Can Dolly Parton really rock? Our verdict on the country legend’s ‘Rockstar’ revamp

nypost.com:

Dolly Parton is not a rock singer.Nor — as her much-hyped head-banger makeover on “Rockstar” demonstrates — does she have any business making a “rock” album.But, at 77, the country legend has, as much as any living artist today, more than earned the right — at least three lifetimes over — to do whatever the hell she wants.And really, this whole vanity project was fueled by the humility with which Parton has become a goddess on earth.

After she was nominated for the Rock & Roll of Fame last year, she gracefully and ever-so-graciously asked for her name to be withdrawn from the ballot.“I don’t feel that I have earned that right,” she said in a statement. “I really do not want votes to be split because of me, so I must respectfully bow out.”Then, in her inimitable Dolly way of finding the positive in a potentially prickly scenario, she said that the nomination had “inspired me to put out a hopefully great rock ’n’ roll album at some point in the future.”A post shared by Dolly Parton (@dollyparton)Well, against her initial wishes, Parton was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame anyway in November 2022.

And she made good on her promise to deliver a rock ’n’ roll album with “Rockstar.” However, it hardly qualifies as “great.”What it is is a way for one of our most beloved artists to indulge herself in doing her favorite rock songs — some of them as duets with the artists who originally made them famous.There’s Sting with her on “Every Breath You Take,” Joan Jett & the Blackhearts on “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” Elton John on “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” Debbie Harry on “Heart of Glass” and Pat Benatar on “Heartbreaker.” She’s even got freaking Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr on “Let It Be.”Now that’s respect.Most.