Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson Spotted Riding Around Dollywood in a Golf Cart, Working on New Project Together
Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson were spotted at her amusement park Dollywood together. Fans lucky enough to have been there that day caught a glimpse of the two superstars zipping around in a golf cart. The two old friends are also two of country music’s biggest icons. And they’re both actors, too. Now, they’re working on a new Christmas project that their fans will surely anticipate with delight.
Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson met in their early days in Nashville
Parton and Nelson became acquainted in the early ’60s. They both were in Nashville trying to kickstart their music careers, working as songwriters.
According to Parton, she and Nelson used to write “separately together” for the same label “back before he had the beard and the hair” (per her website). “Willie is a really, really good guy,” she offered, “and I just love him.”
The two became so close through the years that rumors of romance plagued them. Notably, Parton’s been married to her husband, Carl Dean, since 1966. She once said that she and Nelson were never anything more than friends who like to sing together.
So, naturally, she called him while working on her Christmas album, A Holly Dolly Christmas. She asked to record his song “Pretty Paper” and inquired if he would like to sing with her. He agreed and offered to play his guitar, too.
Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson were spotted at Dollywood
Some fans hit the jackpot by planning their trips to Dollywood on a day that Parton visited with Nelson. A spokesperson for the amusement park told Tennessee outlet WBIR that the stars were filming for Parton’s upcoming Christmas movie.
NBC’s Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas will feature more of Parton’s famous friends, like Miley Cyrus.
“Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas is the frenetic backstage story and delightful on-camera results of Dolly’s desire to uplift an exhausted world’s spirits by sharing the unique ‘mountain magic’ she has always found in and around Dollywood at Christmas,” reads the holiday special’s official description (per PEOPLE).
Dolly Parton is a frequent guest at Dollywood
While spotting Parton and Nelson at the park together was probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience, catching a glimpse of her without him at Dollywood is a more frequent occurrence. She shows up for various events and even donated her tour bus for guests at the park’s resort to stay in. If they can afford it, that is.
Recently, Parton stopped by to help announce work on the park’s biggest attraction yet, a roller coaster called Big Bear Mountain. The Dollywood website boasts that the new coaster will be the first of its kind at the park and is a family-friend experience with onboard audio. It will be the longest coaster at nearly 4,000 feet of track, taking guests of all ages on a hunt for the Big Bear.
