It’s no longer up for debate: Dolly Parton‘s officially being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
In early February, the Cleveland, Ohio-based institution announced the country superstar was on this year’s ballot. A little more than a month later, Dolly announced she wanted to “respectfully bow out,” because she didn’t “feel that [she had] earned that right.”
It only took a matter of days for the Hall to say they declined to remove her from the running, adding that rock is “not defined by any one genre, rather a sound that moves youth culture,” and they were “proud to have nominated her.” Just last week, Dolly acquiesced, telling NPR she would “accept gracefully” should she be voted in.
Now, she’ll do just that, alongside eighties greats like Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, and rapper Eminem.
“It was an interesting evolution…” the Hall’s President and CEO Greg Harris tells ABC Audio. “I think early on she just wasn’t aware that Jimmie Rodgers and Bill Monroe and Hank Williams and Bob Wills are in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and that we look at artists from multiple genres that have all contributed to music.”
When the induction takes place November 5 at L.A.’s Microsoft Theater, plan on a spectacle worthy of the beloved legend.
“It’s a long list of artists that would love to pay tribute to Dolly Parton, and they cut across all genres — perhaps it’s more than one artist paying tribute,” Harris speculates. “Think of some of the other amazing tributes for, say, Linda Ronstadt, when we had Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks and Carrie Underwood.”
You’ll be able to watch the ceremony later via HBO and HBO Max.
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