Dolly Parton Reveals The Challenges She Faced When Recording Her ‘ROCKSTAR’ Album

Dolly Parton is living up to her Rock n’ Roll Hall Of Fame induction with the release of her first-ever rock album, aptly titled, ROCKSTAR. 

Out now, the project features a whopping 30 tracks, including 9 originals and 21 iconic rock covers. Adding to the excitement surrounding the project, Parton invited a slew of rock legends to sing with her on the album. 

Inside The Album Release Event

In celebration of the star-studded release, Parton hosted a ROCKSTAR album release event in partnership with American Greetings on Thursday evening (Nov. 16) just outside of Nashville where she discussed the making of the project in a room full of friends, family, special guests, and members of the music community (including newly crowned CMA Entertainer of the Year, Lainey Wilson!). 

Admits It Was A “Challenge”

After discussing her ROCKSTAR fashion and her upcoming halftime show performance during the Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving day game, Parton shared insight into the making of the album and admitted that it was “kind of a challenge” for her. 

“I didn’t really know if I could do it great,” the humble East Tennessee native confessed. “That’s why I did 30 songs, because I was doing it on a demo scale. And so I thought, well, we’ll just do all these songs and then we’ll pick the ones that are the best out of it.”

Much to her surprise, “they all kept turning out good” and the track list continued to grow. While in the studio with her longtime collaborator, Kent Wells, Parton pushed herself to hit notes she had never hit before. 

“I thought, ‘Well, I’m a country singer, but now I’m going to do rock.’ And as I mentioned before, I wanted to do it well, but I kept hearing things and I thought, ‘I wonder if I can hit that note?’ 

She ‘Tested’ Her Voice

In the end, Parton says she decided to just “go for it.” 

“I would actually would go for things that I normally had not or would not… I really got into singing these songs and I really tested my voice and I would hold notes longer than I normally would to see how long my breath would hold out.” 

She believes channeling her inner ROCKSTAR is what truly helped her shine on this project.  

“And then I’d sing higher than I normally had on ‘Freebird’ or on ‘Purple Rain.’ When I got to sing those songs, I thought, ‘Wow.’ I just felt the spirit of the people that wrote them and I thought, ‘Well, help me out here!’ And I just went for it,” she explained. “So yeah, it was good. I got to challenge myself and I thought I measured up pretty good on a lot of them, so I hope you’ll feel the same.” 

ROCKSTAR is available as a Four LP set, a two CD set (including Home Shopping Network, University of Tennessee and Dallas Cowboys CD exclusives), a double cassette (exclusive to TalkShopLive), digital download and available on all streaming services.

ROCKSTAR TRACK LIST

1. Rockstar (special guest Richie Sambora)
2. World on Fire
3. Every Breath You Take (feat. Sting)
4. Open Arms (feat. Steve Perry)
5. Magic Man(Carl Version) (feat. Ann Wilson with special guest Howard Leese)
6. Long As I Can See The Light (feat. John Fogerty)
7. Either Or (feat. Kid Rock)
8. I Want You Back (feat. Steven Tyler with special guest Warren Haynes)
9. What Has Rock And Roll Ever Done For You (feat. Stevie Nicks with special guest Waddy Wachtel)
10. Purple Rain
11. Baby, I Love Your Way (feat. Peter Frampton)
12. I Hate Myself For Loving You (feat. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts)
13. Night Moves (feat. Chris Stapleton)
14. Wrecking Ball (feat. Miley Cyrus)
15. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (feat. P!nk & Brandi Carlile)
16. Keep On Loving You (feat. Kevin Cronin)
17. Heart Of Glass (feat. Debbie Harry)
18. Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (feat. Elton John)
19. Tried To Rock And Roll Me (feat. Melissa Etheridge)
20. Stairway To Heaven (feat. Lizzo & Sasha Flute)
21. We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You
22. Bygones (feat. Rob Halford with special guests Nikki Sixx & John 5)
23. My Blue Tears (feat. Simon Le Bon)
24. What’s Up? (feat. Linda Perry)
25. You’re No Good (feat. Emmylou Harris & Sheryl Crow)
26. Heartbreaker (feat. Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo)
27. Bittersweet (feat. Michael McDonald)
28. I Dreamed About Elvis (feat. Ronnie McDowell with special guest The Jordanaires)
29. Let It Be (feat. Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr with special guests Peter Frampton & Mick Fleetwood)
30. Free Bird (feat. Lynyrd Skynyrd with special guests Artimus Pyle and The Artimus Pyle Band)