Did Dolly Parton Make Pop Music? Yes, But She Preferred to Call It ‘Dolly Parton Music’

While there’s no question Dolly Parton was popular, she had no intention of “going pop” throughout her 60-plus-year career.

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are chatting about the relationship Parton — who died on Aug. 25 at age 80 — had with pop music, from her crossover hits to collaborating with her goddaughter Miley Cyrus. In a 1977 interview with Country Music magazine — the same year she released one of her poppiest hits, “Here You Come Again” — Parton addressed the genre question head-on. “I never considered the fact that I was going pop,” she said at the time. “I will go pop, as far as crossing over, sooner or later. But I will go there as me. I will go there with my own music, not by trying to be something different than I am.

“If my music has to have a label, I will call it country, mainly because I am country,” she added. “You cannot leave what you are. But I really prefer to call it Dolly Parton music.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices