Dolly Parton wouldn't let her old pal Kenny Rogers retire without one final sing-along.
Rogers will close out his 200-date final tour with a tribute show in Nashville, Tennessee on 25 October (17), and he admits he would have just walked away from the stage for good after the end of his tour if it wasn't for Dolly, his duet partner on the hit Islands in the Stream.
"I told Dolly, 'I am going to say goodbye and spend more time with my wife and kids'," he tells Closer magazine, "so she replied, 'It’s been 13 years since we sang onstage together. You cannot get out of town without us doing something'."
As a result, the Jolene singer will now headline All In for the Gambler: Kenny Rogers' Farewell Concert Celebration, and the Coward of the County singer admits he'll have a hard time keeping his emotions under control when he hits the stage with his old pal.
"Working with Dolly is always emotional because we have so much history together," Kenny adds. "Dolly is an old and dear friend. You either have old friends or you don’t and I have always had a friend in Dolly. We have always supported each other and have mutual respect."
Dolly and Kenny reunited to perform Islands in the Stream during her Great Smoky Mountains telethon in December (16), when the Jolene singer rounded up friends to help her raise money for families affected by Tennessee wildfires.
Other artists lined-up for the Rogers tribute include Little Big Town, Alison Krauss, The Flaming Lips, Idina Menzel, Jamey Johnson, and Elle King.
