Dolly Parton’s Birthday Present To Fans

To celebrate her 78th Birthday today (1/19), Dolly Parton has announced that she has released several new songs on her deluxe version of Rockstar. The album, complete with deluxe songs, now has 39 tracks.

Dolly posted on her Instagram, "Hey fans and friends, It's my birthday, so I'm going to give you a present! I'm releasing four never-released songs for my birthday to go with the Rockstar album and a few others that you may have heard before that were not on the album. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope you all have a happy birthday for me! LOL Thanks for everything, Dolly."

31. Rockin' It (Live)
32. Hit Me With Your Best Shot
33. Mama Never Said
34. Two Tickets To Paradise
35. Jolene (featuring Måneskin)
36. Stay Out Of My Bedroom
37. Bridge Over Troubled Water
38. The Entertainer
39. Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Something fun about following Parton's every musical move since 1980 is that new songs she releases sound familiar at times, as she likes to revamp and re-release older songs. She did just that with her birthday release of "Stay Out Of My Bedroom," an unheard track from Rockstar. The song was actually first recorded in 1984 for the soundtrack of the movie Rhinestone. The original version of the song is a duet with Sylvester Stallone.

For those who haven't seen it, Rhinestone is a movie Dolly did in 1984 where she played a character who made a bet that she could turn a New York cabbie (played by Stallone) into a country singer. Critics panned the movie, but it has since become a cult classic. It's a hard movie to see as no streaming service has it, and buying a copy of the DVD or VHS can be pricey on auction sites like eBay.

Parton told me in an interview a few years ago about Rhinestone, "It's kind of like that 'Rocky Horror Picture Show.' There are kids that love it and know every word in it. It's not all that good, but it was a fun movie to make. It was the first movie I did after I'd gone through kind of an ill health spell and all that. Stallone was so healthy and so crazy and fun and that was really a great movie to do. So I have fond memories of doing that."

The third week of January is always one of my favorites in my work as I get to write about and celebrate Dolly Parton's birthday (1/19). Her birthday has become "Dolly Parton week" in Nashville and anywhere her millions of fans are located.

I love diving back into one of the reasons I fell in love with country music in the first place, not long after seeing the movie 9 to 5 in the movie theater and wanting to know more and more about the wonderful Parton.

When I was a teenager, the way to get good seats to see your favorite music stars in concert was sleeping outside at night in line at the box office to be first in line when the box office opened. I did just that in January in the cold of Salt Lake City, Utah, waiting to get tickets to see Dolly in concert with Kenny Rogers. The feat paid off as I sat in the first row of the show, singing every word.

In the many interviews I have done with Parton since I moved to Nashville, I never confessed to her my devotion and sacrifice to see her the very first time. However, it was those early days and my teenage years of devotion that made me appreciate her work so much.

As we celebrate her birthday this week (1/19), I dove into her many music videos and because of when my love for this icon began in the 1980s and 1990s, a couple videos from my list of her best videos are from that time period. Before we look at the five videos, I wanted to highlight two of her most recent music videos from her 2023 Rockstar album.

"We are The Champions/ We Will Rock You" (2023) - This video came out and focused on her covers of two Queen classics.

Another video I must mention from Rockstar is the one she did with Linda Perry, covering Perry's 4 Non Blondes song "What's Up?" Perry appears with Parton in the video, playing guitar and singing along in the chorus. It's also fun to see Parton wearing jeans, which she rarely does.

This music video shows footage and moments of Dolly and Kenny Rogers when they toured together for a few years in the early 1980s. It is to be cherished; although they recorded together many times, the music icons only toured together in the 1980s.

This music video is also a gem. It is the only music video to feature Parton with fellow country music Queens and icons Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn, who have both since passed. The beginning of the music video shows a fun clip of music and guitar icon Chet Atkins trying to get backstage to see the country queens. The security guard says, "I don't care if you are Chet Atkins, you can't get in," and Chet replies, "I am Chet Atkins." It was Atkins who first signed Dolly to a RCA recording contract in the 1960s.

This fun video starts with Dolly auditioning men to play her leading man in the video, and it's pretty funny. At one point, a car salesman auditions just to meet her, and she quips, "I think you're real cute." The video starts after he says, "Dolly, is that you?" This is just pure fun.

This is one of Dolly's songs that I always thought should have been a big hit. It was one of the rare songs not written by Parton. The music video, shot in black and white, shows Parton singing as well as scenes of people overcoming obstacles in their lives.

Broadway actress and movie star Kristin Chenoweth plays in this video that is circus-themed and shows Parton dressed as a circus conductor advising women to "get to living." In true Dolly style, the song shows a positive attitude toward life, something she has always possessed.