…and I guess it’s that time of year again that we question the integrity of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in wondering how a certain artist could be nominated over another. This year’s big question mark has to be the nomination of Dolly Parton who’s already of member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Well, she passes the first test, 25 years in the music industry and could have been on the ballot when the rock hall first started to nominate artists. As far as making a name for herself as a rock and roller can be a stretch since she started out as a country music song writer in the mid 60’s penning a couple of top ten hits for artists like Kitty Wells and Hank Williams Jr. and eventually landed a TV gig on the Porter Wagner show. The closest she got to the rock and roll genre was in 1974 when she crossed over to Top 40 radio with her song Jolene but maintained her country roots. It wasn’t until 1980 that many of her country hits crossed over into the mainstream when they were covered by Olivia Newton-John, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. Next thing you know she’s topping both the Billboard Country and Hot 100 chart with 9-5 followed by another chart topper, a duet with Kenny Rogers called Islands in the Stream written by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees. But Dolly’s song writing has been featured in several films too like, I Will Always Love you from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas which Whitney Houston covered in the Bodyguard Movie. The song was the first to be a chart topper with 2 different recordings and was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry. She’s been nominated and won numerous awards for her song writing and now is a nominee to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which is a stretch and puts the integrity of the rock and roll hall of fame in question again. But since when can we put integrity and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the same category. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ve got a worn-out copy of Jolene that I used to spin on the radio back in the day that I’d like to listen to right now.