{"id":604,"date":"2026-08-25T18:23:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/25\/how-dolly-parton-corralled-a-whos-who-of-rock-royalty-to-record-her-landmark-rockstar-album-theres-more-aggression-in-rocknroll-youve-got-to-treat-it-with-respect\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T18:23:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:23:34","slug":"how-dolly-parton-corralled-a-whos-who-of-rock-royalty-to-record-her-landmark-rockstar-album-theres-more-aggression-in-rocknroll-youve-got-to-treat-it-with-respect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/25\/how-dolly-parton-corralled-a-whos-who-of-rock-royalty-to-record-her-landmark-rockstar-album-theres-more-aggression-in-rocknroll-youve-got-to-treat-it-with-respect\/","title":{"rendered":"How Dolly Parton corralled a Who’s Who of rock royalty to record her landmark Rockstar album: “There’s more aggression in rock’n’roll \u2013 you’ve got to treat it with respect”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In 2023, the late, great Dolly Parton released her <\/em>Rockstar album, an unlikely collaboration with a lengthy list of rock A-listers, including Paul McCartney, John Fogerty, Stevie Nicks, Steven Tyler, Debbie Harry, Peter Frampton, Elton John and more. In a cover story for <\/em>Classic Rock 321, Parton told us about the making of the album.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cRock is not just a sound,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s an attitude. Doing things your way, being a rebel. That\u2019s why I think I\u2019ve always had some rock\u2019n\u2019roll in my soul.” <\/em><\/p>\n

The voice is unmistakable. As is the playful peal of laughter that follows. \u201cHey there, is that Rob \u2018Halford\u2019 Hughes? Good mornin\u2019!\u201d It\u2019s 10am in Nashville, and the incontestable legend that is Dolly Parton is on the phone to Classic Rock<\/em>. <\/p>\n

She\u2019s evidently in good spirits. And so she should be. At 77, country music\u2019s resident superstar is the author of a somewhat unlikely crossover: a fully-booted, leather-suited, guitar-squealing rock album. And while there\u2019s a persuasive argument that Dolly Parton has, in essence, always been a rock star, now we have tangible proof. <\/p>\n

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This feature originally appeared in Classic Rock 321, published in November 2023<\/strong><\/em>. <\/span>(Image credit: Future)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nor is the aforementioned Rob Halford reference just a random piece of alliteration. The Judas Priest<\/a> frontman is one of a number of guests \u2013 an entire shedload, in fact \u2013 who appear on Parton\u2019s Rockstar<\/em><\/a>. It\u2019s an album with an embarrassment of riches: Paul McCartney<\/a>, Ringo Starr, John Fogerty<\/a>, Stevie Nicks, Steven Tyler, Debbie Harry, Peter Frampton<\/a>, Joan Jett<\/a>, Elton John<\/a>, Lynyrd Skynyrd<\/a>, Richie Sambora\u2026 And that only covers about half of it. <\/p>\n

Like most things Parton has put her shoulder to over the years, Rockstar<\/em> doesn\u2019t deal in short measures. It comprises a mammoth 30 tracks, of which roughly two thirds are covers.<\/p>\n

These are songs swiped straight from rock\u2019s high table, from Satisfaction<\/em> to Stairway To Heaven<\/em>, Let It Be<\/em> to Purple Rain<\/em>, Free Bird<\/em> to We Are The Champions<\/em>. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband Carl is a big rock fan,\u201d Parton explains. \u201cI\u2019ve heard so many of the great rock songs over the years, because that\u2019s the only thing he ever plays. We\u2019ve been together for fifty-nine years now, so you can imagine how embedded that is. But of course, I had some personal favourites as well. I also had to pick songs that I thought I could sing well, that I thought I could do justice to. Or at least to try to be as impressive as I could, because I wanted the rock field to be proud of me. I wanted them to say: \u2018That\u2019s pretty good! I didn\u2019t know she had it in her!\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Interviewing her is a slightly surreal experience. There are those fabulously identifiable Southern tones and inflections in her voice, of course. And a sense that, for her, this is an art she mastered many moons ago. But she weighs my questions with due thought and attention, often with a healthy degree of self-deprecation. She also chuckles a lot. <\/p>\n

