Dolly Parton offered up some details on her upcoming rock record during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Parton revealed the album, aptly titled Rock Star, will come out next fall and will feature a number of guests, covers and originals.
“We’re going to have a lot of great, iconic songs like [Prince’s] ‘Purple Rain’ [the Rolling Stones’] ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,’ [Led Zeppelin’s] ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ [Lynyrd Skynyrd’s] ‘Free Bird’ But we’re going to have a few guest artists, ” said Parton.
Parton didn’t name specific guests on the album, but Ultimate Classic Rock reported she previously said Steve Perry and Steven Tyler will be appearing on the LP. The icon said that when it comes to recruiting artists for her rock album, she opts to react out to the artist herself instead of having publicists make those connections.
“I send a message myself because I figure they don’t need to get that through somebody else. … I’m excited to do it, I really am. I think it’s gonna be a good album,” said Parton.
Parton has some lofty goals for the album. She previously covered Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” on her 2002 album Halos & Horns. However, she told Pollstar of re-recording the track, “I’m going to redo that really on the money. I did it kind of bluegrass-style when I did it; but when I do the rock album, I’m going to actually re-record it – and do it more true to the regular record. I’m trying to see if Robert Plant might sing on it. Maybe Jimmy Page might do the pick-up part on it.”
