Dolly Parton, 77, is a household figure in country music as well as the celebrity world.
The Tennessee native has become nothing short of a legend, and despite having spent her whole life performing and singing, she has always enjoyed entertaining her millions of admirers.
However, the renowned superstar has formally confirmed that she will no longer tour, despite continuing to create new music.
Dolly Parton announced her retirement from touring in a recent interview with Pollystar. She elaborated:
“I’ll perform a few special shows here and there. Perhaps a long weekend of shows or a few shows at a festival. But I have no plans to embark on a full-fledged tour.”
Dolly Parton, who rose to the pinnacle of world entertainment while growing up in poverty in the Appalachian Mountains, will undoubtedly be missed on stage.
However, the 77-year-old country music legend will continue to compose music and, rather than touring, will devote her time to her beloved husband, Carl Thomas Dean.
Dolly met Carl Dean outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1964. Dolly was 18 years old at the time, and Carl was 21. Carl noticed something special about the young lady right away.
“My first thought was, ‘I’m gonna marry that girl,’” Dean said of the moment they met, according to Entertainment Tonight.
“My second reaction was, ‘Lord, she’s pretty.’ That was the start of my life. “I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for anything.”
Dean was sitting in his pickup vehicle when he saw Dolly and “hollered” at her, she recalled in a 1976 interview with the New York Times.
She, however, declined a date with him. Instead, she asked him over the next time she babysat her nephew. It was the beginning of an unending love story.
Dolly and Carl married in a private ceremony in Ringgold, Georgia, in May 1966. Her record label advised them to postpone their wedding because she had a career to consider.
Dean and Dolly, however, did not want to wait and chose to marry in Georgia so that the local press in Tennessee would not write about it. Dolly, Carl, and her mother were the only ones present.
Dolly and Carl have been profoundly in love ever since. The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2016. They chose to renew their vows to commemorate the occasion.
They will now have even more time together.
Parton discussed her traveling experiences in depth in an interview with Pollstar:
“I’ve done that my entire life, and it takes a lot of time and effort.” I prefer to spend more time at home with my hubby. We’re both getting older, and I don’t want to be gone for four or five weeks at a time,” Dolly explained, adding:
“Something might happen. If I were gone and someone needed me, I would not feel right about it. Or I’d feel horrible if I had to quit a tour because someone got sick at home and needed me and I had to abandon the fans.”
The singer adds that her current musical works will be in the rock n’ roll genre for her hubby as well. Parton was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year.
“When I was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I thought, well, there’s no better time than now.” It was something I had always wanted to do. My husband is a big hard rock ‘n’ roll lover, and I’ve been thinking for years, ‘One of these days, I’d like to do an album primarily for him, just to kind of do it.’”
While working on her new record, Dolly Parton has been busy with her new NBC special, Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas, which debuted on Thursday, December 1.
“It’s a show inside a show.” We’re concentrating on the dramatic aspect of things. It depicts everything that happens while you’re putting on a show. All of the conflicts you have with the producers, all of the issues you have with the performers, all of the issues you have with scenery falling down and all of the things that happen on backstage, people needing to cancel and reschedule quickly… I wouldn’t call myself an actor since I’m just being myself. I’m just Dolly the whole time; I’m not playing a role.”
In addition, Dolly is collaborating with actress-turned-producer Reese Witherspoon on the upcoming film “Run, Rose, Run,” which is based on a novel of the same name co-written by the star and James Patterson.
Dolly Parton’s well-being
For many of us, Dolly Parton has always represented strength and tenacity. However, as we have seen, Dolly Parton has her reasons for not wanting to tour her music on a wide scale. And that all makes sense given what she’s been through in the past.
Dolly is well aware of the consequences of failing to listen to your body and ignoring warning signs. For years throughout the 1980s, she struggled with health issues, but she ignored them in order to focus on her work.
Dolly Parton was 35 when she “got sick,” which resulted in her collapsing on stage while performing in Indianapolis. The country music legend was diagnosed with endometriosis at the height of her career.
Pain, heavy periods, and weariness are common symptoms; the illness can also cause the womb’s lining to grow on other organs.
Dolly, on the other hand, dismissed her discomfort as “female problems.” Her doctor advised her to take a rest before a concert in Indianapolis in 1982. But Parton refused to listen and continued with the act, defying the doctor’s recommendations. She collapsed on stage and was airlifted to New York for medical attention. Her health difficulties forced her to cancel the final 30 dates of her 35-city tour in the United States and Canada.
Dolly was obliged to have a partial hysterectomy not long after.
“I was able to get away with murder.” I wasn’t watching what I ate, wasn’t paying attention to nutrition, and wasn’t taking care of myself. I was working hard, but I was buried beneath a mountain of psychological and emotional issues.”
Dolly, enjoy your’retirement!’ You’ve done so much for us! Relax and enjoy your life right now! We shall always cherish you.