Dolly Parton Shares ‘Big Dreams and Faded Jeans’ From New Book
Get an early taste of her 'Run, Rose, Run' book-companion album.
Country icon Dolly Parton has done so much in her decades of superstardom, it sometimes seems like there can’t possibly be any “firsts” left — but she keeps finding new ones, and today marks the beginning of another.
On March 7, Parton will release her first mystery novel, Run, Rose, Run, co-written with best-selling mystery author James Patterson, and now she has shared the first song from an album that goes with it. Check out “Big Dreams and Faded Jeans” below.
Giving fans early look at the main character in Run, Rose, Run, Parton’s new “Big Dreams and Faded Jeans” feels close to autobiographical, telling the story of a girl who leaves home with stars in her eyes. Dolly Parton famously grew up in the isolated mountains of East Tennessee, and here the timeless warble of her songbird vocals is placed alongside a soft-rock meets country-gospel sound, with harmonica accents and a chorus of backup singers behind her.
Filled with youthful optimism and an anything-is-possible spirit, the book’s character heads off to Nashville, where dreamers can “find your future, lose your past.”
“Big dreams, and faded jeans / Fit together, like a team / Always bustin’, at the seams / Big dreams and faded jeans,” goes the chorus.
Co-produced by Richard Dennison and Tom Rutledge, Parton’s Run, Rose, Run album is said to flesh out that story in full, rootsy musical detail, following a “young woman who leaves home for Nashville, TN, to pursue her music-making dreams and the dark secret from her past that threatens it all.” With 12 songs in total, it features guest appearances by Ben Haggard (son of the late country icon Merle Haggard), Joe Nichols and Dennison.
“So many people come to Nashville with their sack of songs,” Parton says of the project. “Whether they’re running from anything or not, they’re running towards a future. That’s what ‘Big Dreams and Faded Jeans’ is all about. I am so pleased to finally share the first song from this exciting new album with all of you!”
Dolly Parton’s Run, Rose, Run album arrives on March 4, just three days before the novel of the same name. Here’s the album’s complete track listing:
Side A:
1. Run
2. Big Dreams and Faded Jeans
3. Demons (with Ben Haggard)
4. Driven
5. Snakes In The Grass
6. Blue Bonnet Breeze
Side B:
1. Woman Up and Take It Like A Man
2. Firecracker
3. Secrets
4. Lost and Found (with Joe Nichols)
5. Dark Night, Bright Future
6. Love or Lust (with Richard Dennison)
