A wedding, a house in Beverly Hills, and a kid who'd never met a celebrity before — that's the childhood memory Beck shared, and the star of the story is none other than the recently departed Dolly Parton.
In an interview with host Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2, Beck was asked which icons had left a lasting impression on him throughout his career. He first mentioned touring with Neil Young when he was young, then shifted to a memory that had nothing to do with music: a wedding hosted by one of his mother's friends that took place at Dolly Parton's house, back when he was still a kid.
"I didn't know any famous people, we lived a pretty normal life, I'm not even sure if I'd ever been to Beverly Hills before," Beck said. "We walked into her house, and she couldn't have been friendlier, so hospitable."
He said he was "kind of shocked" by how warm Parton was toward him and his brother, far beyond what he expected. "It was kind of like, 'Does she think we're someone else?' Because she had no reason to be that nice to us, but she was. She was almost overly friendly, overly warm," Beck recalled. "In my everyday life, I rarely came across someone that warm, kind, and open, so it really hit me."
Beck added that Hollywood's biggest stars were actually gathered at Parton's house that day, "but her attention was entirely on us."
Beck's mother, Bibbe Hansen, is a performance artist, musician, actress, and writer, and he was born and raised in Los Angeles. The interview came as part of the promotion for his new album Ride Lonesome, released last week, which NME awarded four and a half stars, calling it "a devastatingly beautiful meditation on heartbreak and solitude." Beck told NME the album could have come out a year and a half earlier, but he shelved it twice, waiting until he was sure the songs were strong enough before finally finishing it. He described it as a "heartbreak record," about "confronting loss, learning to let go, and getting through those emotionally unbearable moments."
Beck is currently on a solo tour across North America. Meanwhile, Dolly Parton will appear posthumously on "Torn," a track from U2's new album Carnaval De Luz — marking what will be her final recorded vocal performance.
