Dolly Parton Says She Has "No Intention" Of Ever Touring Again

Bad news for Dolly Parton fans hoping to see her on the road: the Tennessee songbird is done with touring.

"I do not think I will ever tour again, but I do know I'll do special shows here and there, now and then," Parton said in the cover story for a special issue of Pollstar. "Maybe do 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 anymore. I've done that my whole life, and it takes so much time and energy."

Parton's most recent tour was her 2016 Pure & Simple Tour, which included 60 shows in the United States and Canada. She went on to explain that she's at a point in her life where she wants to stay closer to home to be near her husband Carl Dean.

"We're getting older now, and I don't want to be gone for four or five weeks at a time," Parton, 76, said. "Something could happen. I would not feel right about that, if I were gone and somebody needed me. Or I would feel bad if I had to leave a tour if somebody got sick at home and needed me and then I had to walk out on the fans."

That doesn't mean she's done performing though. Rather, Parton isn't interested in the heavy lifting planning a tour entails.

Listen To Dolly Parton's Podcast Episode

"You can do special shows in special ways. I will be doing some of that," she explained. "It takes months to actually plan a tour, as far as booking dates and all that. Then you've got to be gone for all that time, too. It's more involved than people have any idea. You really need a year, and certainly six months, to plan a great tour, just preparing to get ready to go hit the road. So you can't just go out and do a few shows, you really have to commit to doing enough shows to make all that time and effort pay off."

After five decades in the limelight, you've certainly earned some rest, Dolly!