During the course of the next hour, Classic Rock<\/em> discovers that her decision to record the album was shaped by both outside events and her own sense of guilt. There\u2019s plenty more too. Not least the fact that Rockstar<\/em> has a number of precedents in her back catalogue. She talks about her early years, her single-minded ambition, her regrets over Elvis<\/a>, being nervous about playing Glastonbury, future plans, her picky husband, and what she really thought of that White Stripes<\/a> cover of her classic Jolene<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Ultimately, Rockstar<\/em> represents the latest challenge in an extraordinary career. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve made my living doing country music and being a country girl, but making this album just felt natural,\u201d she says. \u201cSo I think it was meant to be and I\u2019m glad I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019m proud of how it\u2019s turned out. And now I\u2019m gonna have it as part of my legacy.”<\/p>\n

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In February 2022, Parton found herself nominated for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. The announcement \u2013 which also proposed the likes of MC5, New York Dolls, Judas Priest, Rage Against The Machine<\/a> and Pat Benatar<\/a> \u2013 came as something of a shock. In response, she sent a letter to the foundation, asking to be removed from the ballot. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I am extremely flattered and grateful to be nominated for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, I don\u2019t feel that I have earned that right,\u201d Parton wrote. \u201cI really do not want votes to be split because of me, so I must respectfully bow out.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Hall was having none of it, however. They explained that ballots had already been sent out to voters, justifying her nomination by adding that, from its inception, \u201crock\u2019n\u2019roll has had deep roots in rhythm & blues and country music. It is not defined by any one genre, rather a sound that moves youth culture. Dolly Parton\u2019s music impacted a generation of young fans and influenced countless artists that followed\u201d. <\/p>\n

Parton duly decided to accept the offer ifshe was selected. In early May, she was officially announced as an inductee. This in turn brought up a promise that Parton had made in her original letter, namely that the whole affair had inspired her to put out a rock\u2019n\u2019roll album at some point in the future. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel worthy of the induction,\u201d she confesses now. \u201cAnd I will never deny that. I know so many great artists \u2013 like Meat Loaf,<\/a> for instance \u2013 that were never in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. So when they first told me, I thought: \u2018Damn, I can\u2019t let them put me in there, when so many of these great people have spent their whole lives in rock.\u2019 I didn\u2019t really understand all the reasons they do it, but they put me in anyway. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I accepted gracefully,\u201d Parton continues, \u201cbut I thought: \u2018Well, I\u2019m gonna have to earn it,\u2019 because I\u2019m like my daddy, I don\u2019t want nothing I ain\u2019t earned. Through the years I\u2019d thought that I might one day do a rock album. And timing is everything. So that\u2019s really what motivated me to record Rocksta<\/em>r, because I had pretty much given up on the idea, because of my age. That\u2019s when I thought: \u2018No, I\u2019m gonna do it.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

At the HOF ceremony, held in LA last November, Parton performed in a black studded latex jumpsuit, with a bejewelled black guitar slung around her waist. She proceeded to play Rockin\u2019<\/em>, a brand new song written for the occasion, complete with shredding solo. The lyrics drew from her love of rock\u2019n\u2019roll while growing up in rural Tennessee.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve been rockin\u2019 since the day I was born,\u201d she says, \u201clistening to Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and all these people that I loved in my youth. And so I just kind of put together a little song to explain that whole experience of going into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. I was thinking back to those days, when I used to carry around my little transistor radio.\u201d <\/p>\n

Parton wasted no time in inviting collaborators to appear on the proposed album. Some of them \u2013 Benatar, Halford, Pink, Sheryl Crow, Brandi Carlile and Duran Duran\u2019s Simon Le Bon \u2013 had also performed at the same Hall Of Fame bash. Others heeded the call directly: \u201cI said something at the Hall Of Fame like: \u2018Hey, I\u2019m thinking about doing a rock album. If there are any rock stars out there that want to help me\u2026\u2019 or something to that effect. Then the next week, different people called and said: \u2018Well, if you\u2019re serious then I\u2019d love to be on it.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

