Just last week country legend Dolly Parton dropped her album titled Rockstar, and in a new conversation she took part in with radio personality Eddie Trunk, she spoke about what it was like working and performing with Judas Priest singer Rob Halford.
At last year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, Halford – along with several other artists – joined Parton on stage, the Judas Priest frontman singing her hit song “Jolene” alongside her. On Parton’s new album, Halford appears as a guest vocalist on the track
Bygones.”
In her recent conversation with Trunk, the radio personality asks Parton if she will make a metal album next, to which the country artist replies (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), “I don’t think so.”
Trunk goes on to say, “You came close on that [song],” and in response, Parton replies with the following:
“Did I? I didn’t realize, but I did love Rob Halford. We got to talk a lot ’cause he went in the [Rock And Roll] Hall Of Fame when I did. And so I got to visit a lot of these people that are on the record … that were put in the Hall Of Fame at the same time I was. And so when I talked to Rob, I asked him if he would be willing to sing on my record if I called on him.
“He said, ‘I sure would, ’cause my mom, my grandma, my kids, we’ve all loved you through the years.’ And so when I got ready to do that, as you mentioned, [Nashville producer] Kent [Wells] and I wrote that one — it’s another original — and then we got the boys on it, ’cause Kent got the musicians on it. And so, it just turned out to be something really, really special, I thought. It was a really a good piece of music, I thought.”
Talking about her performance of “Jolene” at the 2022 Rock Hall ceremony, Trunk described that moment with Parton and the heavy metal frontman as “one of the most mindblowing metal moments ever,” then added that Halford seemed “so happy and excited.”
In response, Parton expresses her fondness for the heavy metal singer:
“He was loving it. He was loving it. He was so nice. I just loved him. But anyway, he said that, kind of like some of the others, they had watched me since they were kids growing up. I had heard they’d been listening to my music. So that made me feel good.”