Melissa Etheridge and Dolly Parton were on Crossroads (a country music show, not the Britney movie) last night, switching songs and talking about their music etc. This is a nifty idea -- a sort of role reversal that probably would work in many contexts. Consider politics. What if we had two people from different sides on, and they had to switch concerns. Thus, the liberal would discuss matters of religion and ways to limit abortion, while the conservative would worry about criminal justice and the rights of women. Note how they both, well care about these issues, but generally have a different focus/frame of things. More neutrally, we can have actresses of different styles switching roles, thus a serious one does comedy/farce, and vice versa. Hey, it works on that mommy swap show.
I personally have diverse music tastes, though I generally just listen to whatever is on a few select radio stations. There is a local college radio station that I generally enjoy -- a nod in particular, given the upcoming holiday, to their playing of Irish music on weekends. The jazz station also is enjoyable, but so is the usual Top 40 sort of things. Do not really enjoy rap, though some forms of hip hop and such can be good. I enjoyed the "Poetry Jam" performance that is in effect hip hop through poetry, which I saw a couple years back. Also, country music is good as well. This grew from my mom, whose teen years were in the 1950s, but for some reason (I asked -- she was not really too clear about it) prefers country. Note that NYC does not have a country music station.
Etheridge and Parton are both very good performers and interesting personages. Good contrast on stage. Parton's stage persona can be best described as drag queen, just a bit bustier and more artificial. She wears a big wig, lots of makeup, and has that kewie doll thing down. Comes off as very nice and chipper. Great legs for someone sixty. Etheridge has a more butch Indian look. On the stage yesterday, she had no makeup, and the sort of get-up familiar to those Clint Eastwood "Man With No Name" movies, just without the shawl (my sister-in-law had one of those things on Christmas Eve ... she wore it well). Comes off a bit more reserved, but about as blunt when she wants to be.
Parton has the "background" -- poor backhills gal, reflected by some of her songs, and inspired by the religious song tradition that so influenced country music. Johnny Cash also had some of that influence. She married young, but her husband stays behind the scenes to the degree that actually finding a picture of the guy might take a bit of doing without the Internet. Etheridge (who seems to blend country with rock a bit more, a blend that works out pretty well, though both have a lot of "ballad" sort of songs that tell stories) did not have such a music background and don't think she came from poverty either. She also likes to keep her personal life private, but has a harder time of it.
You know, the lesbian part and all. Some story there -- her long term partner left a certain minor movie actor to be with ME, they had two kids via David Crosby (Crosby, Stills, and Nash ... given his up/down life, not particularly great sperm material, but who knows?), but eventually the partner felt the lesbianism didn't "take." We find out all the time that relationships are not working out how we hoped, but when sexuality (especially bisexuality) enters the picture, suddenly more drama arises. Anyway, in time, a younger actress on a dare asked ME out on a date, they clicked, and a few years back they obtained a domestic partnership in California. ME survived cancer. Such the drama.
When her split was raised, ME mentioned that she is not out to be some lesbian role model, just someone who wants to do her thing and be happy. Good for her -- that is a sound philosophy, though of course you are forced into being something of a role model when you choose to be a public figure. Sometimes, it is forced upon you to some degree, and various stars do not really like that part of their careers. One can respect that up to a point, especially outside of the entertainment star realm. A musician or actor's private life is on some level part of their career -- their "public" likes to learn about it to some extent, and thus it comes up in interviews and gossip pages.
It is a bit different in respect to sports stars and the like though if they act like asses in some public fashion, they sometimes only get what they deserve. Still, a public figure is just that -- their privacy is somewhat restrained, and it comes with the territory. These two seem to handle it fairly well.