Peter Frampton says he “lowballed” his way onto Dolly Parton’s new rock record
Legendary singer-songwriter Peter Frampton has revealed that he asked Dolly Parton to be involved in her upcoming project. The iconic country singer will release Rockstar, an album celebrating rock music, on November 17th, 2023.
Alongside Frampton, Parton’s 30-track release also welcomed Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Lizzo, Sting, Chris Stapleton, Debbie Harry, Elton John, John Fogerty, Joan Jett, Steven Tyler and Kid Rock as guest stars.
After approaching Parton to be involved in the project, he became the only guest to appear on two of the album’s tracks. First, he performs a duet with Parton on a new version of his 1975 single ‘Baby, I Love Your Way’, and then he offers a guitar solo to Parton’s reimagination of The Beatles’ Let It Be, which also involves guest appearances from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Mick Fleetwood.
“I’m very honoured and pleased to be on her album,” Frampton told Ultimate Classic Rock in a new interview. “I was with a friend who had finished doing some backgrounds for the vocal on the Steven Tyler duet [‘I Want You Back’], and I said, ‘That’s right, she’s doing that rock album.'”
“So I came home, I called my manager, I said, ‘I heard that Dolly’s doing this album right now. I’d love to do a guitar solo.’ He said, ‘Oh, I know, Dolly.’ The next thing I know, I’m on the telephone with Dolly’s producer, Kent Wells. He said, ‘I hear you want to do a guitar solo.’ I said, ‘Yes, I would love to do it.’ He said, ‘Is that all you want to do, a guitar solo?’ I said, ‘Well, I lowballed you with the guitar solo. I figured you had all your duets done.’ He said, ‘Well, would you ever think about doing one of your songs with Dolly?’ I said, ‘Let me think about … yes!’
“So he said, ‘Let me call you back.’ He calls me back in, like, 10 minutes. He said, ‘Dolly would love to do ‘Baby, I Love Your Way’ with you.’ So we did, and it’s pretty phenomenal. She takes it to a whole other level. It’s such an honour she wanted to do that.”
Listen to Peter Frampton’s ‘Baby, I Love Your Way’ below.
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