Dolly Parton had no intention of abandoning her identity to pursue pop music throughout her 60-plus-year career, despite achieving numerous crossover hits. On the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, hosts Katie Atkinson and Keith Caulfield discuss Parton’s relationship with pop music, from her crossover hits to collaborating with her goddaughter Miley Cyrus.
In a 1977 interview with Country Music magazine—the same year she released “Here You Come Again,” one of her poppiest hits—Parton addressed the genre question directly. “I never considered the fact that I was going pop,” she said. “I will go pop, as far as crossing over, sooner or later. But I will go there as me. I will go there with my own music, not by trying to be something different than I am.”
The Tennessee native added: “If my music has to have a label, I will call it country, mainly because I am country. You cannot leave what you are. But I really prefer to call it Dolly Parton music.”
Parton died on August 25 at age 80. Her best-of compilation, Ultimate Dolly Parton, re-entered the Billboard 200 albums chart at No. 5 following her death.
Source: Billboard
