Dolly Parton played both rockstar and Dallas Cowboys cheerleader this Thanksgiving.
As the halftime performer during the holiday matchup between the Cowboys and the Washington Commanders Nov. 23, the 77-year-old donned the Texas team’s iconic cheerleader outfit — including a blue cropped top with a deep neckline and a white vest and shorts decorated with stars.
“Hey Cowboys and Commanders, stop fighting and sing along with me,” Parton said after asking the crowd what they thought of her new look.
The country music legend first broke into 1973 hit” Jolene” before leading into another chart-topper, “9 to 5,” which was accompanied by a performance from the Cowboys’ cheerleaders.
To end the show, the cheerleaders stayed on the field to join Parton in her rendition of Queen’s “We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You,” which is also featured on her new rock album.
The halftime concert comes less than a week after Parton released her first rock album, “Rockstar,” on Friday, Nov. 17, after solidifying herself as a world renowned country singer for over 50 years.
Parton’s latest LP contains 30 tracks, nine of which are original songs while 21 are rock covers with legendary artists like Sting, Steven Tyler, Stevie Nicks, Debbie Harry, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others.
Some of her covers in the 30-song soundtrack include hits like “Purple Rain,” “Wrecking Ball,” “Heart of Glass,” “Stairway to Heaven,” “Heartbreaker” and “Let It Be.”
Before hitting the stage at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Thursday night at age 77, Parton opened up about aging in the industry during an appearance on “The Howard Stern Show” released Nov. 16.
Though she’s open about her plastic surgeries, Parton told Stern that the risks associated with the procedures aren’t lost on her.
“You’ve just got to be very careful not to overdo it because you never know. Anytime you go under the knife, you could come out looking not good,” Parton said.
“You just never know how you’re going to heal,” she continued. “You never know what’s going to go. So you absolutely need to find the best doctors, the most talked about doctors or the ones highly recommended if you’re going to do anything (to) your face,” she said.
“You can cover up stuff if somebody screws up things on your body but, boy, if you live with your face out there, you’ve got to be careful,” Parton stressed. “So I try to do just little bits at a time. I don’t do really big stuff.”
In terms of her latest procedures, Parton said she tends to lean into fillers like Botox and Juvéderm, “only when I have to do something.”
“And even then, I try to be careful,” she added.