Reese Witherspoon is gushing. We are sitting in the Hotel Bel Air, where we have met to have high tea (English Breakfast for her, with lots of honey) and—more important—to talk about Walk the Line, the movie in which she and Joaquin Phoenix star as Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. But she really wants to talk about Dolly Parton, whom she has just met at Vogue's photo shoot in Nashville, where, she says, she cried—a lot. "Dolly was amazing—so sweet. I just geeked out on her, and she let me. I told her all this stuff—I told her I loved 'Coat of Many Colors' and that I sing that one to Ava at night and that I have a storybook that goes along with it. And then I got kind of quiet because Joaquin talked to her the whole time and it made me so nervous and I said, 'Oh, gosh, will you please leave her alone,' and she said, 'Now, honey, I'm married, but I'm not dead.' I was like 'Yes! She did a Dollyism!' Then she played 'Nine to Five' on her acrylic nails. It was the greatest thing ever. She sang a bunch of Johnny's songs, and that's when I started to lose it. She sang 'I Still Miss Him,' and I just burst out crying, and then when she left I really had a nervous breakdown." Not surprisingly, someone at the shoot asked her if she was upset, and she told her—repeating it to me now in a mock wail—"No, I just don't know how I got to be so lucky. I got to play June Carter and I got to meet Dolly Parton."

Above: Vera Wang midnight-blue taffeta dress with draped bodice.

"Straight From the Heart" by Julia Reed has been edited for Style.com; the complete story appears in the November 2005 issue of Vogue.

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