Dolly Parton‘s empire could be expanding even more. The 79-year-old hints that she wants to leave an even bigger mark in Nashville, much like she did in East Tennessee with Dollywood, albeit without the amusement park rides.
“We’ve done well with Dollywood, but it’s time to bring Dollywood to Nashville,” Parton tells The Tennessean.
Indeed, Parton is well on her way to making Nashville a Parton-centric city in many ways. In addition to premiering her Dolly: An Original Musical in Nashville, before it heads to Broadway, she is also opening her own Songteller Hotel, currently under construction.
“I’m proud of it,” Parton boasts. “We’ll have a bar, club and restaurant like everyone else does inside the hotel, but I wanted to do something different because my reach is a little more international than most.”
But that isn’t all that she has planned. The Country Music Hall of Fame member still has plenty of other projects in the works, so much so that even she finds it hard to believe she is about to be an octogenarian.
“I have a Broadway musical, hotel and a new book coming soon called Star of the Show,'” Parton reveals. “There’s so much going on that it doesn’t feel like, ‘Oh, Jesus God, I’m turning 80.”
More than almost any other artist, Parton has been a voice of reason throughout decades of political upheaval, shifts in country music and more. Now that she is on the cusp of a new decade, Parton remains vigilant in staying true to who she is, as an artist and a person.
“I feel like I’m entering an era where doing and saying the right things is more important than ever,” Parton says. “The world is so loose-ended these days and everybody’s spinning around like dust devils.”
Parton surprised fans earlier this week by announcing her Broadway musical would premiere in Nashville instead of New York City.
“It just seemed natural and right for me to premiere the story of my life in Tennessee, ’cause I’m Tennessee-born and Tennessee-raised,” she says of the decision. “We will be doing lots of songs that you know in the musical. But I’ve written a whole lot of original songs, and I’m having a whole lot of fun.”
Even as she is still working on all aspects of Dolly: An Original Musical, the entertainment icon already knows how people will likely react when they see the finished product.
“People are going to love it, I think,” she hints. “And I think they’ll appreciate me taking Nashville to New York and all those country sounds. It wasn’t a big leap to write the new stuff. I just followed along with what my life had been, and the stories I’ve wanted to tell. When I had the chance to do something bigger and broader, I thought, ‘I get to have an orchestra! It’s going to be great. I get to have strings on this.’ It was exciting and fun for me to write the new stuff.”
There are still plenty of other projects that Parton wants to complete, which means that, inexplicably, her best days might still be ahead of her.
“It feels like I’m just starting out again,” she says.
Tickets for Dolly: An Original Musical are available at DollyMusical.com.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of CMA