COUNTRY PLAYLIST: classic country valentines.

there's nothing more romantic than classic love songs that have stood the test of time. below is my classic country playlist to put y'all in a sweet and mellow valentiney mood. as jack donaghy's prostitute said as he and liz laid her gently back on the sidewalk, HAPPY VALENTIMES!

1. blanket on the ground. billie jo spears.

2. love me tender. elvis presley.
3. you're my best friend. don williams.
4. always on my mind. willie nelson.

5. kiss an angel good morning. charley pride.
6. together again. buck owens.
7. stand by your man. tammy wynette.
8. pure love. ronnie milsap.
9. young love. sonny james.
10. anytime. eddy arnold.

11. lookin for love. johnny lee.
12. i will always love you. dolly parton.

dolly parton on whitney houston.

photo from contactmusic.com.

 Mine is only one of the millions of hearts broken over the death of Whitney Houston. I will always be grateful and in awe of the wonderful performance she did on my song, and I can truly say from the bottom of my heart, “Whitney, I will always love you. You will be missed.”

-Dolly Parton

annie goes to dollywood!

last month, dolly came to the hollywood bowl and i made sure i was there. it was the best live music experience i've ever had. i can't believe it's taken me this long to tell you all about it, but the bar exam is now over and i promise i will never leave you post-less for too long again!

so dolly is unbelievable. i need her to be my best friend, like now. she has SO much energy, her voice is still SO powerful (isn't she a million years old?), she is absolutely HILARIOUS, and so talented! she played 8 instruments! including the fiddle she came onto stage playing, guitar, banjo, her diy rhinestone covered piano, saxaphone (i know), dulcimer, her trademark autoharp, and harmonica. phew!

she cracked jokes all night, sang some covers, including led zeppelin and the beatles, and even rapped. she apologized afterwards by assuring us that she knows what you get when you mix country and rap (answer: crap). someone should tell jason aldean this huh?

of course, we didn't go to the bowl empty-handed. we packed a lovely picnic, and at the peak of my wine-induced haze, dolly sang the hannah montana theme song! i thoroughly embarrassed my boyfriend as i danced and sang along, but i was definitely shown up by all the gay men in the audience who stood up in unison when she started "9 to 5." everyone had such a good time. dolly is solid gold, and i'm completely in love.

{photo credits: seeshopeatdo.com, freeimagefinder.com, latimesblog.latimes.com}

TIME CAPSULE: "coat of many colors" by dolly parton.

"coat of many colors" (1971) was one of dolly parton's earliest solo hits, and is her favorite of all the songs she's ever written. before i write another word, can we talk about dolly's nails and how she's managing to play guitar with them?

anyway, so this classic country song alludes not just to joseph's coat of many colors from my favorite testament and yours, but also to a real-life coat her mom made for her out of rags when dolly was a little girl and her family was "dirt poor," as she tells it. so little dolly wears this amazing technicolor dreamcoat to school and all the nasty little kids make fun of her, as kids always do, and what amazes me is that, instead of "misplacing" or "forgetting" the coat on the playground (which is probably what i would have done) and then kicking and screaming at mom after school for being so embarrassing and ruining her life by making her wear that dorky thing in public, dolly schools the kids about how her coat is actually awesome because it's stitched with her mama's love, and that because of this love, she is actually rich and her coat is worth more than all of their clothes combined. oh, if they could all come out like dolly.

speaking of dreams, below is oprah making shania twain's lifelong dream come true: to perform her favorite song, "coat of many colors," with the queen of country herself.