You probably don’t get to where Dolly Parton is today without knowing when to dispense a little self-deprecating humour. Trying to locate a mysterious metallic rattling sound as she sat at her sparkling piano, Parton — barely a size above zero in a tiny yellow dress — finally ventured, “It might be my brain.”

In its way, it signalled a progression of sorts. These days, the only person you hear making Dolly Parton jokes is Parton. Amid endless anecdotes underscoring the simple ways of her Tennessee upbringing, you almost forgot that beneath the peroxide mane lies a formidable business brain. If the success of Dollywood — her record-breaking theme park — didn’t alert you to her business acumen, then her decision to tour Britain on the week of Mother’s Day surely confirmed it.

Indeed, it was a well-oiled set aimed at the older end of her constituency. Recent stripped-down albums such as The Grass Is Blue may have depicted an artist in retreat from Vegas-style self-parody, but when it comes to selling the brand, Parton the businesswoman reasserted herself over the proto-feminist singer-songwriter who challenged the Nashville status quo with songs such as Eagle When She Flies. As such, it was no surprise that Jolene received a brief, perfunctory airing so early on — clearing the way for yet more stories about her childhood. Enlivened by Parton’s use of a dulcimer, Tennessee Mountain Home and Train Train briefly arrested the sense that her band of Nashville old hands had long since forgotten what city they were in, before normal service was resumed.

Introducing Coat Of Many Colours, a song about the coat her mother made for her, Parton declared proudly, “My mother was one of those special people that can tell you anything and make it sound good.” That it’s clearly an inherited talent was obvious from the way she read the story on the autocue by her feet.

As the intermission drew nearer, it seemed that fields of Parton’s past were emptied of corn. Little did we know she was just getting started. Turn! Turn! Turn! and Those Were The Days were practically invisible for the cabaret stardust sprinkled on them. I Will Always Love You found new ways to match the terror of Whitney Houston’s version — thanks to a cameo from an Elvis impersonator. Then she proceeded to do to John Lennon’s Imagine what Houston had once done to her song. Why? To paraphrase Jolene, just because she could.

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