DOLLY & JAMES
That time a country superstar and a bestselling author wrote a book together and became best buds.
“Dolly is just what you would hope she would be. And she’s very, very smart.”
Everyone on set is grinning. Country music superstar Dolly Parton and bestselling novelist James Patterson have been gamely striking poses for nearly an hour, the diminutive Parton perched in vertiginous heels upon a wooden crate to bring her closer to Patterson’s height. Horsing around with props, ranging from a long-stemmed rose to a shiny red guitar—“You hold it,” Parton says, laughing. “No, that’s backwards!”—they have charmed the whole crew gathered at a studio outside Nashville.
The pair recalls the first time they met, in early 2020. “We just clicked, really,” Parton says. Back then, Patterson had flown to Nashville to introduce himself and float the idea of writing a book together. Now they’ve reunited to promote their partnership’s result: a high-stakes thriller set in the glitzy world of country music.
Run, Rose, Run will be published on March 7, just three days after Parton debuts a new album of the same name, featuring 12 songs based on the book’s characters.
What’s clear from their camaraderie is that something even bigger than a book with its own soundtrack has emerged from their collaboration: a genuine friendship. While they may be mismatched in height and glamour (no offense at all to Patterson, but who could possibly sparkle at comparable wattage to Dolly Parton?), these two
highly uncommon figures have found they have a great deal in common.
“We’re both from small towns,” Patterson says. “The odds of us getting to where we are from where we started are about 10 million to one.” Patterson was born in Newburgh, N.Y.; Parton in Pittman Center, Tenn. Both were raised in households where money was scarce. “And I think we’re both kind of down-to-earth,” he says.
All true, as is the fact that both are mind-bogglingly prolific creators and businesspeople who, still working nonstop in their mid-70s, reign over profitable and philanthropic empires branded under their names.
The Dream Team
Patterson, 74, began “scribbling,” as he says, in his 20s. By the time he turned 30, he had penned his first mystery novel and won an Edgar Award for it. He continued to write novels on the side while ascending the ranks to CEO at ad agency J. Walter Thompson, before quitting in 1996 to write full-time. Today, sales of his books total a staggering 425 million worldwide, a number that rises rapidly as Patterson and his team of co-writers publish dozens of new books each year. In addition to stand-alone thrillers and series featuring popular characters such as Alex Cross—plus high-profile collaborations, including The President Is Missing with Bill Clinton—he produces books for children and teens. Beloved in the literary world, he has been honored with both the National Humanities Medal and the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. For several years, he has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the author with the most New York Times bestsellers.
Speaking of records: Parton, 76, may have risen to the level of cultural icon, but she began as a teenage singer-songwriter in the 1960s, stubbornly working her way through the male-dominated music industry to turn a guitar, notepad and raw emotion into hit songs. Nearly six decades later, she has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, surpassed 3 billion streams globally and shows no signs of slowing down. Case in point: In the past year and a half— the same time period during which she was working on Run, Rose, Run with Patterson—she released a holiday album, A Holly Dolly Christmas, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard country chart; published a New York Times bestselling collection of song lyrics and stories, Songteller; launched a perfume; and continued her Emmywinning production deal with Netflix. She has racked up 10 Grammys, plus the Lifetime Achievement Award; nine Country Music Association Awards; nine Academy of Country Music Awards; and three American Music Awards—more than earning her place in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
What’s left to reach for at this level of success? “Now it’s time to have fun,” Patterson says. Together, they dreamed up the story of AnnieLee Keyes, a young singer trying to make it in Nashville while on the run from a mysterious past, and Ruthanna Ryder, a Parton-like legend who takes the budding star under her wing. In imagining AnnieLee’s journey, Patterson plumbed Parton’s memories of moving to Nashville straight out of high school at 18 and imbued the character with her creators’ own ambition and work ethic. “My grandmother used to have a saying: ‘Hungry dogs run faster,’” Patterson says. “Dolly and I are both driven.”
At mention of the word, Parton begins reciting the lyrics to “Driven,” a song she wrote for the new album:
I’ve got drive
I try to do more than survive
Reachin’ out to take what life has given
One thing you can say for me is
I’m driven
“Jim has such a great depth and intelligence that I just feel honored to be in his presence.”
Parton came up with the album as a way to add an additional layer to the story, and also because she simply couldn’t help herself. She processes what she’s thinking and feeling by writing song lyrics. As she and Patterson honed the story, the songs AnnieLee sang on fictional stages became real in Parton’s mind.
Keeping It Real
When they first started working together, Patterson flew in from Palm Beach County, Fla., where he lives with his wife, Susan (with whom he raised their son, Jack, 24), to brainstorm in Nashville, where Parton lives with her husband, Carl Dean. After the pandemic made gathering in person too risky, they bridged the distance by phone. “We’re old-timers,” Parton says. “I still fax! I said, ‘You’ve got to get a fax machine, because I’m going to be faxing you.’”
They reviewed drafts and sent each other notes, Parton paying special attention to the scenes set in the offices and performance spaces of the music industry. “I knew Jim could write the book himself and put my name on it, but I said, ‘I’m not that kind of person. I have to do my part.’ So I would critique things or say, ‘I don’t think they’d do it like that in the business.’”
Patterson says Parton’s keen eye ensured the story’s authenticity. Well, relatively speaking. This is a James Patterson novel, after all. “Anything that happens in the book, even if it’s a little over the top—and who’s to say in this day and age that anything’s over the top?—it could happen like this,” he says.