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Dolly Parton apparently has no desire to involve herself in the world of modern technology.
The beloved country music legend — who is gearing up to release her debut rock album next month, after her recent induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — has long been known to communicate with her friends in an unexpected way. Rather than texting, emailing and engaging on social media, Parton communicates by fax. Some celebrities who have confirmed it in recent interviews include Miley Cyrus and Reba McEntire.
Parton shed some light on that communication preference during an appearance on The View.
“Well, actually, I don’t wanna get into that world. I’m surrounded by enough people,” Parton said. “Kenny Rogers used to aggravate about it. I said, ‘look, you know, I’ll send you a message by carrier pigeon if I need to get in touch with you.’ …I never did get into getting involved in all that because it would take up too much of my time if I talk to everybody trying to get in touch with me. So, I just say, ‘hey, fax me!’ Fax me or call me, and I’ll call you back.”
McEntire was one of the latest artists to share in an interview that Parton is only reachable via fax. During a conversation on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen earlier this month, the ‘Not That Fancy’ icon said, “Dolly does not text. …I don’t have her telephone number, and I asked Kenny Rogers one time, I said, ‘do you have Dolly’s number?’ He said, ‘no.’ you know what? maybe he said that because he didn’t want to give it to me!”
Earlier this year, Bebe Rexha and Kelly Clarkson dished about what it’s like to communicate with Parton. Rexha appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show after releasing a collaboration with Parton, and she told Clarkson that the “Jolene” megastar also sent her a handwritten note as they communicated about the song.
Last year, Cyrus appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers, where she said that Parton, her godmother, ironically filmed a Super Bowl commercial with her “for the phones, yet every time I coordinate and communicate with Dolly, it’s still through fax. …She’s rarely on the phone.
“We do use the phone, but she [Parton] does a fax, and then someone scans the fax, and then they put it into a text message, and then that gets sent to me,” Cyrus explained to Seth Meyers, continuing to share details about Parton’s communication style. “And it’s always signed. So, now I’ve kind of started my own version where I go into the notes, and I’ve started to try to make my own letters, because there’s something so amazing just about a connection. It’s just not casual, you know? She took the time to get out, I guess, her typewriter? She also made me a demo one time where she talks about being super high-tech, but it was all through a cassette, which then she voice memoed into a flip phone, which someone then put onto the iPhone, which then got sent to me.”
Parton also spoke about her forthcoming rock album, her newest book that chronicles her iconic fashion moments throughout her career, and more during her appearance on The View. Watch it here: