Sunday, March 02, 2008, 6:04:20 PM

I love Dolly Parton.

I think I'm a secret, closeted, lover of country music.

I mean, well, thats a hard thing for me to admit. As the genre goes I can't stand listening to most of it. But there have been periods in my life where I adored certain country artists.

One of my very favorite TV shows when I was really young was the Barbra Mandrel show. Particularly when the brunette sister took over and played the devil out of her fiddle.

The Judds. In junior high there wasn't much I liked listening to better except, perhaps, Rick Astley. In fact they were my first concert going experience and possibly my second one also. I'm not sure when the whole Love Can Build a Bridge Farewell Tour took place.

The Dixie Chicks, they are just pure fun to listen too and I love that they told Bushy off.

Currently my favorite country obsession is Dolly Parton. I can't get enough of her. Now, I've always enjoyed her as an entertainer, but it's only been recently that I've been seeking her music out. I was a loyal fan of her prime time variety talk show format around about the time I was in junior high. It was the movie Transamerica and her song Travelin' Through, that brought her back to me. I can't get enough of Dolly and every time one of her songs pops up on the shuffle list of my iPod I'm one happy camper.