There was no shortage of takers. Parton and longtime producer Kent Wells got to work in the studio. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe started putting people on there and ended up with thirty songs,\u201d Parton recalls. Not everyone could make it, though. Mick Jagger<\/a>\u2019s recording schedule with the Stones meant that he passed up the opportunity to duet on Satisfaction. And the dream Jimmy Page\/Robert Plant reunion was never likely to happen for Stairway To Heaven<\/em>. Those two songs also highlight the potential issues behind Rockstar<\/em>. By daring to take on such familiar touchstones, isn\u2019t she inviting trouble? It\u2019s something she admits to being all too aware of. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband is a huge fan of Led Zeppelin<\/a> and thinks Stairway To Heaven<\/em> is one of the classic songs of all time,\u201d she says. \u201cSo he was kind of concerned about me doing it. He said: \u2018I don\u2019t know if you need to mess with that, because I think you\u2019ll get a lot of criticism. People don\u2019t want other people messing around with that song.\u2019 But I did it anyhow. And he made a joke about it at first: \u2018I think that was more like Stairwell To Hell than Stairway To Heaven!\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Parton pressed on undeterred. Besides, she already has history with the song. She previously covered it on 2002\u2019s Grammy-nominated Halos & Horns<\/em><\/a>, the final album of her experimental folk-grass trilogy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve taken some rock things off and on over my career and countrified them,\u201d she says. \u201cI did the first Stairway To Heaven<\/em> in the bluegrass gospel field. But I decided, for this album, that I wanted people to know that I could sing it in its original form. And I wanted, more than anything, for Carl to know that I could do that too. So I decided to be true to its form. And I have to add that Carl said: \u2018Y\u2019know, that\u2019s pretty good.\u2019 That\u2019s really something coming from him!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ahead of the album\u2019s release comes a book. Behind The Seams: My Life In Rhinestones<\/em> is suitably lavish, bursting with photographs, that traces the evolution of Parton\u2019s flamboyant fashion style over the decades. All the appropriate iconography is here \u2013 the gravity-defying wigs, sky-high heels, fitted pantsuits, leather dresses, cowgirl garb, butterfly gowns, a Playboy bunny suit, the famous Coat Of Many Colours \u2013 drawn from her private costume archive. <\/p>\n

Its arrival underlines a maxim that Parton continues to abide by: in order to play the part, you have to look the part. That applies to Rockstar<\/em> too. The album boasts several sleeve variations, all united by black leather imagery. There\u2019s Dolly astride a motorbike, a badass Dolly behind the leopard-print wheel of a car, Dolly striking a stack-heeled pose with a guitar, and Dolly in five-pointed eye patch. <\/p>\n

Behind The Seams<\/em> also comes with anecdotes and nuggets of acquired wisdom. One section mentions Rockstar<\/em> and how Parton was determined to pull out all the stops while making it. <\/p>\n

\u201cRock is not just a sound,\u201d she writes, \u201cit\u2019s an attitude. Doing things your way, being a rebel. That\u2019s why I think I\u2019ve always had some rock\u2019n\u2019roll in my soul.\u201d <\/p>\n

This idea clearly pervades the album. In practical terms, however, it meant negotiating a learning curve in the studio. \u201cI do think rock is an attitude,\u201d she offers. \u201cIn fact, I found that out for myself when I started singing those rock\u2019n\u2019roll songs. Standing there and remembering all the originals, I thought: \u2018Oh my god, I\u2019ve got to make sure that I\u2019m true to this.\u2019 <\/p>\n

“I\u2019m a stylist, I sing a certain way. But I also knew that I had to buckle down to it, because it\u2019s different from doing regular country songs, where you can just lay back and do it any way you please. There\u2019s more aggression in rock\u2019n\u2019roll, which I found energising. And you\u2019ve got to treat it with respect, because it is its own thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

Parton certainly brings a unique energy to Rockstar<\/em>. One that finds ultimate expression in its closing showstopper: a near 11-minute version of Free Bird<\/em>, backed by Lynyrd Skynyrd themselves. It transpires that the southern-rock classic was a late addition to the album\u2019s track-list, having initially been earmarked for another project.<\/p>\n

\u201cKent Wells has been my guitar player, arranger\/producer and bandleader for thirty-some years,\u201d Parton explains. \u201cWhen I was getting ready to do Rockstar, he was busy producing an album for Lynyrd Skynyrd. They knew Kent worked with me, so they asked if I would sing on a new version of Free Bird<\/em>. And it turned out really good. <\/p>\n

