DOLLY PARTON TALKS NEW ALBUM 'ROCKSTAR', CURRENT STATE OF COUNTRY MUSIC AND WANTING TO COME TO INDIA

The latest single off the singer's upcoming 30-track LP is the Beatles classic 'Let It Be,' which features Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood

- DAVID BRITTO

WHEN WE SIT DOWN TO chat with American country music royalty, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and multi-Grammy Award winner Dolly Parton, over a Zoom call, she's at her effervescent best and comes across as such a kind soul. Parton - who was speaking to us from her Nashville office and studio - recently released the fourth single, "Let It Be," off her much anticipated 30-track album Rockstar, which is due to be released in full on November 17th, 2023, via Butterfly Records and Big Machine Records. Most of Rockstar includes a host of household names as collaborators and "Let It Be," the 1970 Beatles hit, is no different. The song features two of the original Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr as well as Peter Frampton (from the Herd and Humble Pie) and Mick Fleetwood (of Fleetwood Mac).

In this exclusive interview with Rolling Stone India, Parton talks to us about working with legends of rock music such as McCartney and Starr among others on her new album, wanting to visit India someday, her various other projects and more. Read below.

As one of the most adored country artists ever, I am very interested to know about the role rock music had on you.

Well, I think most people in the United States have been influenced by rock n' roll. I think really all over the world in the early days of people like Elvis [Presley] and Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, Chubby Checker and all of the great people that we loved in our young years. But my husband is a really big rock n' roll fan, and we've been together so many years. I've heard some of the greatest rock music ever because of him. And so, I just thought, 'Well, why don't I just go ahead and do a rock album now that they've gone and put me in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [in 2022].