Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford looks back on unexpected performance with country icon Dolly Parton

Debbie DayWed, August 26, 2026 at 5:43 AM UTC

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Dolly Parton and Rob Halford perform during the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction CeremonyCredit: Amy Sussman/WireImageKey Points -

Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford paid tribute to Dolly Parton after the country legend’s death.

The “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” singer recalled the momentous occasion when he met and sang with Parton.

“She’s just this beautiful beacon of life,” Halford previously said of the “Jolene” singer-songwriter.

Heavy metal legend Rob Halford was among the chorus of stars paying tribute to country music icon Dolly Parton following her death Tuesday.

The Judas Priest lead singer took to Instagram Stories to share a flashback to the time he was surprised to find himself invited to sing Parton’s “Jolene” during the 37th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony held Nov. 05, 2022, in Los Angeles.

“She won’t want no cryin’,” Halford wrote over a photo of him and Parton performing, and “I love you Dolly,” along with various emoticons including the devil horns hand signal, a heart, and hands in prayer.

Parton and Halford in the Judas Priest frontman’s Instagram Stories post on the day of her deathCredit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic; Rob Halford/Instagram

The collaboration of the metal and country icons was unlikely, but Parton’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with Judas Priest’s Musical Excellence Award that same year provided the means, which Halford explained in a June 2023 interview with Metal Hammer magazine.

“Somehow, instinctively, I knew we were going to meet,” Halford told the magazine. “I always tell the story of my mother’s grandmother, who was a clairvoyant, and I still think I’ve got a little of that in me, because something went, ‘You’re going to meet Dolly Parton.’ Two or three days later, these emails come into the office, and Dolly’s reached out, asking, ‘Would you sing some lines on ‘Jolene’?’ You sit at home and go, ‘Oh my god, this is truly going to happen!’ Being a gay guy, ‘I’ve got nothing to wear!’ I know that she likes to sparkle and I like to sparkle, so what I wore on that night was apropos.”

Pat Benatar, Brandi Carlile, Sheryl Crow, Simon LeBon, Annie Lennox, and Pink were among the year’s hosts and inductees Parton invited onstage to sing the country classic.

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The “Breaking the Law” singer also shared a sweet moment with his idol.

“She goes, ‘I love your beard!’” Halford said, “and she starts to clean my beard! It was so surreal! I’m meeting this living legend and she’s tickling my beard and going, ‘So you’re going to sing some ‘Jolene’ with me?’ I was just floating.”

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In 2023, Halford was invited to appear on Parton’s rock album Rockstar, in a duet on “Bygones.”

“She’s just this beautiful beacon of life,” Halford told the magazine. “You can tell by the way I’m speaking that this is important to me as a musician, to have had this literally once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with someone so great.”

on Entertainment Weekly

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