Hello, Dolly

So the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame did its thing, and I missed it this go-'round. I mean, I read about it, thought about it, voted on it, and intended to write about it. Whoops.

More to come on that in a soon-come post.

In the meantime... Dolly Parton. As discussed here last year, she was nominated and then inducted into the RnRHoF's last class. Despite her being pretty f-in far from rock and roll. 

Oh well... she handled it with the grace and style that everyone has come to expect from her.

And then, she one-upped the whole damn thing and did this.

On November 17, Dolly Parton will release an album called, plainly enough, Rockstar. The cover will feature... well, one of these images, presumably.

Interesting. And here's the 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” (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”
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. Ronnie Van Zant with special guests Gary Rossington, Artimus Pyle and The Artimus Pyle Band)

Huh. Prolific for sure. And a wide smattering. Would've liked to see more punk than Debbie Harry and Joan Jett, but no matter. I'm intrigued.

I did see Ronnie Van Zant's name there and thought for sure somebody bungled this and that it was little brother Johnny (singer in the bastard version of the band for 35 years). Nope, they're using RVZ's chops from the 70's as mixed in with Dolly and the late Gary Rossington. We'll see how that goes. 

Well then. Case closed. Just in doing this a year after she tried to take herself off the Rock Hall ballot for reasons she shouldn't have had to explain, Dolly Parton is a rock star. 

I say that -- sounds unheard. Yeah, this could be truly terrible, sonically speaking, but I dig the effort. And frankly, I wouldn't bet against Dolly.