Dolly Parton Says She Will Play Christmas Music 'for 12 Hours' a Day — and Reveals Her Favorite Songs (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Dolly Parton.Photo:Jon Morgan/CBS/Getty

Jon Morgan/CBS/Getty

Dolly Partonloves Christmas music!

“Well, you know I love all the Christmas songs," the country legend, 78, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I love the fast ones, I love the slow ones.”

“I love ‘Silent Night’ and ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem,’ but then I love ‘Rudolph’ and all of those fun things,” she continues. “I just love all of that.”

Dolly Parton in June 2024.Terry Wyatt/WireImage

Terry Wyatt/WireImage

Parton acknowledges that how people listen to music has changed throughout the years, and she herself has embraced using technology to make playing her favorite songs easier than ever.

“We all have either an Alexa or Siri or one of those kinds of things,” she says. “I just always holler out, ‘Alexa, play holiday music for 12 hours in my house,’ or something like that, and I just like all of it.”

Parton released her first holiday album,Once Upon a Christmas,alongsideKenny Rogersback in 1984.

She followed it up in 1990 with her solo collection of festive songs, titledHome for Christmas, but fans then had to wait 30 years for the next holiday album,Holly Dolly Christmas, which featured classics including “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and “Mary, Did You Know?”

Throughout the years, Parton has also released several Christmas songs for original movies, such asChristmas at Dollywoodfor Hallmark Channel andDolly Parton’s Christmas on the Squarefor Netflix.

Dolly Parton and her dog Billy, ‘Billy the Kid Comes Home for Christmas’ book cover.Courtesy of Dolly Parton; Penguin Young Readers

Courtesy of Dolly Parton; Penguin Young Readers

Parton’slove of the annual holiday makes it no surprise that she publishedBilly the Kid Comes Home for Christmasahead of Dec. 25.

The children’s book is a sequel to her 2023’sBilly the Kid Makes It Big.

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Parton foundedDolly Parton’s Imagination Libraryin 1995, which sends free books each month to children from birth to age 5, no matter their household income.

source: people.com