With many stars - Dolly Parton's album "Rockstar"
Dolly Parton calls and the whole world answers? Yes, that's how it was, says the 77-year-old US-American as she talks about her new album "Rockstar" in a posh hotel in London recently. The country legend has recorded a record with cover versions of some of the greatest rock songs of all time - and lured a considerable number of the original performers - all legends in their own right - into the studio.
The line-up is remarkable: Paul McCartney (81), Ringo Starr (83), Elton John (76), Sting (72), Sheryl Crow (61) and Peter Frampton (73) are just the icing on the cake. She recorded "Let It Be" with the two ex-Beatles. Elton John persuaded her to sing the legendary duet "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me". She sang "Every Breath You Take" with Sting.
Mick Jagger deserves a "kick in his skinny ass"
The fact that Mick Jagger didn't rock along to "Satisfaction" was only due to the fact that time had run out. The Rolling Stones frontman had received so much publicity in the meantime due to the many requests that he deserved "a kick in his skinny butt", joked Parton in an interview with the German Press Agency. In reality, however, Parton admits that she was very afraid of being rejected by the rock stars.
But the fact that even heavy metal artists like Rob Halford from Judas Priest have been able to endorse her record is perhaps the best indication of how much the country singer and songwriter is appreciated in the world of rock. But not everything on the album is strictly speaking rock: she recorded a version of her goddaughter Miley Cyrus' hit "Wrecking Ball" with her goddaughter. With Peter Frampton on his song "Baby I Love Your Way".
Curious best-of rock album
Parton, who made music history with songs such as "Jolene", "9 to 5" and "I Will Always Love You" and sold more than 100 million records after being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, decided to record a rock album. She had initially rejected her nomination for this. This was on the grounds that she did not deserve it as a country singer. She later changed her mind - but she wanted to do something about it.
In addition, her husband, Carl Dean, to whom she has been married for almost 60 years, is a "rock'n'roll freak", she says in an interview with dpa. The fact that her publicity-shy partner praised her for her version of "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin is particularly important to her. "It was really a big, big compliment for me that he liked it because I wanted to make him happy with it," says the 77-year-old.
She is not apolitical: "Liar, liar, the world's on fire"
The result is a curious "Best of Rock" album that not only Parton fans will enjoy. Although her voluminous voice is better suited to the ballads than the hard rock songs. Nine of the 32 songs are original titles. These include the single "World On Fire" - a catchy rock song that sounds like a political statement. "Liar, liar, the world's on fire" she sings and it's hard to avoid associations with major political issues such as Donald Trump's renewed presidential candidacy or climate change.
This is unusual, as Parton is known for investing large sums of money in charitable causes - for example, one million dollars (around 930,000 euros) in medical research that led to the development of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine - but she has always been apolitical. Accordingly, she does not want to get involved in interpreting the lyrics of her song. She simply told the homeless magazine "Big Issue": "I don't go out on the street. I don't carry placards. I'm not an activist. I'm not a feminist - and yet I'm all of those things."
Dolly Parton's new album "Rockstar" also features collaborations with music legends outside of the rock genre. She teamed up with none other than Paul McCartney for a rendition of "Let It Be."
Fans of Dolly Parton might be surprised to learn that she also included a cover of Miley Cyrus's hit "Wrecking Ball" on her rock-inspired album, with the help of her goddaughter herself.
Source: www.dpa.com
