Knowing she had a potential hit, it became especially challenging for Parton to consign the song to obscurity. Describing the act as akin to “burying one of my kids, putting it on ice or something, and I won’t be around to see it brought back to life,” she expressed her inner turmoil. At the time, she shared, “It’s just burning me up inside that I have to leave it in there.”
As for Dollywood, situated in the Knoxville metropolitan area of Tennessee, Parton, residing in Nashville, envisions extending her presence by establishing a museum. In a November 2022 interview with the Tennessean, she revealed plans for a potential museum in Nashville, expressing her desire to have a business there, possibly a restaurant or a bar and grill in the future.
During her appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” Parton and Clarkson treated the audience to an iconic performance of “9 to 5,” the duo’s reimagined version of the 1980 hit track featured in the 2022 film “Still Working 9 to 5.”
Reflecting on Whitney Houston’s rendition of her song “I Will Always Love You,” Parton shared her initial reaction: “I was just driving along, and I had the radio on … It’s one of those things, it was like a dog hearing a whistle. ‘What is that?’ And all of a sudden, and that’s the first time — they hadn’t sent it to me or nothing. I heard it on the radio. When it went into, ‘And I …,’ I just freaked out. I had to pull over to the side because I honestly thought I was going to wreck. It was the most overwhelming feeling, and you know how great that was.”
