Country music legend Dolly Parton released her first Christmas album in thirty years this week, and in a new interview, she explained why she decided to release this festive record to her fans in 2020 specifically.

“I’ve been wanting to release a Christmas album for a while now because I just love Christmas and though we started recording before the pandemic, this year became the perfect time to spread some extra joy,” Parton told Fox News. “I think the spirit of Christmas and what it truly means can spill out into our families and make this a better Christmas than ever. Hopefully, ‘A Holly Dolly Christmas’ will make everyone feel holly and jolly this season.”

Parton, 74, had not released a Christmas album since her 1990 record “Home for Christmas.” Prior to that, she had released “Once Upon a Christmas” with the late Kenny Rogers in 1984.

“A Holly Dolly Christmas,” which is available now, consists of 12 tracks that includes beloved Christmas classics as well as songs Parton wrote herself. For the album, the iconic singer collaborated with her brother, Randy, as well as goddaughter Miley Cyrus, and Miley’s father, Billy Ray Cyrus.

“It was so exciting to gather all of this talent to sing on my album – virtually of course,” Parton said of getting the chance to collaborate with her loved ones.

“I have so many memories of singing with my family as a kid, so singing all these wonderful duets with my friends was very special, especially singing with my brother, Randy, on ‘You Are My Christmas,'” she continued.

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Parton previously opened up about how she managed to record this album amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

“We were working in our little circle with our masks and with our gloves and we had our engineer and we just had the very few people that we had to have when we were in there when I was singing,” Parton told Billboard back in August.

“We’ve been very smart, very careful, because we’re trying to protect ourselves and I’m an older person,” she added. “I’m not out to get it if I don’t [have] to, I’m hoping I can outrun all that. We’ve been all very, very smart, but it didn’t slow us up.”

This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com and is used by permission.

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