It was 9 o'clock in the morning and I was getting myself into a mild panic setting up a Zoom call with Dolly Parton.
After months of planning and correspondence between publicists in the US and New Zealand, it had come down to this — my laptop and a Zoom invite. An ordinary and pretty mundane modern occurrence for most of us, but it was the person who'd be on the other end that stirred a flutter of butterflies in my stomach.
A text came through from one of Parton's team in the US.
"We are running about 10 to 15 minutes early. Could you log onto Zoom early?" they asked.
"I'm logged on and ready to go," I answered.
The truth is I was logged on a full half-hour earlier because I heard from others that Parton is always on time. I'm not keeping Dolly waiting.
If you know anything about Parton's work ethic, it's hardly a surprise. The country music star is a self-confessed workaholic who's sold more than a hundred million records over a career spanning more than 50 years. You don't get to the top by being late.
The screen suddenly sprang to life and there she was on my laptop, about five minutes early, sparkling in a low-cut white dress with a black lace blouse and looking every bit the rock star she's set to become at 77.
"You're a long way off but you feel real close!" she exclaimed about our physical distance from Auckland to Nashville, and immediately she was in chat mode — open, witty and vivacious.
Parton was on the line to talk about the release of her first rock album and a new book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, which which looks back at her fashion style over the years.
In November 2022 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but it wasn't an honour she thought she should accept because she didn't think of herself as a rock star.
"When you hear Rock and Roll Hall of Fame you think rock 'n' rollers should be in that Hall of Fame, and I know a lot of rock artists who are not in the Hall of Fame who actually should be.
"When they said they were going to put me in it, I thought 'no' I don't think I've earned that I don't want to take votes away from someone who really has. You can give me anything for country music, I'd be glad to take it because I've spent my whole life doing that, but I just felt like I hadn't earned it.
"And then they put me in anyway, and that's what really inspired me and I think here's the perfect time to do this rock 'n' roll album," Parton explained.
The album Rockstar is huge, with 30 tracks in all, many of them duets with some of the biggest names in rock including Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, Elton John, Pat Benatar, Sting and Joan Jett.
I wondered how easy it must be for Parton to pick up her phone, with its vast catalogue of famous names, and ask them to co-lab with her.
'I didn't want to put anyone on the spot so I mostly worked through managers. I wrote them all a sweet little letter telling me what I was doing and asking them to join me if they were available and willing.
"Almost everybody that I reached out to said 'yes, we'd love to do it'. So then we set about trying to figure out the timing and trying to get everything done."
'I ran after Mick Jagger'
Not everyone she approached was available.
"A few people I wish I could have had, we didn't get a chance to have them because of schedules — they were working on albums or on tour. But I really feel that the ones I have on this album were meant to be on it."
"Did anyone turn you down?" I whispered, wondering why anyone would have the gall to turn her down.
"No, nobody turned me down, I just had to accept that I couldn't get them. But I ran after Mick Jagger. I was really hoping to have him on. I really wanted to sing Satisfaction. He said, 'let's do something else'.
"We kept looking and then I didn't realise he was in the middle of doing a secret album that they came out with just recently, so we could never get our schedules together. He was willing and I wanted him, but there were a few people I missed.
"I wanted Cher on the album but we couldn't find the right song in time because I had a deadline to meet."
At age 77 the country star is now a bona fide rock star, too — and she's loving it.
"It feels real good. I'm kind of basking in the glow at the moment. Just to have spent time with all these great artists and kinda go outside myself doing something a little different for me.
"I always love a challenge and I always like doing new and adventurous things. I think as much as anything I enjoyed getting to know some of these people personally and seeing what fine people so many of them are.
"Because you hear so many dreadful stories about rock stars and I'm sure some of them were pretty wild in the day but all of these seem pretty tame.'
This segued nicely into our discussion about fashion and Parton's new book, because 'tame' is something she has never been when it came to her own personal style.
"I think it's important that people find their own identity through what they're comfortable wearing. I don't think you have to spend a lot of money on fashionable clothes.
"I think that we all have our own unique personality, and I think we need to dress ourselves accordingly. I don't think we need to follow trends or any of that stuff, I think whatever you're most comfortable in is what you should be wearing and I certainly showed that in this book."
And Dolly Parton is synonymous with big hair and eye-catching outfits, of course.
"I've had some pretty outrageous outfits on and ever since I was little I've loved colour and shiny things and big hairdos," she said.
"Sometimes I laughed out loud when we were putting the book together because I'd see some of those pictures and I'd think 'Oh my Lord, was I serious? How did I even carry that wig around? That wig was wearing me!
"But I'm certain at the time I thought I was looking pretty cool. But through the book I just want people to think that it's okay to find your own personal comfort zone and wear what you're comfortable in — even if somebody else is not comfortable with you wearing it.
"If it suits you, you wear that. You be you."
As a freshly minted rock star, she wants women in particular to not worry about dressing their age.
"Look, I'm 77 years old, look at me. I'm always wearing big hair and trying to look like a teenager, trying to be a 'rockstar' but I have fun doing it you know, it's part of my personality more than anything else.
"It's like I get a kick out of it more than anything else because I'm doing it for me. I think if I can pull it off, if I can wear it and be comfortable in it, it'll be fine for other people," she said.
"But even if it's not, I don't care."
Preach it, Dolly.
SHARE ME