Dolly Parton Wants to Make a Rock Album

The “Jolene” singer told Pollstar that after she got inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year, she thought to herself, “Why not just go ahead and do it while the iron’s hot? Maybe have some of the greats, the legends of rock ‘n’ roll sing along with me.”

She’s looking to do a re-recording of her bluegrass “Stairway to Heaven” cover, with hopes to make it a full-on rock song with the help of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin should they choose to join her in the studio.

She also wants to collaborate with people outside of rock, saying that she’s always dreamt of singing with Ed Sheeran and thinks their voices would “blend so beautifully together.” That ambition for duets extends outside of the music world altogether, saying that she wants to sing more with Jimmy Fallon and that he’s a “really good singer” even though “he doesn’t think so.”

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Alongside Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley Cyrus, Fallon will be joining Parton for her upcoming NBC Christmas special, Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas. Parton explained, “What we’re doing is focused on the dramatic side. It’s showing all the things that go on while you’re putting together a show. All the arguments you have with the producers, all the problems you have with the artists, all the problems you have with scenery falling down and all the things that go on backstage, people having to cancel and reschedule real quick.”

In the musical, she’ll be visited by the Three Wise Men, who will challenge her “notions of the real magic of Christmas” in true cheesy-yet-heartwarming holiday special fashion.

She’s also working with Sony Pictures on a film adaptation of Run, Rose, Run, a book she co-wrote with James Patterson that will be produced by Patterson’s entertainment company.

We personally can’t wait for everything she has in store for us in the coming years. It seems that Dolly Parton’s back on the clock, working 9-to-5 and some overtime to get everything ready for her revival.

Photos courtesy of John Salangsang/BFA