Dolly Parton has announced that she is preparing “thousands of songs” for release after her death.
In the latest installment of WNYC‘s podcast Dolly Parton’s America, the renowned singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer claimed she doesn’t want her songs to end up “like Prince or Aretha [Franklin] or anybody that don’t plan ahead”.
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In the interview with Jad Abumrad, Parton expanded on her thoughts about the end of her life and leaving her legacy behind. “I’m a lucky person”, she says, “because I’ve got hundreds, hundreds, even thousands of songs and a big part of them have never been recorded”.
She elaborated on the depth of her catalog, “there’s enough stuff to go on forever with my music—to do compilation albums…new and original stuff”. The amount of foresight she has put into this is evident. “I am purposely trying to put songs down for that very purpose. To have a click track and my vocals to where any arrangement can be done,” Parton said. “Any producer, anywhere in the world, a hot producer—when I’m gone—they could take my songs, just the click track and vocal, and build a complete arrangement around that”.
In the somewhat grim interview, Parton also gave her thoughts on a potential afterlife. “I’m hoping, as a Christian-faith person, that we go onto a greater thing”. She continued, “I’m hoping to get on up there and do some more writing and singing and play one of those golden harps”.
While it’s good to be prepared, let’s hope that Dolly Parton doesn’t have to worry about this any time soon.
Listen to the full podcast, courtesy of WNYC Studios, below.