What can you say about Dolly Parton that hasn’t been written a million times before? A groundbreaker, a philanthropist, hit-maker, business woman, resilient, hilariously self deprecating, and all-round good egg. She’s passed away, but we we’d already made a saint of her.

She was born in dirt-poor in a one-room cabin in Tennessee, but from it came one of the world’s most gifted songwriters. From her poverty, she wrote of her mother making patchwork clothes in the magical ‘Coat of Many Colours’, and appeared at the Grand Ol’ Opry as a teenager, before becoming as identifiable a country star as anyone who wore a rhinestone or stetson.

While she was a tougher customer than her persona suggested – Dolly didn’t suffer fools gladly – she will always be remembered for her unswerving optimism, when everything else in the world went to pot.

She said: “I’ve always believed things would go well, and I dreamed that they would even before I was in high school. I always wanted to be a star. It just seemed natural to me.”

And the hits kept on coming, with the utterly perfect ‘Jolene’, to the emotional raw nerve ending of ‘I Will Always Love You’, to crossover pop hits such as ‘9 To 5’ and the sugary sweet ‘Here You Come Again’,

She would dazzle audiences with her brilliant ‘The Grass Is Blue’ album in later years, reminding everyone that the roots of country music still had legs at the turn of the Millennium.

And who can forget the brilliant LP from ’87 with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, followed by a trio with Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn.

Someone online said “Dolly could walk on water, but Jesus couldn’t play guitar wearing acrylics.” A champion for everyone, whether they be drug addicts or marginalised people – Dolly was rooting for anyone and everyone.

We are considerably poorer for her passing, but so much richer for her existence. The perfect star, and America has lost one of its finest women.