Dolly Parton Just Announced 'A Holly Dolly Christmas,' Her First Holiday Album in 30 Years
Our beloved country queen Dolly Parton is returning this holiday season with her first collection of Christmasy tunes in three decades. A Holly Dolly Christmas drops on October 2, and already has quite the star-studded lineup. (But who wouldn't drop everything to duet with Dolly, right?!) Fellow artists like Michael Buble, Jimmy Fallon, Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Willie Nelson, and Randy Parton will join Dolly on her new album.
Fans can expect a preview of the record before the full project is out, as "Mary Did You Know?" is set to be released on August 21, and "Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas" (featuring Michael Buble) will soon be featured as the lead single.
Dolly worked with producer Kent Wells on the album, and of course, the pandemic had a dramatic effect on their timeline—the two still had plenty of work to do when COVID-19 restrictions were put in place. Dolly's friends who appear on the album largely recorded their duet parts from their respective quarantine locations and sent them to Dolly and Kent to finish the project.
“We were working in our little circle with our masks and with our gloves and we had our engineer and we just had the very few people that we had to have when we were in there when I was singing,” she tells Billboard.
Dolly, who donated $1 million to coronavirus vaccine research, told Billboard she took the pandemic precautions very seriously during recording: “They had done some of the tracks before the pandemic, but then we went in and started doing our vocals. We've been very smart, very careful, because we're trying to protect ourselves and I'm an older person. I'm not out to get it if I don’t [have] to, I'm hoping I can outrun all that. We've been all very, very smart, but it didn't slow us up.”
This isn't the only thing Dolly has been working on during her time in quarantine—she also released the hopeful song "When Life is Good Again" earlier this year. As for Christmas albums, this isn't Dolly's first time singing holiday tunes: she released Once Upon a Christmas with the late Kenny Rogers in 1984 and Home for Christmas in 1990.
Preorder A Holly Dolly Christmas here, and check out all the song titles below.
Here's the full track listing for A Holly Dolly Christmas:
Holly Jolly Christmas - Dolly Parton
Christmas Is (feat. Miley Cyrus) - Dolly Parton
Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas - Dolly Parton, Michael Bublé
Christmas On The Square - Dolly Parton
Circle Of Love - Dolly Parton
All I Want For Christmas Is You - Dolly Parton, Jimmy Fallon
Comin’ Home For Christmas - Dolly Parton
Christmas Where We Are (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Dolly Parton
Pretty Paper - Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Dolly Parton
You Are My Christmas (feat. Randy Parton) - Dolly Parton
Mary, Did You Know? - Dolly Parton
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