Dolly Parton is releasing her first Christmas album in 30 years

Not everything in 2020 is a dumpster fire—at least not anymore, thanks to the one and only Dolly Parton. The legendary country star came to save the year by announcing the October 2 release of A Holly Dolly Christmas, aka her first Christmas album in three decades.The 12-track album is available now for pre-order on Parton’s official site, and it features a collection of new and classic songs that many holiday-lovers will recognize, like “Holly Jolly Christmas” (naturally) and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause.” Parton has also recruited a few of her celebrity friends to help her record certain tracks, like Christmas crooner Michael Bublé, who is featured on “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas;” Willie Nelson, who joins her for a new iteration of “Pretty Paper;” and Billy Ray Cyrus, who is featured on “Christmas Where We Are.” Also on the album? The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon, who is helping Parton tackle Mariah Carey’s classic, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” Well, you have our attention Dolly.

 

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#AHollyDollyChristmas is coming on October 2 ❤️ The album features some of my favorite people including @mileycyrus, @willienelsonofficial, @michaelbuble, @jimmyfallon, @BillyRayCyrus and more! Head to the link in my bio to pre-order your copy.

A post shared by Dolly Parton (@dollyparton) on Aug 13, 2020 at 7:07am PDT

“Jimmy Fallon, a couple of years ago, I was on his show around Christmas and he asked me to sing that and I didn't know it and I felt so bad,” Parton tells Billboard. “So I went and learned it and I was just going to put it on my album and then I went, ‘I’ll ask Jimmy Fallon to sing it with me!’ And he said, yes. So I'm really excited about that.”According to the publication, this album is one that Parton has been thinking about for a while, but she had to put it on hold when she worked on the soundtrack to the Netflix film Dumplin’ (starring Jennifer Aniston and Danielle Macdonald), which was released in 2018. “I thought, 'I think I'll call it A Holly Dolly Christmas because I love the song “A Holly Jolly Christmas” with Burl Ives. He used to be on all of my Christmas specials all through the years,” Parton revealed. “I think of him as Mr. Christmas. I thought, ‘Why don't do I call it something cute and clever, like that or Deck the Halls with Boughs of Dolly, something corny like that.’”[video_embed id='1931360']RELATED: Dolly Parton is helping with bedtime by reading stories for fans[/video_embed]Parton has been making audiences smile for roughly 60 years now, and she’s certainly no stranger to holiday albums, having previously done Once Upon a Christmas with Kenny Rogers in 1984 and Home for Christmas in 1990. It’s also worth noting that the 74-year-old starred in last year’s Hallmark film Christmas at Dollywood, which is just one of many holiday-themed films and specials she’s done over her prolific career.Fast forward to today and 2020 is kind of proving to be Dolly’s year. The news of the upcoming album comes just a few months after the May release of her quarantine anthem “When Life Is Good Again,” and November 17 marks the release of her book, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics.“A songteller is what I am, and this is my first-ever book of lyrics,” Parton said in a statement announcing the coffee table book in June. “So, I’ve revisited my memories and opened up my archives to share the stories and treasures behind them in a way I never have before.”In other words, it’s the book of 2020 that we truly deserve.[video_embed id='1978235']Before you go: Petition collecting signatures to replace Confederate memorials with Dolly Parton statues[/video_embed]