Nothing is out of the realm of possibility for Dolly Parton. Last year alone, the 78-year-old country singer-songwriter wore a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader uniform during a performance and released a rock 'n' roll album aptly titled "Rockstar." But that otherworldly ability to be and do everything doesn't stop with the Queen of Country herself. It's a genetic trait her niece, Danielle Parton, seems to have inherited.
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Like her legendary aunt, Danielle's resumé boasts a long list of titles. She's the first Parton woman to earn a college degree, a combat veteran, a commercial airline pilot and, as of recently, a moonshine distiller.
In March 2022, she opened Shine Girl, a line of unaged whiskey distilled using her family's decades-old recipes and techniques (and adding her own special twist via honey, sugar and molasses). The distillery is based outside of Sevierville, Tennessee, a city just outside of Dolly's hometown of Pigeon Forge. Like all great ideas, it was born out of a well-placed ad and a "how hard could it be" attitude.
Danielle told Garden & Gun in October 2023 that while riding around Tennessee, she drove past a billboard for Ole Smoky moonshine and inspiration first struck.
"I thought, 'I could do that,'" she said. "It's in my genes."
Instagram/shinegirlspirits
Those genes she's referring to have less to do with her famous aunt and more to do with her law-bending ancestors. The family history tab on Shine Girl's website is appropriately dedicated to "family legacy, legends, and arrest records," which include the origins of her family's moonshine-making ways. Danielle's father, Bobby, is Dolly's younger brother. Out of the 12 kids, he's No. 5, and she's No. 4. Their father (and Danielle's Papaw), Lee Parton, and her great-grandfather on her mother's side, Wiley Noland, both made moonshine to support their families. Her great-uncle was a sheriff dedicated to shutting down such operations. But for some odd reason, Lee Parton and Wiley Noland's moonshine stills were left undisturbed.
"My Papaw Lee Parton was known to make a little Shine to help support his family," she wrote on the site. "My Mamaw Avie Lee Parton wasn't thrilled with this idea, but it happened all the same. Probably less thrilled with him being the primary tester than a distiller!"
While the locale and its branding emit a feminine vibe that's already associated with the O.G. Parton name, Danielle told Garden & Gun that Shine Girl isn't as girly as it seems.
"You won't catch me making an apple pie flavoring or doing something with bananas," she said. "I won't make what I won't drink."
The "overtly feminine approach" she's taking is a strategic (and underrated) business move. Danielle doesn't believe that distilleries understand women; and seeing as how they make the majority of buying decisions in their household, it's a market she plans to corner. Her Shine Girl Shines come in lavender, rosé velvet, red velvet and coconut — all of which play very well in her family-history-inspired cocktail menu.
Instagram/shinegirlspirits
While lounging in the pinked-hued, cabin-esque distillery, you can enjoy a Wiley Noland Stubborn Mule (named after her great-grandfather), Uncle Dale's Coconut Key Lime Pie (named after her "whisky-making buddy" Uncle Dale Noland), or a Still Magnolia (named after her Aunt Dolly's renowned 1989 romantic comedy "Steel Magnolias"). Oh, and she'll whip up the occasional DollyMosa on her aunt's birthday.
Though she pays tribute to her family in multiple aspects of her business, you won't find her playing up the Dolly connection.
"My original team just insisted that my best-selling feature was my last name," she wrote in a 2022 blog post. "More specifically, my last name being the same as a very famous woman. I do not now, nor have I ever, relied on being related to a famous person.
"In fact, everything I have done has been so foreign to my Aunt she couldn't have helped me even if she wanted to. Plus, Dolly does not and will not promote alcohol or nudity. Well, I ain't getting naked so we agree on that!"
Even though Dolly won't be posing in front of a Shine Girl bottle anytime soon — and she doesn't need to; the first run of Shine Girl whiskeys sold out immediately — Danielle says she's earned her aunt's stamp of approval.
"She's been completely supportive of me," Danielle told Garden & Gun. "She understands what it takes to build a business because she's such a working girl herself, such a hustler, always hustling, doing her own thing. I guess I am a little like that."
Her current idea of hustling is expanding Shine Girl (which recently started offering vodka and rum) and letting her career as a pilot be her "fun job." Needless to say, she doesn't plan to slow down on this or any other venture anytime soon.
"I'm happy to pay the price to shine," she writes. "I like working on something that I believe in. I'll be working on new goals till I kick over dead."
