{"id":383117,"date":"2026-08-28T01:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T01:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/383117\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T01:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T01:30:09","slug":"a-jacksonville-artists-snapshot-with-dolly-parton-and-the-night-he-picked-her-from-the-crowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/383117\/","title":{"rendered":"A Jacksonville artist\u2019s snapshot with Dolly Parton and the night he picked her from the crowd"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 As fans across the country mourn the loss of music legend Dolly Parton, one Jacksonville musician is remembering a week he says he\u2019ll never forget \u2014 when Parton showed up at his show at Disneyland and ended up on stage with him.<\/p>\n

Parton, known for hits including \u201cJolene\u201d and \u201c9 to 5,\u201d died on Tuesday<\/a>. She was 80. <\/p>\n

Laurence \u201cBlinky\u201d Walden, a jazz vocalist and artist who has lived in Jacksonville since the \u201890s, told News4JAX he performed for years at Disneyland\u2019s Golden Horseshoe Revue in Frontierland. In his hands is a photo of him and Parton on that very same stage performing together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look at this\u2026 and it has her signature on it that she gave to me\u2026 I just think about all the good times,\u201d Walden said.<\/p>\n

Photo of Dolly Parton and Laurence Walden on stage in Disneyland (News4JAX)<\/p>\n

Walden\u2019s path to the Disneyland stage started long before California. He said he grew up in Chicago and joined the Air Force after graduating high school in 1964. Walden said he worked as a technical illustrator while serving and also sang with the Air Force Jazz Band. After leaving the service, he eventually made his way to Southern California, where he said he got a tip about an audition at Disneyland.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Remembering Dolly Parton: Artist, actor, philanthropist, icon<\/a><\/p>\n

Walden went for it \u2014 and got the part.<\/p>\n

He recalled the pace of the job as nonstop: six shows a day, six days a week. Over time, he estimates he performed more than 4,000 times.<\/p>\n

Then, during one week at the park, he said Disney hired Parton to perform. After her own show, Walden said Parton came to watch his.<\/p>\n

In the opening act of the Golden Horseshoe Review, Walden said he was supposed to bring someone from the audience onstage. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I had to pick somebody out of the audience, I picked her,\u201d Walden said. \u201cShe came on stage\u2026 we sang\u2026 and then afterwards she came backstage and said \u2018you know I\u2019m going to come back here for the rest of the week.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Walden said Parton did return \u2014 and the moments backstage became just as memorable as the ones on stage. He said she was warm, engaged and eager to share what she knew.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018I\u2019m going to teach you how to yodel,\u2019 and she taught me how to yodel,\u201d Walden said.<\/p>\n

Walden said the bigger lesson was Parton\u2019s approach to performance. He recalled her advice that a singer should be able to sing a song so well that you can \u201chear\u201d the music even without instruments.<\/p>\n

Laurence “Blinky” Walden in his Jacksonville home (News4JAX)<\/p>\n

Walden said that guidance stayed with him \u2014 and the news of her death stunned him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hadn\u2019t kept up with her and didn\u2019t know that she had been ill\u2026 and it just came as a shock,\u201d Walden said. \u201cWhat a loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Walden said that signed photo represents more than a celebrity encounter. He said it reflects how Parton carried herself \u2014 and how she treated people she met along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was such a nice\u2026 down-to-earth person,\u201d Walden said.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 As fans across the country mourn the loss of music legend Dolly Parton, one Jacksonville…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[78462,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-383117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-dolly-parton","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}