Tennessee: Over the rainbow

Dolly Parton and comedian Graham Norton at Dollywood, Tennessee. Photo / Supplied

No rhinestone is left unturned in Tennessee's land of Dollywood. Caspar van Vark takes a look around.

I'm in a dimly lit room and Dolly Parton is holding up a dress for me to look at.

"Did I really wear this?" she asks, hooting with laughter.

"Boy, I sure do love collecting stuff."

She flings the dress over a chair.

"Now, you just go ahead and look around," she smiles, gesturing at the room.

"There's all kinds of old junk up here, and every piece has a story to tell."

The film ends. This is Dollywood and I'm standing in a fake attic in Chasing Rainbows, an interactive museum devoted to Dolly Parton's life and career.

At one end of the attic a giant screen has Dolly on a constant loop, introducing us to her memorabilia.

Moving around the room, I peer at signed records, lurid 80s dresses, fading photographs, general clutter, even some old exercise equipment. I pause, imagining Dolly on a treadmill.

Chasing Rainbows is one of the biggest draws in Dollywood, a 50ha theme park in the Smoky Mountains near the town of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Dollywood is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, having been opened by Parton in 1986 after she converted an existing mainstream theme park into a venue featuring herself and Tennessee traditions.

Parton was born and raised just a few kilometres away - one of 12 children - and has joked that she opened the theme park just to keep her many relatives busy.

It's certainly a busy place. Dollywood has 2.2 million visitors a year, making it Tennessee's top attraction and the biggest employer in the county.

With every adult visitor paying $45.70 for the privilege, it's clear that there's a sharp business brain hiding under those blond wigs.

Lots of people want a piece of Dolly, and she gives them what they want - music, rides, food and souvenirs, all with a bit of Dolly magic.

This might sound like a hideously overblown vanity project, but Dollywood has the same kind of innocent tacky charm as its owner.

This is good, clean fun, folks. There are lots of rides, including a big old-fashioned wooden rollercoaster - and no, the steep climbs and plunges are not modelled on Parton's cleavage, although they might as well be. The rollercoaster looks a bit rickety, but I was tempted by the whitewater rafting experience, known by some as the "Islands in the Stream" ride.

As the raft swung around a bend in the artificial river, I couldn't resist launching into a chorus of the famous song. A family of four from Nashville were in the raft with me, and they cheerfully joined in, word-perfect.

"We come every year," the mother told me afterwards. "We just love this place, and Dolly is such a great role model."

Another top attraction here is the Dollywood Express. Its a genuine steam-train used in World War II to haul troops and timber through Alaska. The Dollywood Express sets off with a piercing hiss every 45 minutes, taking up to 550 passengers on a 20-minute journey through Dollywood and the surrounding hills with a jovial conductor giving a commentary.

Each time the train passes Miss Lillian's Chicken House - one of the many food outlets in Dollywood - Miss Lillian herself, clad in period Tennessee costume, takes a break from deep-frying chicken to wave enthusiastically.

"Let's all wave at Miss Lillian, folks," calls the conductor. The passengers obediently wave.

The Dollywood Express is one of Dolly's favourite rides, and on her occasional visits to the park she has been known to hitch a ride up front with the engineer.

That's right - Dolly really does come to Dollywood.

The park is closed in winter but when it opens for the season in April there's a parade through Pigeon Forge with floats and marching bands, led by Dolly herself.

She performs at Dollywood several times a year. Even when she's not around, there's no shortage of entertainment, with as many as 40 daily live shows.

This year, to mark the 20th anniversary, there's a Festival of Nations theme to the entertainment. Acts have been brought in from throughout the world, including stiltwalkers from Belgium, and Swoon, the sway-pole act from Australia.

They appear at regular intervals on the paths and squares of Dollywood, performing before somewhat bemused Tennessee families.

You suspect the audience feels more at home at the crowd-pulling Kinfolk's Show, where Dolly's relatives share songs and stories while they reflect on her early life and career.

The kinfolk no doubt reflect on their own good fortune, too.

Dolly Parton's childhood in these east Tennessee mountains was spent in extreme poverty, a fact you are rarely allowed to forget. Dollywood even features a full-size replica of her childhood home.

It's little more than a shack, and it's hard to imagine how 12 children and their parents could have fitted inside.

But at no point are you invited to feel sorry for Dolly. Stepping inside the shack, your eyes gradually adjust to the gloom, and you see a fake homemade pie on the kitchen table. Poor, but happy, is the message.

Dolly is keen on her cultural heritage, so the park is also dotted with people assigned with keeping Tennessee traditions alive. In one hut you find a twinkle-eyed man with a white beard demonstrating his glass-blowing skills.

Further along, past a building labelled Pork Rinds, someone in period costume is making fragrant lye soap.

A few passers-by show a polite interest, but most people in this part of the park are heading to the neighbouring barbecue hut for some sticky slow-cooked ribs and sweet baked beans.

There's a strangely genuine, well-meaning fakeness here that mirrors Dolly herself. She comes across as a warm, sincere person, but she happily admits to her exterior being thoroughly fake - not just the famous breasts, but everything.

No one but her husband of 40 years, the famously camera-shy Carl Dean, ever sees her in her natural state, without makeup and wig.

"I've no idea how long it takes to do my hair," she says in one of the museum's video clips. "I'm never there when they do it."

There's also some good shopping to be done in Dollywood.

They might hope you buy some of those traditional Tennessee crafts, but who wants a bar of lye soap when you can get a souvenir from the vast Dollywood Emporium?

Dolly beams down on you with her pearly-white smile as you browse through racks of T-shirts, mugs, playing cards, hats, fridge magnets, bags and lunchboxes.

And there's much, much more - all adorned, of course, with the Dollywood motif, with a butterfly replacing the W.

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is a hell of a long way to go for a funny Dollywood keyring, but there are other rewards in the area.

Once you've left the hideous town of Pigeon Forge, with its year-round Christmas shops and themed restaurants, you're only an hour's drive from Knoxville, the nearest city.

There's a strong country music heritage here - in fact, Knoxville likes to think of itself as the cradle of country music, with its more famous rival, Nashville, being the grave.

Downtown Knoxville is busy regenerating its once desolate industrial district, and the old warehouses are now home to some lively bars and restaurants, frequented by people living in the surrounding loft apartments.

There's also the wilderness of the Great Smokies National Park, which is about as natural as Dollywood is fake.

Their name comes from the eerie blue mist hanging over the mountains.

Pollution has made the mist a little grey these days, but it's worth exploring.

There are lots of black bears in the park, though no one lets them get in the way of the good hiking and cycling.

Back in Chasing Rainbows, I finish exploring the attic and leave as Dolly welcomes more visitors.

In the next room, I wait for my turn to pose with a huge blond Dolly wig.

There's no doubt that Dollywood is a thoroughly ridiculous place, but you have to hand it to the woman - she's left no rhinestone unturned in her effort to make it a lot of good, clean fun.

CHECKLIST

Getting there: Dollywood is in the town of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The nearest international airport is Atlanta, in the neighbouring state of Georgia, about 320km away. Knoxville, about 56km away, has a domestic airport.

Driving is the easiest way to get around, but Greyhound buses run between Atlanta and Knoxville.

There is no public transportation to Pigeon Forge itself. Within Pigeon Forge there is a public trolley-bus which calls at Dollywood.

Further information: See mypigeonforge.com, pigeonforgechamber.com or tnvacation.com.