“Later on I said to Kent: \u2018What about putting Free Bird<\/em> on my rock album too, if we get permission from them to do it?\u2019 So that\u2019s what we did. Then Ronnie Van Zant\u2019s widow said that she\u2019d let us use his voice on the track. She wouldn\u2019t allow Lynyrd Skynyrd to do it, but she said: \u2018I\u2019ll do it for Dolly!\u2019 So we got to use Ronnie on there. We had already recorded it, but his phrasing was so simple that they just dropped his vocal in.”<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd then of course we had Gary [Rossington] and Artimus Pyle, all the people from the seventies band on there,\u201d she continues. \u201cSo the way that whole thing turned around was just unique. Some of them hadn\u2019t gotten together for a while, but one of their daughters said: \u2018You gotta do it!\u2019 So they actually mended some fences there, and I felt very blessed to be part of all that. Kent and I wanted to end the album with Free Bird<\/em>. And of course Lynyrd Skynyrd have their album, too, though it\u2019s not out yet.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sadly, Parton\u2019s epic rendition of Free Bird<\/em> now serves as an epitaph for guitarist Rossington, who passed away this March<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were so heartbroken when that happened, because we\u2019d done that track with Gary not long before,\u201d she says. \u201cRight now, some of my crew are trying their best to see if we can actually get some footage of Gary and Ronnie Van Zant and try to incorporate that into a possible video. I\u2019d love to make that work. Wouldn\u2019t that be something?\u201d <\/p>\n

Of the nine original songs on Rockstar, perhaps the closest to Dolly\u2019s heart is I Dreamed About Elvis<\/em>. In addition to the Jordanaires, Presley\u2019s old backing singers, she\u2019s also joined on it by singer and Elvis aficionado Ronnie McDowell. McDowell was the actual singing voice of Kurt Russell on the soundtrack of 1979\u2019s acclaimed biopic Elvis<\/em>. <\/p>\n

A sense of sorrow permeates I Dreamed About Elvis<\/em>, rooted in Parton\u2019s refusal to allow The King to record her grandstanding 1974 ballad I Will Always Love You<\/em>, later a hit for Whitney Houston. <\/p>\n

At the time, Parton was only too ready to make it happen, but the recording session was nixed after Colonel Tom Parker, Presley\u2019s manager, insisted that Elvis be given half the publishing rights in return. Parton was heartbroken at having to turn Presley down, later saying that she cried all night. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of regret that Elvis didn\u2019t record my song,\u201d she says. \u201cI wrote I Dreamed About Elvis<\/em> shortly after that episode with Colonel Tom. And I recorded the album version 21 years ago, using the group that actually travelled with Elvis. They were older guys, but still the Jordanaires. Ronnie McDowell used to travel with Elvis, and used to kind of fill in whenever his voice was bad. He sounds just like him, though he never tried to be an Elvis lookalike. So I looked up Ronnie when I wrote the song, to see if he\u2019d sing it with me. I just felt kind of inspired to write I Dreamed About Elvis<\/em>. It\u2019s one of my favourite songs on the album. We didn\u2019t change it much from back when we recorded it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Elvis Presley\u2019s influence runs deep in Parton\u2019s life. Contrary to popular myth, she cut her teeth on rock\u2019n\u2019roll, not country. Her first single, Puppy Love<\/em>, was an up-tempo rocker, co-written with her uncle, Bill Owens. Released in 1959, Parton was just 13 when she recorded it for Goldband Records in Louisiana, a trip that involved a 30-hour bus ride to the studio. <\/p>\n

Mention of Puppy Love<\/em> draws a laugh of recognition from its co-creator: \u201cI love that song! And my Uncle Bill loved it too. He\u2019s the one that helped me in my early days, taking me around to sing at different places. But he played guitar and was kind of a little rockabilly star of his own. He had a spit curl and black hair, so he looked like a rock\u2019n\u2019roller. And he recorded under the name \u2018Little Billy Earl with the Spit Curl\u2019 [much laughter]. Yeah, Puppy Love<\/em> was rockabilly. We were influenced by Jerry Lee, Blue Suede Shoes<\/em> and that whole era, especially Elvis. As a teenager, that\u2019s all I wanted to listen to.\u201d <\/p>\n

