Spotify’s For the Record podcast features the iconic country star Dolly Parton in Episode Ten: Holiday Music: It’s (Already) Beginning to Sound A Lot Like Christmas.
Following the release of her Holly Dolly Christmas album, Dolly talks about her relationship with Miley Cyrus, creating her first Christmas album after 30 years, Christmas traditions and the magic of Christmas carols.
Dolly also reveals how she asked Michael Bublé to sing on one of her tracks, Cuddle Up, Cozy Down, she says: “Who wouldn’t want to cozy up and cuddle up with Michael Bublé?”
It wasn’t difficult to get Miley Cyrus to sing with her, Dolly says: “I just called Miley up. I said, well, I did this – I wrote this song. It’s actually in my Netflix movie called ‘Christmas on the Square,’ but I want to put it in my new Christmas album. Will you sing on it with me? She said, ‘Well, I guess.’ And I said, ‘Well, I guess you better!’ She was kidding of course.”
Although when growing up, Dolly’s family were poor, but she has fond memories of Christmas during her childhood. “My mom was always very creative and she always had a bunch of scraps and different colored pieces of cloth,” Dolly remembers, adding, “She’d make bows and ribbons and we’d pop popcorn and she’d cut a cardboard star and would cover it with aluminum foil. So, we just all took part in putting pine cones and dressing up things that we just found out in nature, little things we’d save all year. We bubbled with joy and fun because mama made everything so special for us.”
This year, Dolly believes people will appreciate Christmas more than they ever have because of the pandemic, she says: “I think they’re going to reflect on a lot of stuff. All over the world, you know, people are suffering with the virus and the economy and all of that.
“People are afraid. But I think there’s a joy in Christmas, there’s a hope in Christmas. There’s a light, you know, when you wish at Christmas and you dream at Christmas. So I really think we’re going to be doing a lot of that, and I think that’s going to help. I know it’s going to lift me up.”
Spotify is celebrating this holiday season and the more than 6.5 billion minutes of Christmas music streamed so far this year, with Dolly Parton featuring in Episode Ten: Holiday Music: It’s (Already) Beginning to Sound A Lot Like Christmas, of the For the Record podcast which is available now.
