Flashback: Dolly Parton Duets With Rob Halford and Simon Le Bon at the Rock Hall Induction
When Dolly Parton was first nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, her immediate reaction was to decline the honor. She believed the institution was meant for rock musicians, and after a career rooted firmly in country music, she wasn’t convinced she belonged.
Then she changed her mind. The decision led to one of the most memorable performances in recent Rock Hall history, with Parton surrounded by some of the biggest names in rock and pop, including Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon, Pink, Sheryl Crow, Pat Benatar, Brandi Carlile, and Annie Lennox.
Dolly Parton Didn’t Think She Belonged in the Rock Hall
When Parton learned she had made the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballot, she publicly questioned whether she had earned a place there.
“Even though I am extremely flattered to be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I don’t feel that I have earned that right,” she wrote in an open letter to fans. “I really do not want the votes split because of me, so I must respectfully bow out.”
The decision was unusual, but very much in keeping with Parton’s gracious public persona. Unlike the Sex Pistols, who famously skipped their 2006 induction and dismissed the institution as “urine in wine,” Parton wasn’t rejecting the Hall out of contempt. She simply saw herself as a country artist and wasn’t sure that she belonged in a rock institution.
Still, the nomination planted an idea in her mind. Parton said she had always wanted to make a rock ‘n’ roll album and suggested that the experience might finally push her to do it.
“My husband is a total rock ‘n’ roll freak, and has always encouraged me to do one,” she said.
That prediction would soon become reality.
Parton Changes Her Mind
Parton eventually reconsidered her decision to withdraw from consideration. By April 2022, she told NPR that she had come to understand the Hall of Fame’s mission more broadly.
“It was always my belief that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was for people in rock music,” she said. “I have found out lately it’s not necessarily that.”
She also explained why she ultimately decided that accepting the nomination wasn’t taking an opportunity away from another artist.
“If they can’t go there to be recognized, where can they go?” Parton said. “And so I felt like I was taking away from someone that maybe deserved it certainly more than me since I never considered myself a rock artist. But obviously, there’s more to it than that.”
The voters agreed. Parton was inducted in 2022 alongside a particularly star-studded class that included Eminem, Judas Priest, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Pat Benatar, Lionel Richie, and Carly Simon.
At the induction ceremony in Los Angeles, Parton embraced the moment with characteristic humor.
“I’m a rock star now!” she told the audience.
She then reflected on how her attitude had changed since the nomination was first announced.
“This is a very special night for me,” Parton said. “I’m sure a lot of you knew that back when they said they were gonna put me in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I didn’t feel like I had done enough to deserve that. And I didn’t understand at the time that it’s about more than that. But I’m just so honored and so proud to be here tonight.”
Dolly Takes Over the Rock Hall Stage
Parton’s performance began with the debut of “Rockin’ It,” a new song written for the occasion. Its lyrics directly addressed her unlikely journey into the Rock Hall: “Y’all put me in the Hall of Fame, so I guess there ain’t no shame!/And I’ll be rockin’ it ’til the cows come home.”
Then she turned the stage into an all-star gathering.
Parton invited many of the evening’s inductees and presenters to join her for “Jolene.” The sight was remarkable: Parton stood at the center while Rob Halford, Simon Le Bon, Pink, Sheryl Crow, Pat Benatar, Brandi Carlile, Annie Lennox, and others gathered around her, each waiting for a chance to take a line.
Halford, the Judas Priest frontman, appeared especially delighted to be part of the moment. At one point, he put his arm around Parton, and the two shared the chorus of “Jolene.”
The image of Parton and Halford singing together became one of the defining photographs of the ceremony, capturing just how far the night had moved beyond the question of whether a country legend belonged in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Eminem, notably, remained backstage and did not take part in the performance.
The Rock Album She Promised
Parton’s Rock Hall experience also helped set the stage for a project she had teased in her original statement. The following year, she released Rockstar, finally making the rock album she had long wanted to create.
The record arrived with an extraordinary list of collaborators, including Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Steve Perry, John Fogerty, Steven Tyler, Stevie Nicks, Peter Frampton, Joan Jett, Pink, Brandi Carlile, and Elton John.
Rob Halford was there, too.
After sharing the stage with Parton at the 2022 induction ceremony, the Judas Priest singer also appeared on Rockstar. By then, Parton’s journey from questioning her place in the Rock Hall to embracing her identity as a rock star had come full circle.
And nobody, it seemed, was going to turn down an invitation from Dolly Parton.