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Matt Baron/Shutterstock Dolly Parton attends the 53rd Annual CMA Awards on Nov. 13, 2019 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. "I wouldn't be here if he hadn't been here," Parton wrote. Country songwriter Bill Owens, who was a mentor and early songwriting partner to his niece Dolly Parton and helped start her career in country music, has died. He was 85. Parton’s publicist confirmed his death on Wednesday, and Parton wrote a lengthy eulogy for her uncle, saying “I wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t been there.” Owens helped Parton at the age of 10 get her first radio performance on th...

“It’s really hard to say or to know for sure what all you owe somebody for your success,” Parton wrote of her uncle. “But I can tell you for sure that I owe Uncle Billy an awful lot.” They wrote songs together, including Parton’s very first single “Puppy Love,” which came out in 1959 when Parton was just 13. Owens eventually started taking her to Nashville to pitch songs to record labels and publishing companies. Owens and Parton were signed as songwriters by Fred Foster, a legendary country producer, to his publishing company Combine Music, and Foster signed Parton as an arti...

Bill Owens, uncle and musical mentor to Dolly Parton, dies by Kristin M. Hall, The Associated Press Posted Apr 7, 2021 5:16 pm EDT Last Updated Apr 7, 2021 at 5:27 pm EDT NASHVILLE — Country songwriter Bill Owens, who was a mentor and early songwriting partner to his niece Dolly Parton and helped start her career in country music, has died. He was 85. Parton’s publicist confirmed his death on Wednesday, and Parton wrote a lengthy eulogy for her uncle, saying “I wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t been there.” Owens helped Parton at the age of 10 get her first radio performance on the �...

When doors closed in widespread response to a deadly new virus in March, arts organizations were among the first to be affected. But the virtual door swung open. A wide variety of arts content began to crop up online, from dance to theater to film — and a lot of it was free. Instead of fading away into the void of darkened stages, local arts communities found light on a new path. Rutland’s Paramount Theatre was forced to cancel many shows and close its doors, but a short time later it blessed Rutland with its first drive-in movie theaters in decades.