Bay Area record stores brace for rush on Dolly Parton’s music after her death

By Itay Hod

The death of country music legend, actor, and philanthropist Dolly Parton at age 80 has Bay Area music stores scrambling to stock up for an expected rush to buy her music.

Thirty-four-year-old Fiona O’Connell-Gates came to Amoeba Music in San Francisco with one thing in mind: finding a little comfort in the country music aisle.

“I was sitting in a coffee shop with my friend and we’re, like, ‘Wow they’re playing 10 Dolly Parton songs in a row,’ and then my friend looked at her phone and was,like, ‘Oh my God, Dolly died!’ and we started crying,” she said.

Which is how, 20 minutes later, she found herself sifting through a sea of vinyl, looking for something you can’t stream — something she could hold onto.

“Me and my dad play guitar together and I feel like it was learning one of her songs, which is probably ‘Coat of Many Colors,'” she said.

O’Connell-Gates is hardly alone.

Amoeba co-owner Tony Green is already ordering more records, CDs and books, gearing up for an onslaught of fans looking for a physical piece of Parton to call their own.

“We’re ready to go with ordering and getting greatest hits and extra copies of “Jolene” and “9 to 5″ and all of those classics,” Green said.

Parton sold more than 100 million records over her career. But the bigger trick may have been who she sold them to: grandparents, parents and kids, country fans and people who wouldn’t know a honky-tonk from a hoedown.

“She is absolutely an icon of American music,” Green said.

As for O’Connell-Gates, she found what she came for: “The Best of Dolly Parton” record. 

“I’m going to play it right away, immediately,” she said.

With demand expected to climb, the next few days at Amoeba are shaping up to be anything but 9 to 5.