Dolly Parton was “nervous” about doing Glastonbury because she thought it was mainly a “rock audience”.
The ‘Jolene’ hitmaker – who has just released her first rock album ‘Rockstar’ after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – headlined the Sunday afternoon legends’ slot at the world-famous music festival in England in 2014 and she didn’t know if her storytelling-style of show would go down well.
She told Classic Rock magazine: “I felt a little nervous about doing Glastonbury, because I knew it was mostly a rock audience. They were having their fun, just wanting to get into the music, dancing and feeling it. And I was thinking: ‘So much of my music is slow and storytelling. I’m not sure about this.’
“I thought that when I got out there they might be whooping and hollering over the stories I was telling.”
However, the country music legend, 77, was blown away by the “tremendous acceptance” she received from the Glasto crowd.
She continued: “But when I walked out I just got this tremendous acceptance. And when I would tell my stories they were as quiet as they could be and they seemed to really be into it. It turned out to be one of the best things I’ve ever done. And then with Richie [Sambora, formerly of Bon Jovi] coming out and playing with me on ‘Lay Your Hands On Me’, y’know, that killed it.
We had a fine time.”
Richie and Dolly go way back and he plays on the title track on ‘Rockstar’.
Asked why someone should listen to a rock album by Dolly, he said: “Music is coming from a long time ago and we’re all just pushing it on. So hop on. I learnt how to play guitar by listening to records, reading the backs of records: let’s find out where Zeppelin got their stuff from, let’s find out where The Beatles came from.
They came from Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters and Good Golly Miss Molly and Little Richard. And where did they come from? That’s the way people should look at it. Dolly may have been the beginning of that movement, whatever you want to call it. If you’re not a fan of Dolly, you don’t understand music very much.”