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As an average country music fan, this might not cross your mind when you watch performers on stage. We often see performances where singers stand at a microphone, belting out their lyrics. However, artists who usually move around on the stage and sing through a microphone attached to their person or a cordless microphone need a mic pack to transmit the sound through the sound system.
Some artists have stage outfits designed with special pockets to hold their mic packs, but others clip the pack onto the back of their clothing wherever possible. While clipping the pack onto your clothing might be the most affordable and easy option when wearing a mic pack, it sometimes detracts from the “magic” of how the sound is transmitted through the venue’s speakers.
However, when you see Dolly Parton live, you won’t see any mic pack clipped to her or a cloth-covered bump trying to blend in the technology. Instead, you won’t see any chords hanging off the “Jolene” singer because he concealed her mic pack in a way that is unique to her.
In a sit-down with CMT, she shared that she hides her mic pack inside her wig cap.
Okay, let’s unpack that sentence because, for some, there might be two surprises in it. Yes, Dolly Parton wears wigs. She’s not necessarily wearing wigs to change her hair color, but the natural blonde has worn wigs since the ’60s to help her achieve the voluminous look she’s known for. Southern Living reported that Parton spoke about her love for wigs in her book, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics.
“I always wore my hair all teased up. Whenever that style started, I was the first to get my hair all poofy. Then as soon as I could buy those hairpieces and wigs, I wanted them. For one thing, they were so handy. Plus, my hair would never do exactly what I wanted it to do. So the wigs became kind of my trademark.”
A trademark, to say the least. We can’t imagine Parton without her larger-than-life hairdos. While wearing wigs has helped her achieve the look she wants, the extra hair helps conceal her mic pack. Parton told CMT that she made a wig cap with a pocket for her mic pack, so it is flawlessly hidden under her wigs.
“I actually have… my wig cap has a little pocket on it in the back. Because my clothes are so tight, my mic pack don’t fit nowhere.
There’s only room for me in my clothes, and so I have it to where the mic fits in my hair because I wear wigs all the time. And so it goes right over it. We just kind of mic it around, and it works perfect.”
Genius. This is the perfect way to make it look like you’re one with the sound system, and keeping the mic pack under her wig also ensures that it’s not going anywhere. There are many times (more seen in pop music than country) when artists’ mic packs will fall off their clothing as they dance around the stage. This is a foolproof plan to make sure everything stays secure during her performances.
Dolly Parton is a national treasure, and her being open and honest about this is one of the many reasons we love this woman in country music and as a nation.
Check it out.
@cmt What would Dolly do?! 🤣 🤷♀️ 💖 #Happybirthday to this hilarious country #queen 👑 #dollyparton#countrymusic #cmtHot20 #WWDD ♬ original sound – CMT
