Credit: NBCRumors have been swirling for weeks that country music legend and American treasure Dolly Parton was stepping away from the limelight for now. Parton stopped touring years ago to be closer to home with her husband, Carl Dean.
Related: American Treasure Dolly Parton Suspends Her Public Appearances Indefinitely
In 2017, Dean was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Since then, Dolly Parton has tried to cut down on her public schedule to be closer to their East Tennessee home.
Parton and Dean have been married since 1966 when she was 20 and he was 23. It is an amazing story of love that has lasted nearly six decades.
However, while she is home tending to Carl Dean, Dolly Parton has not been idle. According to her niece, Dolly has been hard at work on a new studio album, her 50th, and it will be “massive.”
The new album, Dolly Parton: Smoky Mountain DNA, will feature 30 tracks and collaborations with at least 20 of her family members.
It is an album that documents her whole life. It has been a huge undertaking which involves the whole family. It is an album she has produced with more than 30 tracks with over 20 family members. She sings with us on every track. The album covers songs written about her childhood, her mother and father, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, all the way to her nieces and nephews.
We all get to share interpretations of her songs or write our own songs for it. It has been a huge crazy project.
This will be Parton’s first release since 2023’s Rockstar. That 30-song album included covers of classic rock songs and duets with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Steven Tyler, Debbie Harry, Joan Jett, and Kid Rock.
Dolly Parton put out the rock album after she withdrew her name from consideration from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, saying that she “didn’t earn the right,”
Dolly Parton’s Giving
Denying herself entrance into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame isn’t the only good dead on Dolly Parton’s ledger.
In her lifetime, the country music legend has given away millions of dollars to help poor students in her home, Sevier County, Tennessee, and she has given away millions of books through the Dollywood Foundation. Through her foundation, she helped lower the dropout rate from 35 percent to six, a fantastic accomplishment for anyone.
Dolly Parton has also raised millions after wildfires and floods devastated East Tennessee. She even set up a bald eagle sanctuary near Dollywood to help the endangered symbol of America. If that were all she had done, Dolly Parton would have more than solidified herself as a National Treasure. But wait, there’s more.
In 2017, Parton donated $1 million to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in honor of her niece, who was treated for leukemia there.
She followed that up with a $1 million donation to coronavirus research at Vanderbilt University, which helped fund Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. In June 2022, she donated a third $1 million to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, this time to help pediatric infectious disease research.
For her 50th album, Parton has returned to her roots and her family. Here’s to hoping that American Treasure Dolly Parton has another 50 albums left in her.
What is your favorite memory of American Treasure Dolly Parton?