In the 1970s, Dolly Parton toured with her Traveling Family Band , a group made up of her relatives. Parton liked having them on the road with her, but their presence in her touring life caused problems. Her guitarist, who was not related to her, said Parton seemed to be afraid to make requests of her family members.
They didn’t feel the same way about making demands of her. Dolly Parton felt bad telling her family band what to do Parton’s Uncle Louis ran her business affairs for a time, but quickly proved he wasn’t capable of carrying out the job. Parton’s band leader, Bill Rehrig, took over Louis’ responsibilities.
When he did, Parton asked him to take some duties away from her, too. “Dolly didn’t know how to deal with the family without putting them off,” guitarist Tom Rutledge said in the book Dolly by Alanna Nash. “Instead of going to them, she would go to Bill and say, ‘Bill, tell them to do this or that.
’” Rehrig struggled to assert authority over the band. “Bill would tell ’em, and they’d ignore him some of the time, partly because they didn’t respect him,” Rutledge said. “He was in a real bad position.
” The problem was that Parton’s family members didn’t show her much respect either. To them, she was their sibling, not a celebrated musician. “They felt like it was just their sister, not Dolly Parton,” Rutledge said.
“They gave her a rough time. There was no business there. Dolly would say, ‘I want to do this and that,.
