Yearbook
In 1960, the year after she made her Grand Ole Opry debut with her uncle Bill Owens, who was crucial in launching her career, Dolly Parton posed for a Sevier County High School yearbook portrait.
Yearbook
The vocalist had just met Johnny Cash for the first time; he had introduced her that evening.
Career Beginnings
Dolly Parton posed for a photo in Nashville in 1965, the year she moved there to further her career after graduating from high school, the same year she signed with Monument Records as a pop singer. When she initially got to Music City, she almost immediately signed on as a composer with Combine Publishing and started writing hits for other musicians.
Career Beginnings
Yet the future star found that performing pop music and penning country songs for other artists wasn’t enough, and she eventually persuaded Monument Records to let her record her own country tunes. “Hi, I’m Dolly,” her debut studio album, was released in 1967.
