Dolly Parton Announces New Live Dates — But Why Did She Stop Touring For a Decade?
Sounds like Dolly Parton has poured herself a cup of ambition: The country star has announced a six-show Las Vegas residency called “Dolly: Live in Las Vegas,” which will run from December 4 to December 13 at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
“To say I’m excited would be an understatement,” Parton said in a statement as she announced the news on Monday, June 23, per Variety. “I haven’t worked Vegas in years, and I’ve always loved singing there. I’m looking so forward to the shows in The Colosseum at Caesars, and I hope you are as well. See you there.”
Tickets go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT on Ticketmaster, giving fans a rare chance to see a 10-time Grammy winner who gave up touring years ago, after the end of her “Pure & Simple” tour in 2016.
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In a 2023 TalkShopLive interview, Parton explained why she no longer goes out on the road. “I don’t tour anymore,” she said at the time. “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. … My husband ain’t as young as I am now, and I need to kind of be with him.”
That husband was Carl Dean, to whom Parton was married for nearly 60 years by the time the businessman died this March at age 82. Parton mourned her longtime partner on Instagram, saying she and Dean “spent many wonderful years together.”
Besides, as Parton added in the 2023 interview, concert tours take “six months, at least” to assemble and then “six months to a year” to perform, and the “9 to 5” singer has been through that rigmarole. “Look, I’ve been at it a long time — I started when I was 10 years old!” she said.
But a residency gives Parton a chance to entertain fans without traveling. In this case, the “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” adage holds true!
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