The lyrics of Rockstar<\/em>\u2019s title track depict a teenage dream of becoming famous. Its protagonist is holed up in his or her bedroom, records blaring, a guitar plugged into an amp. \u2018I stand before my mirror, play and sing and dream\/Some day I\u2019ll be standing in the lights, selling shows out every night<\/em>\u2019, Dolly sings. Is she drawing from direct experience? <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always done that,\u201d Parton affirms. \u201cI\u2019ve done that since I was a kid, standing in front of the mirror, singing and acting and doing whatever I imagined I\u2019d feel when I became a star. I\u2019ve practised my autograph all my life. I think most kids do that, if you\u2019ve got a desire to be a star. You stand before the mirror, you try to comb your hair like Elvis did and try to make some moves of your own, or else imitate somebody you\u2019ve seen. Everybody\u2019s done it.\u201d <\/p>\n

On a deeper level, the song is also about staying true to your vision, to follow your ambition no matter how far-fetched it might seem. This is where Dolly Parton really comes into her own. The journey from what she calls \u201cdirt poor\u201d Little Pigeon River to Nashville glory and global megastardom often sounds like the stuff of country clich\u00e9, but Parton has actually lived it. Talent is one thing, drive, determination and fortitude are another.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always very focused,\u201d she reasons. \u201cI\u2019ve never strayed from my dream, like a lot of people have. And I do believe that\u2019s one of the reasons I\u2019ve made it. I never wanted to do anything else. I might\u2019ve been a beautician had I not made it, because I still wanted the makeup and the hair and everything \u2013 I even played that role in [1989 film] Steel Magnolias<\/em>. But making it in music was in my soul, my gut, my mind, my brain. If I had been a beautician or a waitress or whatever, I\u2019d still have saved my money and I\u2019d have been going into the studio doing demos and making records, even if it meant selling them from the back of my car. I\u2019m one of those kind of artists, I would\u2019ve had to do music somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That single-mindedness took her to Nashville the day after she finished high school in 1964. Parton\u2019s first taste of success came as a songwriter for others, although she had to stick it out for another three years until her first solo country hit: Curly Putnam\u2019s Dumb Blonde<\/em>, a misnomer if ever there was one. Within a decade she was country\u2019s all-conquering queen. Her reputation was forged alongside Porter Wagoner (both on TV and in the studio), but it was the early-70s run of self-written classics \u2013 Joshua, Coat Of Many Colours, My Tennessee Mountain Home, I Will Always Love You<\/em> and, of course, the unstoppable Jolene<\/em> \u2013 that turned her platinum. <\/p>\n

From thereon in, nothing seemed beyond her: Hollywood movies, Broadway musicals, the Dollywood theme park, a multi-faceted entertainment company, TV and film production. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be focused, you can\u2019t drift around too much,\u201d she explains. \u201cA lot of people will get something going and then they\u2019ll fall in love or have a baby or do whatever. Anything can throw you off track and you can lose momentum. But I\u2019ve never been pulled away. I was like a horse with blinders, I never looked back.\u201d <\/p>\n

Unlike many of her country peers and forebears, superstardom doesn\u2019t appear to have damaged Parton. Her acute business instincts and iron will are clear to all \u2013 <\/p>\n

\u201cSome people have called me an \u2018iron butterfly\u2019,\u201d she writes in Behind The Seams<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019m not offended by that, because I am a strong person\u201d \u2013 but she\u2019s also tender-hearted. Crucially too, she\u2019s never lost sight of her roots, retaining a common touch and sense of humility that continue to endear her to millions. <\/p>\n

So how has she managed it? How has she held on to her sanity in the face of intense public scrutiny for all these years? <\/p>\n

