Dolly Parton was never the most obvious artist to appear in the pages of MetalTalk. Then again, Dolly Parton spent a lifetime making other people’s ideas about where she belonged largely irrelevant. The legendary singer, songwriter, actress and philanthropist has died at the age of 80. Her death in Nashville was announced by her family on Tuesday, 25 August 2026.
For most of her extraordinary career, Parton’s musical home was unquestionably country. She wrote Jolene, I Will Always Love You and 9 To 5, became one of the most recognisable entertainers on the planet and built a legacy stretching far beyond records.
But eventually, Dolly came knocking on MetalTalk’s door too. And when she decided to make a rock album, she did not do it by halves.
Her 2022 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inspired 2023’s Rockstar, a huge 30-song collection containing nine originals and 21 rock classics. The guest list looked as though somebody had been given access to one of rock’s more remarkable address books.
Rob Halford. Nikki Sixx. John 5. Ann Wilson. Steven Tyler. Stevie Nicks. Joan Jett. Peter Frampton. Elton John. Paul McCartney. Ringo Starr. Mick Fleetwood. Debbie Harry. Gary Rossington.
Suddenly Dolly Parton was very much MetalTalk business. When we first covered Rockstar in June 2023, it was the heavier end of the record that caught our attention. Bygones paired Parton with Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, with Nikki Sixx and John 5 joining them, while Ann Wilson appeared on Dolly’s version of the Heart classic Magic Man. When Dolly joined Artimus Pyle for their version of Freebird, we were excited.
This was not some novelty exercise in putting a country superstar next to a few distorted guitars. Our verdict at the time was simple. This was seriously top-quality stuff.
Parton clearly felt the same way about working with Halford. “Coupling my voice with Rob, one of my all-time favourites, made it even more special,” she told us of Bygones. A few weeks later, MetalTalk’s Monty Sewell was in London when Dolly arrived to talk about Rockstar herself.
There are press conferences, and then there are occasions when one of the world’s genuinely iconic entertainers walks into the room. Sewell described a hot-pink, bedazzled jumpsuit, silver over-the-knee boots, towering hair and, more importantly, the warmth and humour that generations of people had come to associate with Dolly Parton.
What emerged during those 45 minutes was that Dolly hadn’t approached rock cautiously. “I just really put my whole heart and soul into it,” she said. “I went places I didn’t think I would ever go and had real joy doing it.”
That attitude probably explains why Rockstar worked. Parton was not trying to convince anyone she had secretly been a Metalhead all along. Instead, she stepped into another musical world with curiosity, respect and enough confidence in her own identity to remain unmistakably Dolly throughout it.
The story of how Rob Halford became involved summed that up beautifully. The pair had talked while appearing together at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, where they had been singing Jolene. Halford told her that he and his family were longtime fans. Dolly, meanwhile, revealed that her husband Carl Dean loved Judas Priest.
So she asked the Metal God a fairly straightforward question. If she made a rock album, would he be on it? He said he would be honoured.
Rockstar was only a tiny part of the Dolly Parton story. Born in Tennessee in 1946, she went from poverty to becoming one of music’s most successful and recognisable figures. She sold more than 100 million records worldwide, won 11 Grammy Awards and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
But statistics only explain part of why Dolly mattered. There was also the Imagination Library, created in honour of her father, who had been unable to read or write. When MetalTalk met her in 2023, the programme had already donated more than 200 million books to children.
And perhaps the most revealing moment of that London afternoon had nothing to do with album sales, famous collaborators or musical genres.
“My message to everybody is to love one another,” Parton told the room. “I try to find a light in everybody.”
Dolly Parton didn’t need Heavy Metal to make her a legend, and Heavy Metal certainly didn’t need to claim her as one of its own. But for a wonderful moment, our worlds crossed.
She tackled Heart, Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd and made an album called Rockstar because, after the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame had welcomed her in, she decided she ought to earn the title properly. And in the process, Dolly Parton earned herself an unlikely but entirely deserved place in MetalTalk history.
We came to Dolly through rock ‘n’ roll. We left understanding why everybody else had loved her for so long.
Dolly Parton, 19 January 1946 – 25 August 2026.
