Page 3 Profile: Dolly Parton, country singer

Dolly Parton, country singer (Getty)

Turn up the mic... what’d you say?

Country singer Dolly Parton is to play this year’s Glastonbury. The 68-year-old star will play the festival, after performing at London’s O2 Arena in June, as part of her European tour.

So it isn’t just for the kids?

Even though one tweet displayed shock at the fact that Parton is still alive, the sell-out festival isn’t shy in bringing in older musical heroes, proving it isn’t just the young ’uns who are dipping their toes in the mud. Blondie will also be gracing the stage this year, after picking up the NME Godlike Genius award on Wednesday night. Last year, The Rolling Stones were labelled by one of the organisers as the “high spot” of the 43 years of the festival, as the band played for two hours to tens of thousands of eager fans.

Why should we care?

I think some respect is due: Ms Parton is the most honoured female country performer of all time. Achieving 25 RIAA certified gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards, she has had 25 songs reach No 1 on the Billboard Country charts, a record for a female artist.

Who let it slip then?

Actually, Glastonbury organiser, Emily Eavis announced the addition to the line-up as she collected the award for Best Festival at the NME Awards. This was shortly followed by Parton herself tweeting: “I’m incredibly excited to FINALLY announce that the #BlueSmokeWorldTour is coming to @GlastoFest on June 29th! Stay tuned for more info…”

So, who will be joining her?

As usual, organisers are keeping a fairly tight lip on the acts for this year’s festival. However, a few artists who have let slip their appearance include Lily Allen, Arcade Fire and Warpaint.

Will she play from, ahem, 9 to 5?

Unlikely. All we know so far is that she’ll be playing on the Sunday, but no one’s said when. It is expected she will play the Pyramid stage, however.