Partners in crime: Dolly Parton and James Patterson team up for Run, Rose, Run novel and album

What happens when the queen of country and the king of thrillers team up? They create a project that's the first of its kind.

Next month, music legend Dolly Parton, 76, and best-selling author James Patterson, 75, will publish Run, Rose, Run (out March 7), a Nashville-set mystery novel about two singers — an older, jaded icon and a young newcomer with a dark past — as well as an accompanying country album of the same name that brings those characters' songs to life (out March 4).

Speaking to EW via Zoom from Parton's hometown of Nashville — in matching red-and-black sequined outfits, no less — the new partners in crime offer a glimpse inside the highly unexpected real-life friendship that developed when they put their prolific heads together for a spring slate of pop culture releases.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You two make an iconic duo, but how did this collaboration even begin?

JAMES PATTERSON: Like a lot of people, I was a big fan of Dolly's. I had this germ of a [story] idea about a singer, so I contacted her, and Dolly said, "Come down to Nashville and let's see if we like each other."

DOLLY PARTON: And we liked each other a lot! I was nervous just meeting him because I love his work, and I wasn't sure if this was going to work. I would have found some excuse, "Great, thank you, but I'm too busy," or, "This is not my thing," but we felt a bond. I wasn't sure how I would fit into the picture; I haven't written a novel. But it was an interesting idea and I related to the story he had in mind, so I might be able to contribute to that knowing as how I know a lot about the music business. And we really created a wonderful friendship in working together.

PATTERSON: We had a lot of things in common. We're both from nowhere little towns, and the chance of either of us making it was about 10 million to one. We're both storytellers — country music is really about storytelling. When we were down in Nashville, she said, "I've written thousands of country songs. I can write one standing on my head, want to see?"

PARTON: I do write fast!

PATTERSON: We're both, I think, pretty down-to-earth, we're not impressed with ourselves, we can be pretty funny. We did this with no agents, no lawyers, no nothing. We just said, "Let's just do this thing."

PARTON: We've both lived long enough and been in the business long enough to think, if we're going to do something this unique, we need to do this on a very personal level.

PATTERSON: One of the other things about show business, publishing, whatever, is they tend to think backwards in terms of what worked yesterday, and we were interested in something new. Nobody's ever done this. Nobody's done a book and an accompanying album. If we had to do it with pure business people, they'd go, "Oh, no, that'll never work. An album and a book? Why would you do that?" They would have tried to tell us no, but we wouldn't have let them.

PARTON: It's like a soundtrack to a book. Maybe more people will do it if this does that well.

PATTERSON: I'm sure they will.

How did the creative process of making the book and the album at the same time work between the two of you?

PATTERSON: I never really get into the secret sauce. But we did go back and forth a lot.

PARTON: He wrote a lot and then I would read what he was writing, then I would write songs. James had not heard the music or the melody or the production; he just knew only the lyrics that I would send back and forth, and he'd incorporate the lyrics into the book. Then I brought James and his wife, Sue, down [to Nashville] for a listening party because I wanted him to hear it before we got other people involved. I was a nervous wreck wondering what he would think.

PATTERSON: That was so funny. "I'm so nervous." You're Dolly Parton!

PARTON: I know, but this was a lot of bluegrass and then some real, real country things. I think I was more concerned about the bluegrass-flavored things and you liking that.

I've got to say, you already seem like old friends.

PARTON: We are. They say you can't make old friends, but I believe in this case you can.

PATTERSON: No, just say "friends." Don't say "old friends."

PARTON: I know! But there's a famous song that I sang with my other duet singing partner, Kenny Rogers, called "You Can't Make Old Friends." James feels like an old friend to me. A young old friend. A friend who's old, a young friend —

PATTERSON: A good friend. A new friend. A new old friend?

PARTON: We feel like friends.

[Both laugh]

PATTERSON: People are going to be curious about what happens when Dolly and Jim get together. It's a good story. It has some mystery to it. It has a lot about what it's like to try to make it in the music business. And I think you're going to be delighted by the album.

PARTON: Thank you. I hope so. I worked hard. I wanted to impress you.

PATTERSON: You did. It's a magical experience.

There's that old saying, "Write what you know." Dolly, there are a ton of similarities to your career in both the younger newcomer AnnieLee's and the older icon Ruthanna's stories. How much did you draw from your own life for the characters' backstories?

PARTON: I have lived both lives, so James [consulted] me a lot. Our backstories are different, of course, but that story of AnnieLee and Ruthanna, that's basically what any young girl or boy coming to Nashville wants. One of the songs in my album based on the characters is "Big Dreams and Faded Jeans." How many young people have come to Nashville in boots and faded jeans and hats, thinking you can just walk right into town and make it? It don't always go that way. I was luckier than most in my case, years ago.

PATTERSON: When I went to Vanderbilt [University], I would go to Printers Alley [in Nashville], and you couldn't sit in one of those bars for 10 minutes without some young person coming in and playing — they were dreaming about being country stars while I was dreaming about being a novelist.

PARTON: Ha! And look at us now. It was meant to be.

Do you have plans to collaborate again in the future?

PARTON: We're going to be thinking of this story as a feature film as well.

PATTERSON: We can't get into who it is, but we're so honored that people of that caliber want to take this book and make a movie out of it. One of the great things about the movie, when it happens, is it's a real star-maker if we get the right star for AnnieLee.

PARTON: And I'm going to hopefully get to play Ruthanna, the older character, in the movie. I haven't been in a movie in a long time, so it's about time. This will be very special. Right now, we hope you buy the book and the album because we need the money. It costs a lot to look this cheap.

PATTERSON: We need the money, that's right — coats like this don't come cheap.

PARTON: [Laughs] We're dressed alike, and he ain't never done that before!

PATTERSON: This is new for me.

PARTON: I have him dressing like a duet partner. Now I'm trying to teach him how to sing.

PATTERSON: I'm ready. Is this what you would wear as a duet partner?

PARTON: Yeah, I would have put more rhinestones on it but that would have scared him to death.

PATTERSON: They had another shirt for me but it was a little bit more audacious, and I said, "Let's just go with the coat."

PARTON: But we have to be coordinated. We're a pair now.

So, James, is there any chance we'll ever hear you duet with Dolly on a song?

PATTERSON: [At the same time] Yeah, absolutely!

PARTON: [At the same time] Not a chance!

PATTERSON: She's heard my voice.

PARTON: He can't sing! We'll work on that.

PATTERSON: You never know.

A version of this story appears in the March issue of Entertainment Weekly, on newsstands now. Don't forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.

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