Dolly Parton Would’ve Collaborated With More People if Her Time Weren’t ‘so Limited’

Over the years, Dolly Parton has collaborated with a number of artists. In her decades in the music industry, she has sung many duets and invited other singers onto her albums. Parton wishes she could have written with more people, though. While she values her time writing alone, she wanted to work creatively with others. She said she didn’t have enough time to try, though. 

Dolly Parton said she wanted to have collaborated with more people during her career

Parton is a prolific writer, often penning multiple songs in a single day. She said she’d love the opportunity to write with more people, but she doesn’t have the time for it.

“Every once in a while I’ll write with Mac Davis, who is one of our greater songwriters – we write quick and good together – but for the most part I do it on my own,” she told The Guardian in 2016. “I wish I had time to write with more people, but my time is so limited, it takes all I’ve got just to do what I need to do.”

Parton said that even when she’s writing on her own, she’s able to draw from the experiences of others to create a unique perspective.

“I also write for friends and family,” she said. “When they’re going through things, whether it’s a new baby, a marriage, a divorce, I feel their joy and their hurt. That’s one of the great things about being a songwriter: you can express not only your own thoughts and feelings but also those of the people you’re close to, or people in general.”

She said that this type of practice has kept her writing for decades.