That decade of transition—from the Carter era to the Reagan, from polyester bell bottoms to stone-washed denim, from women’s-lib signs to the incorrect presumption that liberation had occurred—marked an epic shift in Parton’s career, too. Having established herself as a solo country-music star as a young woman in the 1970s, 9 to 5 turned her into a mainstream Hollywood superstar and accelerated her toward becoming an icon.
