Dolly Parton is bringing 'a little light into the darkness' this Christmas

Nothing about Christmas could be difficult for Dolly Parton, right?

The pop culture icon dishes out warm-and-fuzzy holiday feelings — in a year where everyone seems to need an extra helping of holiday cheer — with a fervor that may only be matched by Kris Kringle.

Still, there's one thing about the holidays that this master storyteller from East Tennessee finds tough, and it's what she's always done to turn heads and crack smiles.

"You would be surprised," Parton told The Tennessean. "In fact, I have been surprised, through when I try to write Christmas music for everybody else. Because, of course, everybody wants to write the next Christmas classic. But it seems like everything's been written about Christmas."

She continued, "It's harder. It's harder for me. It's been harder, except when some songs have a true message."

That "true message" thing? She nails it.

On her aptly titled new record, "A Holly Dolly Christmas," Parton invites listeners to come home, cuddle up and embrace the calming — sometimes silly — joy reserved for the season's best tunes.

Featuring a supporting cast from Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley Cyrus to "The Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon and holiday music's modern crooning king Michael Bublé, "A Holly Dolly Christmas" marks Parton's first holiday release in three decades.

It debuted earlier this fall at No. 1 on Billboard's holiday and country album charts.

"I think it's something really special," Parton said. "I'm proud of it."

She teams the record with an all-out seasonal takeover: A Netflix musical special "Christmas On The Square" (also the name of a "Holly Dolly" song); an hourlong CBS network event in December; and a line of ho-ho-holiday merch — because no stocking is actually stuffed until it comes with a Parton Christmas jigsaw puzzle wrapped in "Holly Dolly" paper.

And if the above — plus helping fund a COVID-19 vaccine — isn't keep Parton busy enough, she also released "Songteller," a coffee table book that dives into decades of stories that fueled her songs.

"Even with as bad as things have been during the COVID, I've been very productive," Parton said. "I feel like I'm doing things to try to uplift people. [Doing] things to bring a little light into the darkness. That's kind of my purpose in life. Hopefully I'm getting it done."

It wouldn't be Christmas for Parton without family. She's held on to traditions, like a big meal on Christmas Eve, since childhood.

She's started new holiday favorites with her nieces and nephews, too. There's cookie night, where Parton reprises her annual role of "Granny Claus." She'll bring the children to her house for a night in December where they bake and open gifts, she said.

"I dress up like Santa, I've got my elevator decorated like a chimney," Parton said. "I come down in my Santa suit with my bag of toys. They're sittin' at the bottom, waiting for the elevator to come down. That's been going on for years and years."

And it wouldn't be "A Holly Dolly Christmas" record without a little family, either.

Parton enlisted Billy Ray Cyrus, who's "like a brother," and goddaughter Miley Cyrus for respective duets, "Christmas Where We Are" and "Christmas Is." Her brother Randy Parton joined for an emotional duet, "You Are My Christmas."

"Randy, he was born around Christmas time," Parton said. "He was our Christmas baby, so we always called him 'Christmas' just for fun."

A visit to "The Tonight Show" during the holiday season a few years ago incidentally sparked Parton's collaboration with Fallon. The late-night host asked her to sing part of Mariah Carey's holiday megahit "All I Want For Christmas Is You" and Parton admitted at the time that she "didn't know it well enough to tackle it."

She made it up to Fallon by inviting him to sing "All I Want ..." on the album. He was her "first thought" for collaborators on the project.

"Oh, he did fantastic," Parton. "He was real nervous. He was real shy about it. He didn't want to be embarrassed, or anything. But I think he was real proud of the way it turned out."

She added with a laugh, "He might be my new duet partner."

And Parton dips her toe into a bit of bluegrass with "Christmas on the Square," a jolly standout that sets the scene in a small town worthy of a snow globe.

The song anchors Parton's new Netflix special of the same name; the album version transforms it from a Broadway-sized production to seasonal country romp. She teamed with bluegrass staples Rhonda and Darrin Vincent on the song.

"I loved the song and I thought, well, we needed to have Christmas on a country square," Parton said. "I love bluegrass and I love country so I country-fied it and put it on the album."

In releasing a new book, Parton faithful can reflect with the global star this holiday season.

Earlier in November she unveiled "Songteller: My Life In Lyrics," a 380-page coffee table book that chronicles the tales behind more than 170 Parton songs. The pages span more than six decades, from her first song "Little Tiny Tasseltop" to the world famous "Jolene" and newfound holiday favorite "Circle of Love."

Parton's delivers her musical memories alongside never-before-seen photos and memorabilia callbacks (open the book for a photo of Parton's "real hair" and stay for the goofy notes from "9 to 5" co-stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda).

Parton co-authored "Songteller" with country music historian Robert K. Oermann. The book "was like a therapy for me," Parton said.

"You don't really know how your life's gonna turn out," Parton said. "You hope everything's goes the way you want it to. You don't know until you start going back to talk about that."

She continued, "It was very emotional at times. Some things I thought I had forgotten, some things I probably wanted to forgot."

Still, cruising down memory lane, much like listening to a favorite Christmas song, can be cathartic.

"I felt at the end of it like [I] had a workout," Parton said. "I bet I slept good that night. ... I was hoping that I did it good and I didn't wanna hold back anything. I'm pretty much an open book."
• None Watch now: "Christmas On The Square," a holiday musical starring Parton, can be streamed on Netflix
• None Out now: "Songteller: My Life In Lyrics," a coffee table book co-authored by Parton with Robert K. Oermann