\u201cWho said I\u2019m sane?\u201d she chuckles. \u201cActually, I stay anchored because I don\u2019t try to follow other people around. I don\u2019t try to follow trends, I don\u2019t try to follow a fashion. I don\u2019t try to make my music be something that it\u2019s not. I just try to be true to my own gut feeling and what I think I can do. Like I\u2019ve always said, I know what I know, and what I know I\u2019m good at. But I\u2019m also smart enough to know what I don\u2019t know, and I try not to meddle in that, unless I really think I can pull that off, like I did for this rock album. I always say that I live on creative and spiritual energy, and that\u2019s a good combination to keep you on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dolly Parton refuses to let the grass grow under her feet. She\u2019s thinking about recording a gospel album, there\u2019s a Broadway musical in the works, plus an acting role in the film adaptation of Run, Rose, Run<\/em>, based on her best-selling 2022 novel, co-written with author James Patterson. Parton has already released an accompanying album, while the movie version has been produced in tandem with Reese Witherspoon\u2019s Hello Sunshine company. <\/p>\n

The basic premise of Run, Rose, Run<\/em> feels very autobiographical: a young woman arrives in Nashville to pursue her dream of becoming a country star. Parton should have been filming already, but production has been caught up in the recent Hollywood strikes. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were planning to start it in October, but then the strike happened,\u201d she explains. \u201cSo it looks like now it will be pushed into next year. I\u2019m hoping some day soon we\u2019ll get a chance to do it, because I love working with Reese.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Broadway musical, meanwhile, tells the story of Parton\u2019s whole life. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping we might have that ready for the spring of 2025,\u201d she says. \u201cSo I\u2019m working on that in all my spare time. I\u2019ve written all the music, and I\u2019ve co-written the story too.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to assume that allthese different ventures occupy their own particular space and time. But there\u2019s very little compartmentalisation in Parton\u2019s creative life. Rather, each project feeds into the others, crossing arcs and through-lines that cut deep into her body of work. The same applies to her recorded output.<\/p>\n

Rockstar<\/em> is a prime example. Contrary to outward appearances, the album doesn\u2019t exist in a vacuum. The poignant My Blue Tears<\/em>, for example, dates back to 1971\u2019s Coat Of Many Colours<\/em>. Parton has revisited the song several times since, recording it with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt at one point, and later giving it a bluegrass makeover for 2001\u2019s sublime Little Sparrow<\/em>. For Rockstar, she duets with Duran Duran\u2019s Simon Le Bon. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always loved My Blue Tears<\/em>,\u201d she says. \u201cCarl was never the kind of person that would sit and listen to my music much. But when I first wrote it, I was singing that song in my music room and he stepped to the door and said: \u2018I really like that. That\u2019s a real good one.\u2019 The first person that ever recorded it was Goldie Hawn, when she did a country album [1972\u2019s Goldie<\/em>]. <\/p>\n

“So it\u2019s been done many times. I don\u2019t know what it is, but I just kept not giving up on that song. It\u2019s just an emotional country song. It reminds me of the old Elizabethan songs. I guess that\u2019s just embedded in my soul, that old-world flavour. For the rock album, I thought: \u2018Let\u2019s give it a bigger sound with the orchestra and everything, just to show what you can do with a simple little song.\u2019 It was for Carl more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rockstar<\/em> also sees Parton return to prior sources. Having recorded a cover of REO Speedwagon\u2019s Time For Me To Fly<\/em> for 1989\u2019s White Limozeen<\/em>, she\u2019s now covered another power ballad, Keep On Loving You<\/em>. REO lead singer Kevin Cronin, composer of both tunes, is aboard too. <\/p>\n

\u201cKevin was one of those people that responded after I did the callout at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. I told him: \u2018I would absolutely love to have you on it.\u2019 I think we did a good job on Keep On Loving You<\/em>. I loved recording Time For Me To Fly<\/em> all those years ago too. That was another one of my husband\u2019s favourites that I did in a bluegrass fashion. He didn\u2019t like that one either!\u201d <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Richie Sambora\u2019s presence on the title track<\/a> connects directly to Bon Jovi\u2019s huge-selling 80s rocker Lay Your Hands On Me<\/em>. Parton covered the song as a spirited country-gospel number for her album Blue Smoke<\/em> in 2014, the same year that co-writer Sambora appeared alongside her to perform at Glastonbury. <\/p>\n

