Dolly Parton claims she would rather “drop dead in the middle of a song on stage” than retire

nme.com:

Dolly Parton has expressed her reluctance to give up live shows — saying that she would rather “drop dead” onstage than retire.The 77-year-old country icon was speaking as part of a new interview on Wednesday (July 12), when she admitted that she has no intention of slowing down her music career anytime soon.“‘I would never retire!” the ‘Jolene’ singer stated, appearing on Ken Bruce’s Greatest Hits Radio. “I would hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song on stage someday – and hopefully one I’ve written.”“That’s how I hope to go,” she added. “I don’t have much of a choice in that but, in the meantime, I’m going to make hay while the sun shines.”Although the country star shared her refusal to give up live shows, she did confirm that her days of extensive touring are over and that she would rather focus on fewer “special” appearances than embark on an endless string of live dates.“I’m not touring anymore but I will continue to do special shows here and there now and then like a long weekend or festival shows,” she said. “But as far as touring I think those days are pretty much behind me… you have to stay gone so long on a tour to make it productive and prosperous and that’s a lot of time at my age – I ain’t got no years to waste!”The discussion came ahead of Parton’s upcoming rock album, which is set for release later this year and will feature contributions from some of the biggest names in rock.Announced last year, the LP — titled ‘Rockstar’ — was revealed to be a mix of original tracks, as well as covers of Prince, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd and more.Set to arrive in November via Butterfly Records and Big Machine, the tracklist will feature many of the greats including Sting, Stevie Nicks,.