The title track of Parton's eighth solo album, Coat of Many Colors (1971), paints a gingham-framed picture of how humble were her circumstances as a child. The coat, stitched together out of rags, is worn proudly despite the schoolyard taunts it attracts, the young Dolly defiantly embracing her mother's love as all the riches she needs.
Contrast that with the mother figure in next track, Travelling Man, and you have some idea of the distance Parton is prepared to travel to establish herself as a credit-worthy country artist in her own right after several years as Porter Wagoner's go-to duet partner.
Here, Mama ain't so nurturing, two-timing with her daughter's beau.
And the life lessons continue thick and fast in this 10-song set, seven of which are Parton originals.
In My Blue Tears and She Never Met A Man (She Didn't Like) fractured relationships are mourned, and in the Wagoner-penned If I Lose My Mind Mama is turned to once again, this time for comfort in the wake of a not-so-consensual four-way.
All this would be enough to leave most women madder than a wet hen, but Parton comes full circle, returning to doe-eyed optimism in the closing three tracks.
In The Way I See You her man's love conjures a string of bucolic images from the natural world, in the soulful Here I Am she offers herself up without reservation, and in A Better Place To Live we're invited to ''sing in harmony'' to cure the world's ills.
In a shade under 30 minutes Parton plays all her cards, tackling ballad, country-pop song and knee-slapper with equal grace, revealing the star qualities that will launch her into the top tier of country performers.
