Dolly Parton Reveals Real Reason Behind Upcoming Rock 'n' Roll Album
Turns out, there's more to the story of Dolly Parton's next album than she originally revealed!
The "Jolene" songstress first teased her debut rock album when she accepted her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, suggesting that she was going to work to earn the honor she initially declined, but that wasn't actually the biggest source of inspiration for the country-superstar-turned-rocker.
While speaking to Entertainment Tonight , Parton shared that it was actually her "rock and roller" husband, Carl Dean, that gave her the biggest push.
"He's one of the main reasons I did this album," Parton told the outlet , admitting that Dean is more excited about the upcoming album, aptly dubbed Rock Star , than any previous project of hers.
Parton first teased the magnitude of Rock Star when she visited The View in January, announcing that Paul McCartney , Stevie Nicks , Cher , P!nk , Brandi Carlile , John Fogerty , Steve Perry , and Steven Tyler were all set to collaborate with her. At the time, she was still hoping to secure the likes of Elton John —who did, indeed, later sign on—and Mick Jagger, who, much to her dismay, was not available. She told ET that she's "always had a crush" on the rocker, even joking, "I ran after him like a high school girl after a jock."
She continued, "There was a lot of people I wanted, and a lot of people that would have been happy to do [it] and actually wanted to do it, but we never could either find the right song or we never could get our schedules together before our deadline was over."
But she still loves Jagger all the same, assuring readers that she'll "still be running after him all through the years."
Of the features that did work out, Parton said she was "really pleased" about how things panned out. "Like everything I do, I ask God to bless it and to guide me in it and to let it be a blessing for everybody that's involved in it," she said. "I've made some really good friends. It's just really had a good, positive effect on everybody... It's gonna get a lot of publicity and everybody wanted to do their best for me. I wanted to do my best for them. So, because of that, we really came up with some great stuff."
It's not easy to just sit and wait around until November to hear just how great, but luckily the 77-year-old will be performing—and dropping!—the first single from the album next month, coinciding with the ACM Awards .
Related: 6-Year-Old Girl Captures the Internet's Heart Dressed as Dolly Parton
