VIJAT MOHINDRA
Few people are as beloved—or as busy—as Dolly Parton.
A rare treasure connecting country’s past and present, who seems to make everyone happy no matter their point of view. Her catalog of hits spans decades and her acting and humanitarian work give artists from all genres something to aspire to. And while Parton loves what she does, even one of the biggest stars in the world deserves to let her hair down every now and then.
With her new album Rockstar, the country great voted in by fans. But in a now-famous turn of has some well-earned, just-for-the-heck-of-it fun, going out on a limb that no one saw coming. With one of the most iconic supporting casts in history, Parton steps into the world of rock and roll music, once again proving she really can do anything. (And have a great time doing it.)
“I always liked doing something different,” she says in that dazzling Dolly drawl that exudes a thousand watts of charm and makes even total strangers feel like the singer’s closest friends. (Realizing we share a last name, the superstar quickly and officially proclaimed us to be “kin,” both settling a lifelong family debate and kicking our chat off on an emotional high that never wavered.)
Parton has always been the picture of charm and enthusiasm, and her excitement about the release of Rockstar is no exception. But when did Dolly go from a little bit country to a little bit rock and roll? According to Parton, she’s often considered doing a rock album. With forays into bluegrass, gospel, and even ’80s pop, she once told interviewers to expect one eventually but admits she “pretty much put that aside” as time went on. To hear her explain it, she started thinking, “Maybe I’m too old to be a rock star.”
It was the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that changed her mind. In early 2022, news broke that Parton had been nominated to join the Hall, and a few months later she was officially events, the country legend initially declined the offer, saying with respect that she didn’t see herself as a rock artist. Predictably, the headlines spread fast, with “Dolly Refuses Rock Hall of Fame” plastered at the top of every pop culture outlet, and eventually the icon changed her tune. Never one to disappoint her fans (or miss a great PR opportunity), she soon warmed to the idea, deciding instead to resolve her own reason for saying no. Why not just record a rock album, she thought?
“When they invited me into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I said, ‘Well, maybe that’s a sign of some kind,’” she says now. “I thought, ‘If I’m ever going to do it, now’s the time.’ So, I just went ahead and went for it. And I’m glad I did. I think it turned out pretty good!”
Pretty good is an understatement.
A 30-track collection featuring nine original songs and 21 reimagined classics, Rockstar is a celebration of both the legacy of rock music and of Parton as one of history’s greatest entertainers. Built to showcase her still-golden pipes and featuring a polite, easy-rock sound that feels perfectly suited to Parton’s song stylings, Rockstar sees the singer paying respectful tribute to the genre, even enlisting some of its greatest names. A small sample of the list reads like a who’s who of musical greatness: Elton John, Sting, former Journey frontman Steve Perry, Chris Stapleton, Miley Cyrus, Lizzo, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, John Fogerty, Stevie Nicks, P!nk, Brandi Carlile, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx, and John 5—even Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, who show up with special guests Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood, all on the same track.
And that’s just for starters. While artists of that caliber don’t need to take part in side projects or tribute albums, none of them turned the opportunity down—a testament to the power of Dolly Parton.
“It was just pure, simple admiration and adoration of Dolly,” says Kent Wells, Rockstar’s producer and one of Parton’s most trusted creative partners. “They all love her to death and would do anything for her. That was the prevailing sentiment. I don’t think there was one artist I approached who didn’t give me an overwhelming ‘Anything for Dolly!’ If I heard that once, I heard it a hundred times.”
A former member of Parton’s touring band, Wells is now the musical director of her live shows and has produced most of her projects going back to 2001, but he says Rockstar was unique—and something of a passion project for the producer. The album’s tracklist includes some of Wells’ all-time favorites, plus a few classics Parton was already familiar with. After all, she grew up alongside greats like “the Wild Man, Jerry Lee [Lewis],” and says her husband of 59 years, Carl, is a total “rock-and-roll freak.”
“It was not something foreign to me, let’s put it that way,” Parton says. “Who didn’t like Elvis?” Turning 78 in January, Parton’s voice sounds as strong and spry as ever and she holds her own with even her hardest-rocking collaborators. Forget the lilting butterfly vocal on many of Parton’s country favorites. Here she uncorks a punchy growl, filled with a playful attitude that somehow still feels natural and oh-so Dolly.
“Dolly, she doesn’t ease into anything,” Wells says with admiration. “She came at it in full Dolly fashion.”
Along with a soulful solo cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain,” Parton enlists P!nk and Brandi Carlile for a rollicking version of The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” and even teams up with Lizzo (and her flute) for a molten-hot rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”
“I think she’s so different, and I love the way she plays the flute,” Parton says of the hitmaker. “We were thinking about not only great singers but great musicians we could put on some of the songs. I thought that added so much to an already spectacular song.”
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Parton also reimagines some famous songs alongside their original performers, making each so much more than a simple cover. Tracks like “Every Breath You Take” with Sting and “Magic Man” with Ann Wilson and Howard Leese fit that bill. She even puts her own spin on “Let It Be,” one of the most sacred songs in the rock pantheon. Parton is perhaps the only artist alive with the pull to ask surviving Beatles members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to re- record that track—and then add Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood in, too! The tune is one of Rockstar’s most epic moments.
