Dolly Parton Inducted Into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Dolly Parton has joined the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, arriving as the last of 2022's inductees during a ceremony on Saturday night (Nov. 5).
"I want to thank the Hall of Fame and all the people out there through all of these years," she said. "I've been doing it all my life and I do love it. I'm very humbled by this."
Pink introduced Parton, praising her "heartbreaking and soul-stirring songs." After describing Parton's hard-scrabble rural Tennessee beginnings, Pink added, "There are few finer songwriters, male or female, that ever lived. ... She writes about things that other would prefer to be swept under the rug." Pink went on to highlight Parton's hits, philanthropy, "spirit and her heart on her sleeve."
Not long after she was nominated, Parton announced that she would bow out of the voting process. "Even though I am extremely flattered and grateful to be nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," she said, "I don't feel that I have earned that right."
The Rock Hall responded by saying that voting would proceed, despite Parton's objections. "From its inception, rock 'n' roll has had deep roots in rhythm & blues and country music," Rock Hall Foundation director of communications Shauna Wilson said in a statement. "It is not defined by any one genre, rather a sound that moves youth culture. Dolly Parton’s music impacted a generation of young fans and influenced countless artists that followed."
Parton then said that if she was inducted, she would "accept gracefully."
"I never considered myself a rock artist," she clarified, "but obviously there's more to it than that."
Parton poked fun at the whole episode from the podium in Los Angeles, proclaiming: "I'm a rock star now!"
Earlier this year, Parton also said that if she was inducted, she would consider making a rock album. "I’m not expecting that I’ll get in," she said, "but if I do, I'll immediately, next year, have to put out a great rock 'n' roll album – which I've wanted to do for years, like a Linda Ronstadt or Heart kind of thing. So this may have been just a God-wink for me to go ahead and do that."
Her goddaughter Miley Cyrus was featured in Parton's introductory video, as were Kacey Musgraves and Carrie Underwood.