p id=”par-9_35″>“Porter had his ideas, because he was the producer,” guitarist Tom Rutledge said. “And I guess most of the time he would win out, mostly through intimidation, because of the type of personality he is.”</p>
<p id=”par-10_15″>He controlled so much of her career that it began to feel <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-parton-miserable-working-porter-wagoner-said-guitarist.html/”>stifling to Parton</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-11_65″>“Four years ago, Porter was controlling Dolly’s whole career, determining what was recorded and what wasn’t, how it was recorded. It’s incredible,” Rutledge said. “That whole thing with Porter is a can of worms. The whole last three or four years were bad for Dolly. It was just a high-pressured gig for the people who worked for him, and a real depressing situation for Dolly.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-she-shared-how-she-spoke-with-chet-atkins-afterward”>She shared how she spoke with Chet Atkins afterward</h2>
<p id=”par-12_39″>While Atkins <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/why-dolly-parton-doesnt-think-she-has-a-great-singing-voice.html/”>didn’t like Parton’s voice</a> at first, he warmed to it. They even collaborated several times, including on the 1976 song “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind.” She came to tease him about his early opinion of her.</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-2″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Dolly-Parton-Chet-Atkins-1-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”A black and white picture of Les Paul, Dolly Parton, Chet Atkins, and Freddie Fender standing together. Paul holds a guitar and a Grammy award.” class=”wp-image-3793377″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Les Paul, Dolly Parton, Chet Atkins, and Freddie Fender | Fotos International/Archive Photos/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
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<p id=”par-13_59″>“I kid Chet a lot,” she said. “Every time I go in to sing something for him, I’ll say, ‘Now I know I can’t sing, Chet, but I’ve got something I want you to hear.’ Just joking with him. Of course, now Chet is the biggest fan I have in Nashville. I just didn’t catch his ear [at first].”</p>