“I always loved that song, so when I reached out to Paul I just said, ‘Would you sing on it?’ I sent him my tape of the song, and he said, ‘Well, not only will I sing it, I’ll play on it if you want me to.’ Then after I heard it back, I thought, ‘Oh my God, Ringo’s still around! Why don’t I ask Ringo?’”
The mutual admiration is easy to see, but nowhere is it more palpable than on tracks where Parton and her guests work directly together. She sang face-to-face with Creedence Clearwater Revival founder John Fogerty on the bluesy “Long As I Can See the Light” and spent a few legendary hours in Nashville with Fleetwood Mac icon Stevie Nicks. According to Wells, Parton and Nicks “just stood there ripping it together” in his studio, dueling back and forth on the jaunty Nicks original “What Has Rock and Roll Ever Done for You.”
“I was nervous at first because I thought, ‘Wow, we’re going into some strange territory here,’” Wells admits of Parton’s foray into rock. “But I’ll tell you this, all the artists that sang on their cover songs were just thrilled with what she did, so that tells the tale.”
Parton was adamant about writing her own rockers for the album. One of them is the decadent “World on Fire.” A theatrical ’70s-style ballad with a spine-tingling vocal and a feisty warning of global destruction, the song taps into the genre’s tradition of social commentary and finds Parton stepping boldly into an area she rarely goes, speaking out about the state of humanity, and the danger she sees ahead.
Questioned about why she decided to make a lyrical statement, she says the song was born like many of her greatest hits—in the middle of the night.
“I just felt this urge to get up for some reason,” she explains. “So I came in the kitchen and I made me a cup of coffee, and that song just started coming to me. I’ve been heavy-laden about the problems of the world and the way things were going, thinking, ‘My God, are we just going to just let our pride and our egos and our stupidity destroy the whole world?’”
The song, which Parton debuted while co- hosting the 58th annual ACM Awards last May, is a powerful statement from an artist who tends to stay out of the political discussion. Parton often chooses to keep her own worldviews to herself in interviews but has spent years working behind the scenes as a humanitarian. Her Imagination Library has provided nearly 200 million free books to kids around the world since 1995. And then there was that COVID-19 vaccine she helped bring to fruition at warp speed.
“World on Fire” was one of the last songs recorded for the project. Parton says that at the time she didn’t know which tracks would make the final cut of the album, assuming she and Wells would select a handful to release as a standard- length album. But she liked each one so much, it was too hard to choose.
“I did not know when I started recording that I was going to wind up doing 30 songs. Nobody in their right mind would think about doing that!” she says with a laugh. “But we kept recording one song after another until eventually, Kent said, ‘We’ve got to stop. Hell, we can’t record every damn rock song!’ And I said, ‘I know we can’t because I can’t afford it!’ But then I’d think about other songs that I love and I wanted to try. Every time we’d listen back and think, ‘We can’t leave that off!’”
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With one epic rock opus under her belt, she’s not looking to make another one any time soon—especially since she likes this one so much. With that in mind, she hopes the joy in these 30 songs proves her appreciation for the genre and that she’s worthy of her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
“I hope it’s entertaining and hope people appreciate how I did it,” she says. “I think it’ll bring back a lot of memories to people that grew up with these songs, and hopefully they’ll love it. I know I put my best into it. I gave it all I had.”
Like that was ever in doubt.
Rocking Around the Christmas Tree
Like many of us, Dolly Parton loves the holiday season. “I’m big on Christmas!” the icon says. “It’s always been just a bunch of people singing and eating too much and telling stories—just being happy to get together.” With the season in full swing, we asked her to share some of her favorite traditions past and present. Here’s what she had to say about her holly, Dolly Christmases.
Homegrown Holiday
“We grew up way back in the Smoky Mountains up in a holler. So of course, we didn’t have a car and we didn’t have anything money could buy. I remember all of us making a big to-do out of going with Daddy out into the woods to find the perfect Christmas tree, and it’d take us forever because he’d have to inspect them all. Then when we did get the tree down, we’d bring it home and make all these homemade ornaments for it, because we didn’t have electricity in my early days. Mama was always so creative, and we’d make all the stuff that goes on the tree and string it with popcorn—that was always great. I remember they used to tell us that at midnight, I don’t know if Santa came or Jesus came or whatever, but something was supposed to happen at midnight. So, we’d go out to the barn about 11, all the kids bundled up and waiting on whatever was supposed to be coming. If it was Santa Claus, he always got lost because we lived too far back. We never did see him!”
Present(s) Day
“Nowadays, I always have my little nieces and nephews spend the night with me. We have what we call Cookie Night, and we make a mess. Then they get out on my property at the farm and ride the golf carts around—we dress ’em all up like sleighs. I have an elevator, and downstairs I have it painted like a chimney and a fireplace. So I come down the fireplace with their toys dressed as Santa Claus, and they’re sitting down there waiting for me to bring their toys off the elevator, which looks like a chimney. Like I said, I’m big on Christmas! I go all out!”