Dolly Parton super-fan receives Christmas message from music legend

Dolly Parton has many fans throughout the world, but none more so than Joe Skelly.

The Cumbrian has a vast collection of memorabilia, CDs and many more items that he's acquired over the years.

And now he's got his hands on something even more unique, after receiving a video message from Dolly Parton herself.

In the personalised message, she spoke of her gratitude for his support throughout the years.

She said: "Christmas is my favourite holiday for many reasons.

"I love the true Christmas story. I love being with all of my family and friends and I love all of the shiny decorations.

"Mostly I am grateful for all of my fans out there like you, so Joe have a great Christmas season and a fulfilling New Year.

"And always remember that I will always love you.”

Mr Skelly says it was a big surprise.

He said: "I opened it and of course I recognised the motif of the website on the disk and I put it in the machine and the personal message using my name makes me delighted.

"After everything I have done over the years and all of the things that I have attended, I was still surprised.

"It came all the way from her offices in Tennessee. As I say it was a major surprise but a nice surprise.

"To make time for the fans and to actually sit down and do that for somebody it was really nice."

Now into his 50s, Mr Skelly has been a fan of Parton since he was a child.

"I have liked her since I was about eight-years-old," he said.

"At first it was the music, then it was the image. It was seeing the image and thinking caricature, cartoon type person.

"Then the lyrics to the songs, every song that she has written I know the words to all the ones that have been released.

"Some people love the song for the melody, some people like it for what the song is about. I like a mixture of both really."

Mr Skelly has also met Dolly Parton on a few occasions.

He said: "You can be talking to her directly face to face and someone else, the queen or the king whoever it is could walk in the room and she would not take her gaze off of you until you are finished talking to her."

With a vast array of collectables Mr Skelly has built up a huge range of memorabilia over the years, including a signed guitar.

"I got it years ago and Dolly actually hand signed it for me in front of me," he said.

"She passed it over to me and it was like holding a new born baby I was so excited. I have had it for a long time.

"There will come a day when I stop collecting, when I get too old. I have just won a fine art drawing, which was created in the 60s."

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