Nine years on, Parton\u2019s memories of that occasion are no less vivid. She played the Pyramid Stage late on Sunday afternoon, sandwiched between sets by Ed Sheeran and The 1975. In a white, rhinestone-studded suit, Parton was phenomenal, drawing a record-breaking crowd of 180,000 and serving up the hits. Mass singalongs ensued, from Jolene<\/em> and Here You Come Again<\/em> to Islands In The Stream<\/em> and 9 To 5<\/em>. Even the security staff had choreographed their own moves. <\/p>\n

\u201cI felt a little nervous about doing Glastonbury,\u201d she admits, \u201cbecause I knew it was mostly a rock audience. They were having their fun, just wanting to get into the music, dancing and feeling it. And I was thinking: \u2018So much of my music is slow and storytelling. I\u2019m not sure about this.\u2019 I thought that when I got out there they might be whooping and hollering over the stories I was telling. But when I walked out I just got this tremendous acceptance. And when I would tell my stories they were as quiet as they could be and they seemed to really be into it. <\/p>\n

“It turned out to be one of the best things I\u2019ve ever done. And then with Richie coming out and playing with me on Lay Your Hands On Me<\/em>, y\u2019know, that killed it. We had a fine time.\u201d With three million-plus watching on TV, Parton\u2019s spot was the most viewed of the entire festival.<\/p>\n

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Before she took to the stage at Glastonbury, Parton received a special presentation marking career album sales of more than 100 million. In the States she\u2019s the only artist to have made the country charts in each of the past seven decades; no other female performer has scored more chart-topping singles in Billboard\u2019s country listings; and she has more Top 10 country albums than anyone in history. <\/p>\n

But while she will forever be associated with country music, it\u2019s little surprise that Parton has also been embraced by the rock crowd and beyond. Hers is crossover music. Marianne Faithfull, Sisters Of Mercy, Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor, Percy Sledge, Martha Wainwright, Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood, Angel Olsen and members of The Mekons have all recorded her songs. <\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s The White Stripes. In 2000, Jack and Meg White covered Jolene as the B-side to Hello Operato<\/em>r. This was no token throwaway. The song became a regular live favourite of theirs, to the point where a version from 2004\u2019s Under Blackpool Lights<\/em> DVD was later issued as a single. Another rendition was on their 2010 live album. <\/p>\n

Parton seems genuinely thrilled when I bring up the subject. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s great! I love The White Stripes, and I was so honoured that they did their version of it. And the fact that they played it on stage for a while. I\u2019m always tickled to death when anybody goes into my songs. They don\u2019t always have to sound like mine, though The White Stripes didn\u2019t change it all that much. I mean, Jolene<\/em> is Jolene<\/em>. You can never change a woman like that!\u201d <\/p>\n

At this stage, a follow-up to Rockstar<\/em> appears unlikely. The sheer weight of 30 songs, she says, means that she doesn\u2019t feelthe need to do another rock album any time soon. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not to say I\u2019ll never sing another rock song or never write one,\u201d Parton adds. \u201cActually, I think I will write more stuff like that, because I\u2019ve got that in my veins now. I think it really added a new dimension to my writing.\u201d <\/p>\n

The whole experience only serves to shore up the idea that Dolly Parton, like fellow Rock And Roll Hall Of Famers Johnny Cash<\/a> or Hank Williams, transcends country music completely. She belongs in a category of one, a bona fide, honest-to-goodness living icon. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think I do [transcend country], and I think I have done that, even through the years with the movies and all,\u201d she muses before it\u2019s time to sign off. \u201cHank did that because of his writing and his honesty, I guess. Those songs are so simple, but they\u2019re so damn good. They\u2019re so deep. The same with Johnny Cash. I always think of him as the John Wayne of country music. He just was a personality, a fixture in our business. People loved him, he\u2019s a legend. I don\u2019t know that I\u2019m a legend, but if I\u2019m not now then maybe I will be!\u201d <\/p>\n

Another eruption of laughter. <\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully I\u2019ll be around a while yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

This feature originally appeared in Classic Rock 321, published in November 2023<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

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In 2023, the late, great Dolly Parton released her Rockstar album, an unlikely collaboration with a lengthy list of rock A-listers, including Paul McCartney, John Fogerty, Stevie Nicks, Steven Tyler, Debbie Harry, Peter Frampton, Elton John and more. In a cover story for Classic Rock 321, Parton told us about the making of the album. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}