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Dolly Parton Opens Up About Her Nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2022 nominees—and Dolly Parton is on the list of hopeful inductees. But the honor is not something that the country songstress ever expected.

The 9 to 5 singer has already been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Kennedy Center, and the Grand Ole Opry. She also holds 10 Grammys and the CMA Lifetime Achievement Award.

But even with all that success, Parton thought her recent Rock and Roll nomination came out of the left field.

“I was absolutely floored when I heard that,” she told Billboard. ” I’ve never thought of myself as being rock and roll in any sense of the word— but I guess they judge it on the music and the influence certain songs have had, and I guess I’ve had songs with other people in that realm. But I don’t know how they judge that.”

If chosen, Dolly Parton wouldn’t be the first non-rock artist to join the Hall of Fame. Just last year, Jay-Z joined the list of people forever immortalized by the organization. And he is only the 6th rapper in history to make the cut.

But while the Hall of Fame has broadened what it considers “rock and roll,” not many country artists have been inducted. However, Dolly Parton wouldn’t be the first. Hank Williams was inducted in 1987, and singers don’t get more country than him.

But despite the fact that stranger things have happened, Parton isn’t “expecting” to “get in.” Though, if she does, she’s going to celebrate in a big way.

“I’ll immediately, next year, have to put out a great rock and roll album — which I’ve wanted to do for years, like a Linda Ronstadt or Heart kind of thing,” she admitted. ” So this may have been just a God-wink for me to go ahead and do that. It’s just nice to be nominated.”

Elvis Presley Almost Covered Dolly Parton’s ‘I Will Always Love You’

Elvis Presley almost recorded a cover of Dolly Parton’s first No. 1 hit, I Will Always Love You. But due to publishing rights, she turned him down.

As she once shared, The King himself reached out to Parton right after the iconic song hit the airwaves. Parton was still in the early stages of her career and she was a major fan of Elvis. So when she learned he loved her song, she was thrilled.

“I told everybody,” she said. “I told everybody in Nashville. ‘Elvis is gonna do my song.’ ‘Elvis is gonna do my song.’”

But the cover never happened because, on the day of Elvis’ recording session, his manager called Parton and told her she needed to hand over half of the song’s publishing rights.

The singer wasn’t willing to give up her work like that. So she told Elvis no.

“I wanted to hear Elvis sing it,” she shared. “And it broke my heart — I cried all night.

“But I had to keep that copyright in my pocket. You have to take care of your business! Everybody’s going to use you if they can. These are my songs — they’re like my children. And I expect them to support me when I’m old!”