Staying Fit
Good golly, Miss Dolly! Country music’s grande dame has caught a case of rockin’ pneumonia.
At 77, Dolly Parton has released the first rock album of her 64-year recording career. Rockstar, a 30-song set with nine originals and 21 mostly household rock tunes, is a mixed bag that’s too competently executed to be dismissed as a novelty and too ill-conceived to stand alongside the country landmarks in her catalog.
AARP Membership— $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal
Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine.
It’s also very Dollyesque: excessive, lovably absurd, impossible to ignore and stacked — with celebrities. Among those on board are Elton John, 76, Paul McCartney, 81, Ringo Starr, 83, Sting, 72, Steven Tyler, 75, Melissa Etheridge, 62, Joan Jett, 65, Debbie Harry, 78, and Stevie Nicks, 75.
The album, her 49th, was inspired by Parton’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, an honor she initially declined, explaining that she hadn’t earned such a distinction. She also made the album to please Carl Dean, her husband of 57 years and a hard rock devotee.
Rockstar isn’t Parton’s first stab at rock. Her debut single, 1959’s “Puppy Love,” was a bubblegum rocker. She released versions of the Jerry Lee Lewis classic “Great Balls of Fire” and the Beatles’ “Help!” in 1979. And Bon Jovi’s “Lay Your Hands on Me” appears on 2014’s Blue Smoke.
On the new album, the rhinestone cowgirl’s transformation to rock belter falls short, despite her irrepressible enthusiasm. While Parton radiates her usual unbridled cheer and positivity, she lacks the requisite rebellion and scrappiness that give rock an authentic kick. And she just can’t suppress that quivery Tennessee twang.