Early Morning Breeze by Dolly Parton

The Dolly Parton song that means the most to you.

When I was 16 I joined the local Hospital Radio team (Hospital Radio Lennox). We broadcast every evening, and at the weekends. It was an eye opener in terms of exposure to the hospital environment —I will not hear a bad word about nurses from anyone!— and in my growing enthusiasm for music.

We had a variety of shows and whilst the bulk of my first year or so was spent on the request shows —where we’d wander the wards and gather requests and mentions from patients, then broadcast them in the show later that evening— I also started to fill in on other themed shows, the 70s Rock show was a favourite, but I just enjoyed the process of putting a show together, picking out records from the library (over 2000 albums to choose from), and doing a bit of research on an artist or album or song.

Only once did I cover the Country & Western show. I wasn’t looking forward to it as a 17 year old in the early 1990s my world was Nirvana and Pearl Jam, not Willie Nelson, The Highwaymen, Porter Wagoner, Tammy Wynette, or Dolly Parton. Thankfully, the normal presenter left me a list of songs that he’d planned to play (thanks Arthur!) and so it was that I found myself re-assessing country & western music. A little.

This track from Dolly Parton was on that list, and I remember listening to it and letting it take me away to a warm summer in middle America. When Dolly passed I dug this track out as it’s remained in my memory since. A simple song, but it speaks to a love of nature and the simpler things in life that, even as a spotty 17 year old who was thought he knew everything about the world already, I felt drawn to.

Thanks Dolly.

“Early Morning Breeze” by Dolly Parton

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