POP/ROCK
Dolly Parton, "Rockstar"
At age 77, and with nearly 50 (!) solo studio releases to her name, Parton just scored the highest charting album of her career, the mammoth double LP "Rockstar," which debuted on this week's Billboard 200 at No. 3.
"Rockstar" is not an album so much as a referendum on how incredibly well-liked Parton is at this moment. She seems to have drafted up a long scroll of dream collaborators, and each one of them picked up the phone: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Joan Jett, Miley Cyrus, Lizzo, Elton John, Rob Halford from Judas Priest and on and on. And "Rockstar" does go on, for an indefatigable 30 tracks, clocking in at 2 hours and 22 minutes.
While "Rockstar" might end up one of Parton's most commercially successful albums, it's not one of her best. My main quibble is the premise itself. Last year, when Parton was nominated for inclusion in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, she initially tried to take her name off the ballot because she didn't consider herself a rock artist. "This has, however, inspired me to put out a hopefully great rock 'n' roll album at some point in the future," she wrote in a statement.
I disagree with the notion that Dolly Parton wasn't a rock star until she released an album called "Rockstar" — it feels like too narrow and literal an understanding of genre. Sure, Parton is a country artist at heart, but she's also a dynamic, take-no-bull cultural icon with a powerful voice and a flair for spectacle. And, she's been reshaping rock 'n' roll in her own style for her entire career.
One of the best tracks on "Rockstar" is a soulful duet by Parton and John Fogerty on the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic "Long as I Can See the Light." Their voices mesh well together, and both sound at home emphasizing the original song's gospel influence.
For her contribution to "Rockstar," Stevie Nicks offered a previously unreleased track she'd written for Fleetwood Mac called "What Has Rock and Roll Ever Done for You." It's fun to hear it get a second life here — and to hear Parton and Nicks' chummy chemistry on the spoken-word parts.
