There’s One Thing Dolly Parton Wishes She Could Do at Dollywood

Dolly Parton is one of the most revered women in all of music history. She is releasing her first ever rock album, Rockstar, later this month, as well as a book called Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones.

I had the chance to sit down with Parton for a one-on-one conversation about her new book, album and life in general. One of the questions I really wanted to ask the Queen was about Dollywood, her theme park that opened in 1986.

You don't have to scour the internet too hard to find pictures and videos of Parton making her rounds at Dollywood for special occasions and events and whatnot. One wonders, does Dolly ever get to have a fun day as a patron in her own park?

When speaking with her, I asked if she and her husband, Carl, ever shut down the park and walk through as patrons. She hasn't, but wants to.

"No, but I've often thought I'd like to do that for my whole family. Just for my family, for my brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews and the grandkids and all. But that's really a hard thing to do, because people buy their season tickets, and people come and they go, it's just hard."

In true Parton fashion, she thinks about others first, concerned with season ticket holders missing out on a day.

"We'd probably have to do it after hours, and that'd be too late to have any fun. So I guess we'll just all go as we go and have our free passes and have those whatever you call them, those tickets where you can jump lines, sorta. Or be put to the front of the line. Although I'm not one that's big on jumping the line, even if it was in my own park."

You would think that a person as famous as Parton would never wait in line, especially at her own theme park. In utter shock and disbelief, I said, "you would wait in line?

"Well if I was going, I would. Would be kinda silly, wouldn't it, for me to go ahead of anybody?" she responded,

"But the good thing is, I don't ride the rides anyway. So that works well for me. So I have an excuse. I got around that one, didn't I."

Parton's book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, arrives on Oct. 17. Her album, Rockstar, comes out in November.

Evan Paul is the host of Taste of Country Nights, a syndicated radio show heard on more than 120 country radio stations nationwide, every night from 7PM to midnight. He plays the best new country music and interviews today's top stars, like Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Dan + Shay, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Lady A, Morgan Wallen, + more!