Dolly Parton was the featured virtual guest on Tuesday’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where the country singer/songwriter was promoting her forthcoming autobiography/coffee table book, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, due out next month.
For her appearance, Parton appeared via video screen to discuss her new book by taking viewers back through her well-documented journey which began as a kid growing up in the Tennessee mountains, where music was a big part of her life from the beginning.
“I really think of myself as a song teller, ’cause I write songs but I tell stories in my song,” Parton said to start the interview when discussing the meaning of her new book. “I thought, ‘Well that’s a good name for my coffee table book,’ it has about 170 some-odd songs of mine, and I tell stories about why I wrote them and what kind of frame of mind I was in.”
Parton went on to tell Colbert how songwriting has been so important on a personal level throughout her life, talk about writing tunes that would be performed by Emmylou Harris and Whitney Houston, and reflect on the musical imprint her family left on her. At one point when discussing one of the songs that her mother used to sing to her, Parton belted out the lyrics to the a-cappella folk tune, which actually appeared to move the show’s host to tears on air.
Watch the two interview segments from Tuesday’s episode below.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert – Dolly Parton Interview Pt. 1 – 10/20/20
[Video: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert]
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert – Dolly Parton Interview Pt. 2 – 10/20/20
[Video: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert]
Parton returned to the headlines earlier this month with the arrival of her latest holiday album, A Holly Dolly Christmas, which features guest contributions from Willie Nelson, Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Michael Bublé, and that other late-night host and JRAD superfan Jimmy Fallon.