Global superstar and recent Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Dolly Parton is breaking new ground this week as her latest single from her hotly anticipated “Rockstar” album, “Bygones”, featuring JUDAS PRIEST‘s Rob Halford with special guests Nikki Sixx and John 5 of MÖTLEY CRÜE, debuts atop the Mediabase Classic Rock Songs chart. With No. 1s throughout her seven-decade career across Country, Pop, AC, Dance, Christian, Bluegrass, Folk/Americana, Holiday, and now Rock, Parton continues to make history.
Dolly says: “I am so excited to see the response ‘Bygones’ is receiving! To debut at No. 1 on the Rock charts is such a thrill for me, and it makes it even sweeter to share this with Rob, Nikki and John 5. I also have to recognize my coproducer on the album and cowriter on this song, Kent Wells, who helped me bring this song to life. I am a happy girl today!”
“Bygones” follows the lead single from “Rockstar”, “World On Fire” — another Parton original — that became the album’s first No. 1 when it peaked atop Billboard‘s Rock Digital Song Sales chart in May.
“It’s been a career-long goal to work with Dolly and when we heard she was nominated for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, we called management and said, ‘hopefully, this is our time!’,” said Big Machine Label Group chairman Scott Borchetta. “We are so proud to deliver her first Rock Radio No. 1!”
Parton will head to London next week to conduct a European media blitz of appearances in support of “Rockstar”.
In addition to “World On Fire” and “Bygones”, Parton has released a personalized cover of the rock classic “Magic Man (Carl Version) (feat. Ann Wilson)” with special guest Howard Leese.
Dolly previously said: “‘Bygones’ is an original song of mine featuring Rob Halford from JUDAS PRIEST with Nikki Sixx and John 5. It is one of my very favorites on the whole album. The song fits with so many couples and coupling my voice with Rob, one of my all-time favorites, made it even more special.”
She added: “I’ve always wanted a reason to sing ‘Magic Man’ by HEART and it was one of my first choices for the album. I was so happy that Ann Wilson agreed to sing it with me. Nobody can outsing Ann, but I gave it my darndest, and we added a few lines that were not in the original. We wanted to have a few things that made it seem like ours. Hope I]ve made you proud. I think it’s magic!”
Parton teamed up with an all-star roster of musicians for the 30-song “Rockstar” collection which includes nine original tracks and 21 iconic rock anthems. “Rockstar” is set for global release on November 17 via Butterfly Records with distribution by Big Machine Label Group and will be available as a four-LP set, a two-CD set, digital download and on all streaming services.
Dolly said: “I’m so excited to finally present my first rock and roll album ‘Rockstar’! I am very honored and privileged to have worked with some of the greatest iconic singers and musicians of all time and to be able to sing all the iconic songs throughout the album was a joy beyond measure. I hope everybody enjoys the album as much as I’ve enjoyed putting it together!”
“Rockstar” track listing:
* Rockstar (special guest Richie Sambora)
* World On Fire
* Every Breath You Take (feat. Sting)
* Open Arms (feat. Steve Perry)
* Magic Man (feat. Ann Wilson with special guest Howard Leese)
* Long As I Can See The Light (feat. John Fogerty)
* Either Or (feat. Kid Rock)
* I Want You Back (feat. Steven Tyler with special guest Warren Haynes)
* What Has Rock And Roll Ever Done For You (feat. Stevie Nicks with special guest Waddy Wachtel)
* Purple Rain
* Baby, I Love Your Way (feat. Peter Frampton)
* I Hate Myself For Loving You (feat. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts)
* Night Moves (feat. Chris Stapleton)
* Wrecking Ball (feat. Miley Cyrus)
* (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (feat. P!nk & Brandi Carlile)
* Keep On Loving You (feat. Kevin Cronin)
* Heart Of Glass (feat. Debbie Harry)
* Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (feat. Elton John)
* Tried To Rock And Roll Me (feat. Melissa Etheridge)
* Stairway To Heaven (feat. Lizzo & Sasha Flute)
* We Are The Champions
* Bygones (feat. Rob Halford with special guests Nikki Sixx & John 5)
* My Blue Tears (feat. Simon Le Bon)
* What’s Up? (feat. Linda Perry)
* You’re No Good (feat. Emmylou Harris & Sheryl Crow)
* Heartbreaker (feat. Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo)
* Bittersweet (feat. Michael McDonald)
* I Dreamed About Elvis (feat. Ronnie McDowell with special guest The Jordanaires)
* Let It Be (feat. Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr with special guests Peter Frampton & Mick Fleetwood)
* Free Bird (feat. Ronnie Van Zant with special guests Gary Rossington, Artimus Pyle and The Artimus Pyle Band)
When Parton was inducted into the Rock Hall, she mentioned several artists during her speech that she wanted to collaborate with on her rock album and revealed that she and Steve Perry would be singing JOURNEY‘s “Open Arms” together.
“If I’m gonna be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, I’m gonna have to do something to earn it. So I’m doing a rock and roll album, and I’m having a lot of the rock stars that I met that night be on the album with me,” Parton later explained.
Speaking to TotalRock, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford said about his collaboration with Dolly: “After the show, her manager came up to me, Danny [Nozell], and he goes, ‘She’s doing a project, like a rock album. Would you be interested?’ I said, ‘Yeah. Here’s my number.’ And then, out of the blue, like four weeks later, and suddenly [there’s] ideas for some more work.”
Parton is the most honored and revered female country singer-songwriter of all time and was recently inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Achieving 27 RIAA-certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards, she has had 26 songs reach No. 1 on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. Parton is the first artist to have topped the Billboard‘s Adult Contemporary, Christian AC Songs, Hot Country Songs, Christian Airplay, Country Airplay and Dance/Mix Show Airplay radio charts. Parton became the first country artist honored as Grammy MusiCares Person Of The Year given out by NARAS. She has 48 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 110 career-charted singles over the past 50-plus years.
In 2014 the RIAA recognized her impact on recorded music with a plaque commemorating more than 100 million units sold worldwide. She has garnered eleven Grammy Awards and 51 nominations, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, 10 Country Music Association Awards, including Entertainer of the Year; five Academy Of Country Music Awards, also including a nod for Entertainer Of The Year; four People’s Choice Awards; and three American Music Awards. In 1999, Parton was inducted as a member of the coveted Country Music Hall Of Fame.
In 2020, she released the Christmas album “A Holly Dolly Christmas” which went No. 1 on the Billboard Country and Holiday charts, as well released the best-selling coffee table book “Songteller: My Life in Lyrics”. In 2021, she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie for the film “Dolly Parton’s Christmas On The Square” and in December 2022, she released on NBC an all-new original holiday movie called “Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas” with her starring as well as producing; it was the most watched film of that year and the two years prior.
To date, Parton has donated over 205 million books to children around the world with her Imagination Library. Her children’s book, “Coat Of Many Colors”, was dedicated to the Library Of Congress to honor the Imagination Library’s 100 millionth book donation. In March of 2022, Parton released the book “Run Rose Run” which she co-authored with James Patterson which sat at No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller’s List for five weeks, a record for this decade. She also released an accompanying album of the same name with original songs inspired by the book which reached No. 1 on three charts simultaneously — Country, Americana/Folk and Bluegrass Albums. From her “Coat Of Many Colors” while working “9 To 5”, no dream is too and no mountain too high for the country girl who turned the world into her stage.
