Dolly Parton announces new Christmas album, audio book

Both projects arrive this fall

Dolly Parton is setting to release her first new Christmas album in 30 years and new audio book this year. On October 2nd, A Holly Dolly Christmas will arrive on Parton’s own Butterfly Records in partnership with 12Tone Music Group. The audiobook, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, will be available on November 17th in both CD and digital audiobook form.

According to Billboard, A Holly Dolly Christmas will feature a mix of originals and holiday standards and features Parton duetting with such famous friends as Michael Bublé, Billy Ray Cyrus, goddaughter Miley Cyrus, Jimmy Fallon and Willie Nelson, as well as with her brother Randy Parton. Kent Wells produced the album that also includes a cover of Willie Nelson’s “Pretty Paper” with Nelson and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” that features Fallon.

Parton started production on the holiday album before the COVID-19 pandemic began, and had to finish it with the most of her duet partners recording separately.

“We were working in our little circle with our masks and with our gloves and we had our engineer and we just had the very few people that we had to have when we were in there when I was singing,” Parton says. “They had done some of the tracks before the pandemic, but then we went in and started doing our vocals. We’ve been very smart, very careful, because we’re trying to protect ourselves and I’m an older person. I’m not out to get it if I don’t [have] to, I’m hoping I can outrun all that. We’ve been all very, very smart, but it didn’t slow us up.”

The first single will be “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas” with Bublé.

Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, a landmark celebration of the remarkable life and career of a country music and pop-culture legend, will be released via RBmedia. The legendary singer-songwriter delivers this compelling audio experience in her own words, sharing her most beloved songs and the stories behind them.

Produced by Recorded Books, RBmedia’s flagship publishing brand, Songteller features Parton in her own words, telling personal stories, sharing treasured memories, and revealing candid insights into the creative process behind her music and lyrics. A celebration of over 60 years of songwriting, the audiobook weaves Parton’s most personal stories around samples of nearly 100 of her most cherished songs.

“Across my life, I’ve written thousands of songs. This fall, for the first time ever, we’re spotlighting a hundred of my favorites in my new audiobook, Dolly Parton, Songteller,” the country superstar shares. “Not only will you be able to revisit my life in lyrics, but I’ll tell you never-before-heard stories behind the songs. I am so thrilled to announce my collaboration with Recorded Books to create this unique audio experience.”

As a companion to the Songteller audiobook, an illustrated book of the same name is being published by Chronicle Books. Time Life will also release The Ultimate Dolly Parton DVD collection this fall.