Inside Dolly Parton’s Beatles encounters, including collaboration – Music – | Music News

It could come as a shock, however Dolly Parton has only crossed paths with a Beatle on a handful of events throughout her illustrious profession. Yet, each encounter has confirmed unforgettable, as befitting a gathering between such legendary musical figures.

The 80-12 months-outdated first encountered members of the Fab Four a long time before reaching out to them for a collaboration on her 2023 rock album, Rockstar, with a heartfelt “love note.” During the Seventies, Parton occurred upon each Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney individually, with each encounter leaving a long-lasting impression.

Long before recording her rendition of The Beatles’ Let It Be for Rockstar in 2023, Parton, who’s marking her eightieth birthday today, encountered McCartney backstage in 1974. Several years afterward, she loved an surprising assembly with Starr, organized by a shared acquaintance.

On June 16, 1974, Parton met McCartney and his first spouse, Linda, backstage at Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee.

The pair had been visiting the metropolis with their household for six weeks, during which they recorded a number of non-album tracks with their band Wings, including “Junior’s Farm.”

While in Nashville, McCartney and his spouse selected to attend the Grand Masters Fiddling Contest at Opryland. At intermission, they acquired a backstage invitation and encountered Parton alongside fellow nation music star Porter Wagoner.

Jack Corn photographed the group for a feature in The Tennessean. The event held added significance because it represented Parton and Wagoner’s final look together in the Seventies, following their partnership that started in 1967.

Just every week previous to encountering the McCartneys, she and Wagoner had carried out their last live performance together on June 9, according to Guitar Player.

Years later, Parton crossed paths with Starr in Los Angeles by Ken Mansfield, who had beforehand served as the U.S. supervisor of The Beatles’ Apple Records and was a Grammy-winning producer.

Mansfield had been working to draw Nashville expertise to Los Angeles to challenge rock-and-roll’s dominance of Sunset Strip venues.

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Country artists like Waylon Jennings and Dolly had been among those who relocated westward.

Starr had beforehand settled in Los Angeles, sustaining his friendship with Mansfield. Being a faithful nation music fanatic, the former Beatle was delighted that Nashville performers had been heading west. He was notably eager to fulfill Parton.

“He was very intrigued by Dolly’s career,” Mansfield recounted in his 2007 memoir, The White Book. Dolly was, he notes, “a giant Beatles fan and, knowing that I had worked with them, had jokingly mentioned that someday she would like to meet them, Ringo in particular.”

Mansfield subsequently organized an intimate dinner at his residence for a choose group, including Parton and Starr. Yet, neither was conscious that the other would attend.

“Both invitees were thrilled at the surprise,” Mansfield famous, “and the intimacy of the evening really made the whole thing very special.”

Years later, Parton reached out to McCartney and Starr for help in recording Let It Be for her 2023 album, Rockstar. “I just sent them a love note through their managers, and I just said what I was doing,” Parton revealed to NPR in 2023.

“And I said, ‘I didn’t want to put you on the spot, but I’d love to have you sing with me on my rock album. And if you’re interested, call me at this number.'”

Parton had already laid down the observe for Let It Be when she considered reaching out to McCartney. “And so I contacted him. He was so gracious. And then I thought, Well, we got to have Ringo, because that’s the last of the Beatles. So I asked Ringo if he would do it. Same thing: ‘I’d be glad to do it.'”