Dolly Parton Has A Morbid Retirement Plan

Dolly Parton would rather “drop dead on stage.”

Dolly Parton, 77, has no plans on retiring anytime soon. The ten-time Guinness World Record holder is set to release her 49th studio album called Rockstar in November 2023.

She has been working in the music industry for six decades now, despite her husband of 57 years not being a fan of country music. Recently, Parton revealed her morbid thoughts on retiring, which was actually good news to her many fans who call her a saint.

The Jolene hitmaker has also been vocal about her many upcoming projects, including her continuous charity contributions which previously funded the Moderna Covid vaccine research. Here’s a closer look at her “drop dead on stage” career plans.

Why Did Dolly Parton Quit Touring?

In 2022, when asked if she could see herself touring again, Parton revealed that she was done with it. “I do not think I will ever tour again, but I do know I’ll do special shows here and there, now and then,” she told Pollstar. “Maybe do a long weekend of shows, or just a few shows at a festival. But I have no intention of going on a full-blown tour anymore. I’ve done that my whole life, and it takes so much time and energy.”

She noted that she wanted “to stay a little closer to home with my husband,” noting that they’re “getting older now, and I don’t want to be gone for four or five weeks at a time. Something could happen. I would not feel right about that, if I were gone and somebody needed me. Or I would feel bad if I had to leave a tour if somebody got sick at home and needed me and then I had to walk out on the fans.”

Parton added that she can connect with her fans via the internet, anyway. “I don’t ever feel separated from my fans because, in this high-tech world, you can be right with them. You can do special shows in special ways,” she explained. “I will be doing some of that.”

“But you’ve got to work for weeks to work up a great new show, a new tour they haven’t seen. It takes months to actually plan a tour, as far as booking dates and all that. Then you’ve got to be gone for all that time, too. It’s more involved than people have any idea.”

What Did Dolly Parton Say About Retiring?

In a recent appearance on the Greatest Hits Radio, the 9 to 5 alum set the record straight on her retirement plans. “I would never retire,” she said in the interview. “I’ll just hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song on stage someday, hopefully one I’ve written.”

Parton shared that she’s “not one to sit around and do nothing” but is willing to shave some hours off work. “As long as I’m able to work, as long as my health is good, and my husband is good,” she continued. “I mean, the only way that I would ever slow down or stop would be for that reason … But in the meantime, I’m going to make hay while the sun shines.”

Speaking about her motivation to keep working, Parton said that she has “new dreams every day … I’ve got lots of dreams. I always believed that if you’ve wanted your dreams to come true and you are lucky enough to have that happen, then you’ve got to be responsible because you gotta keep the dream alive. And every dream kind of spawns another dream.”

What Is Dolly Parton’s Net Worth In 2023?

Parton placed at the 59th spot in Forbes‘ new list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women. She’s tied with Reese Witherspoon who’s also worth $440 million. The magazine previously reported that one-third of the former’s net worth comes from her $150 million song catalog.

She makes $6 million to $8 million in royalties each year as she still owns most of her song publishing rights. She notably received $10 million in royalties from Whitney Houston’s rendition of I Will Always Love You — all of which was spent on building offices in a Black community in Nashville.

“It was just off the beaten path from 16th Avenue and I thought, ‘Well I am going to buy this place.’ It was a whole strip mall. And I thought, ‘This is the perfect place for me to be, considering it was Whitney,'” she told Andy Cohen.

“I just thought, ‘This was great. I’m going to be down here with her people, who are my people as well,'” she added. “And so I just love the fact that I spent that money on a complex. And I think, ‘This is the house that Whitney built.'”

The Dollywood founder continues to increase her net worth by “just working on all kinds of things” these days. “I’m very excited right now I’m working on my first rock and roll album that’s going to come out somewhere in the fall,” she said in an exclusive interview with Wate. “I have a lot of iconic singers and a lot of iconic songwriters on that. So I’ve been looking forward to that.”

She’s also working on a movie, as well as Dollywood-related projects. “I’m actually doing a movie of Run, Rose, Run, a book that I wrote with James Patterson. We got a movie coming out of that. So I got a lot of wonderful projects going on,” she continued.

“I’m going to be a busy girl and we’re going to be busy over here at Dollywood. We got a lot of great things coming up next year. We plan all year long on what is going to be happening for the next year. So my plate is full. My plate runneth over.”