Billy Corgan doesn’t want to jump on the bandwagon by sharing his “beautiful” Dolly Parton story.
Billy Corgan isn’t ready to share his Dolly Parton story
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman has revealed he only met the country icon, who died last month aged 80, once and while he would like to share the story of their meeting, he wants to wait until a more appropriate time.
He told PEOPLE magazine: “So I never had the chance to meet her outside of this one story —which I’m not going to tell — but the reason I’m telling you this is because after her passing, I watched a lot of people on social media… this incredible outpouring of love and respect from every genre in music: metal, country, obviously, pop.
“And the fact that she was a humanitarian, especially with literacy and hundreds of millions of books shared and all of that, I thought I just don’t want to be another person sort of jumping on this social pile and saying, ‘Hey, it’s my turn to tell my story.’
“So I feel like when that’s all calmed down in a very kind of sweet way, I’ll tell that story.”
The 59-year-old rock star hinted that his personal story of crossing paths with Dolly is “short” and “beautiful”.
He added: “I want to tell the story. It’s a very nice story. It’s short, and it’s beautiful.
“But the point is — maybe because I lived in a time before social culture — I understand everybody’s willing to share, and I enjoyed everybody sharing, but my story is so small against these amazing stories that I keep hearing.
“So I didn’t want to be like, ‘Oh yeah, me too.’”
Billy Ray Cyrus shared one of his “most prized possessions” with fans as he revealed a letter from the late Jolene hitmaker.
Posting a photo of the handwritten note on Instagram, he said: “Never have I shared this… until now. I’ve posted one of my most prized possessions before: a handwritten letter from Johnny Cash.
“This one sits right beside it. To me they go together … Brother Cash and Sister Parton.
“They are the hearts and minds of two of my heroes that both took the time to express their most personal and sincere thoughts to an ole Kentucky Boy.
“@dollyparton gave it to me a few weeks after we first met in Chicago in the spring of 1992. “Achy Breaky Heart” was just beginning to take off and Some Gave All hadn’t even been released yet.
“And soon after I received this letter, we’d go on to sing “Romeo” together with Tanya Tucker, Kathy Mattea and Mary Chapin Carpenter. So many memories and moments with Dolly, from network television specials to Hannah Montana. More than 30 years later, we’d do our last song together, “Christmas Where We Are.”
“Today felt like the right day to share it. Shine on, Dolly. [heart emoji] #DollyDay #9to5 #dollyparton (sic)”
The letter from Dolly – who was godmother to Billy Ray’s daughter Miley Cyrus – saw the Jolene singer express her excitement at getting to work with the singer and offered her support if he “needed anything”.
It read: “Billy, I am glad to be working with you. I’ve been looking forward to it for a few weeks now. I’m proud of what’s going on with you. I too think you are special! I wish you even more success in the years to come.
“I’m sorry if I stammered and stuttered when I met you, but I’m just like all the other girls these days (Just a little older! Ha!).
“Thanks for the offer to sign pictures for my gang — your fans! They will love me for it. Same goes if you need anything. Love, Dolly.”
