Against her initial wishes, Dolly Parton was inducted into the US Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on Saturday night. She also performed at the event, including playing a new song called ‘Rockin’ and her best known song ‘Jolene’, for which she was joined by Pink, Brandi Carlile and fellow inductees Pat Benatar, Duran Duran’s Simon LeBon, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart, and - most surprisingly - Rob Halford of Judas Priest.
Parton originally asked to be removed from the running for this year’s inductees, saying that - as a country artist - she didn’t feel she had “earned” the right to be included in a Hall Of Fame with a rock n roll remit. But the Hall refused, it having long ago extended its remit far beyond rock n roll, and she subsequently said that she was “honoured” to be among the names put forward this year.
In her acceptance speech on Saturday, she said: “I’m a rock star now! This is a very special night for me. I’m sure a lot of you knew that back when they said they were gonna put me in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, I didn’t feel like I had done enough to deserve that. And I didn’t understand at the time that it’s about more than that. But I’m just so honoured and so proud to be here tonight”.
This year’s other inductees were Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Judas Priest.