Dolly Parton Guitar Secrets - tuning, picking style or just original chord structures?

Question

This is a very convoluted question but Dolly Parton in all her glory has me stumped.
Recently (as in the last year or two) she has popped up on television playing guitar on different shows - i'll post some links below, please watch to understand what I'm talking about - playing what appears (to me) to be a guitar in standard tuning. She has admitted she just plays what sounds right to her and doesn't know music technically but I have tried to mimic exactly what she is doing with those long-finger-nailed hands of hers and I am not getting the right sound.
Usually, because of her nails, Dolly tunes her guitar into an open tuning and barres the chords but the following videos are definitely not in open tuning. Also, I am certain she is playing the guitar so don't try and tell me it is a backing track or something, haha!

Therefore, do you think she:

a) tuned her guitar into a tuning that I do not recognise but you can identify
b) is only picking certain strings that you can identify
c) has made up random chords/ is playing normal chords that I am playing incorrectly because her nails are obscuring the view (as I'm not getting the corresponding sound)

... or even all of the above or something completely different? This is driving me crazy because I would really like to play these songs - I can play all her others but I've never seen her do anything as random as this style until recent years (especially when she moves up and down the neck in what appears to be a C shape).

Here are some video links so that you can see what I'm talking about (the last one has the most guitar-camera shots):

From Here to the Moon & Back -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRv5PMBh0ko

Love Will Find A Way -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AORkjUKr7gI

Celebrate The Dreamer in You -
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/dolly-parton-songs-star-sings-celebrate-dreamer-goo...

That's my question! If you are a guitar player, and I hope you are, I would appreciate you trying it out to see what I mean - she's a sneaky one :)

Answer 1

I couldn't get the ABC video to load, but in the video "Love Finds A Way," it appears Dolly is playing an A chord at the 2nd fret, however, making a quick check, she is playing the song in the key of D.



It's a very small guitar, so it could be one of those soprano type guitars which are tuned differently then standard tuning...if her tuning is A-D-G-C-E-A, rather then the usual E-A-D-G-B-E, the A bar chord would actually be a D.



Dolly sings like an angel, plays guitar, writes wonderful songs, and as my friends would say, has a great profile, so what's not to like? Great singers like Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris worship at Dolly's feet.

Answer 2

Dolly Parton Chords

Answer 3

9 to 5

Answer 4

I have posted a link to another Dolly Parton clip. Notice that she has a capo on the 4th fret. Hope you can tell more from this tune.



EDIT: I am not a guitar player.