Dolly Parton reveals why she’ll never tour again: ‘I did that all my life’

Dolly Parton will never tour again after retiring from the road. Photo / Getty Images

Dolly Parton will never tour again after retiring from the road to spend more time with husband Carl Dean.

The 77-year-old country music legend has insisted she will never give up work completely, but Parton is adamant she doesn’t want to leave her husband of more than five decades on his own for long periods because of their advancing years.

Parton is adamant she doesn’t want to leave her husband because of their advancing years. Photo / Supplied

She told Good Housekeeping: “I don’t tour any more. I’ve got so many business things I’m doing. And my husband and I are getting older — he’s a little older than I am — and I kind of need to be with him ... You got to be committed to that [touring]. And I did that all my life.”

Parton last hit the road for her Pure and Simple tour, which consisted of 65 shows in North America in 2016-17.

The superstar singer previously revealed she wants to continue playing one-off shows and festivals despite giving up touring.

She told Pollstar: “I’ll do special shows here and there, now and then. Maybe a long weekend of shows or just a few shows at a festival. But I have no intention of going on a full-blown tour any more ... I don’t want to be gone for four or five weeks at a time.”

Parton does not intend to go on a full-blown tour but is willing to do special shows. Photo / YouTube

Parton recently told Ken Bruce on Greatest Hits Radio she hopes to die on stage because she will never fully retire, saying: “I’m not one to sit around doin’ nothin’. I would never retire. I’ll just hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song on stage someday, hopefully, one I’ve written.”

She continued: “But anyhow, that’s how I hope to go, we don’t have much of a choice in that but as long as I’m able to work, as long as my health is good and my husband is good, the only way that I would ever slow down or stop would be for that reason. But in the meantime, I’m going to make hay while the sun shines.”