Dolly Parton tells Chris Evans about writing two songs in one day

Dolly Parton recalled writing two of her biggest songs on the same day, when she joined The Chris Evans Breakfast Show this morning.

The Queen of Country was appearing on his Virgin Radio UK show to talk about her upcoming new album, Rockstar.

Legend has it that she wrote Jolene and I Will Always Love You on the same day, with both going on to become iconic songs. Jolene has been covered by several artists including The White Stripes and Miley Cyrus and I Will Always Love You became one of Whitney Houston’s biggest hits.

“I don’t know that I wrote them on the same day, but they are on the same cassette,” Dolly told Chris. “I’m always writing songs, I always keep my cassette handy and available, but they actually wound up on the same Jolene album.

“And so that in itself is a feat, but I really wrote them within the same period of time, either that week, and since I write all the time, something almost every day, I’ve always kind of believed that they very well could have been on the same day that I wrote them, because they were back to back on the cassette,” she added.

Speaking about her success, she told told Chris she is blessed with a lot of wonderful people in all the departments she works in.

“I’ve always asked God to bless me and surround me with all the right people,” she said. “And he has, and I can’t take all the credit, I just show up and do my part. And I’ll do my part, but so do they. So, I’m surrounded with wonderful people in every aspect of my career.”

She added: “You have to believe in yourself, you have to believe in your talent. You have to truly believe that you can do that thing that it is you want to do.

“I just ask to be guided and led into whatever talent I feel that God has given me, I want to try to make the very most of it. And I’m just a curious person. I just want to see what I can do in my life.”

Because Dolly works so hard, Chris wondered if she finds enough time to sleep. She replied that she doesn’t need a lot of sleep and thinks that’s why she’s done well in her life.

“I’m also a very early riser, no matter what time I go to bed, whether it’s late or early, and usually it’s early, you know that old saying, you know, ‘Early to bed early to rise makes you wealthy and wise’. I don’t know how wise I am, but it’s helped me in my career, because I’m up working when most people are asleep,” she revealed.

Dolly’s album Rockstar is released on 17 November. Her book, Behind The Seams: My Life In Rhinestones is out on 17 October.