Exclusive: Dolly Parton Inspired by Everything From 50-Year Marriage to ‘Friends-With-Benefits Love’ on New Loved-Up Album

Everyone in the universe loves Dolly Parton, so it makes perfect sense that the country legend would dedicate an entire album to the universal subject of love. In this video exclusive, Parton reveals that her half-century of happy marriage to Carl Thomas Dean inspired much of her new album, Pure & Simple — but that wedded bliss wasn’t the only type of romance on her mind when she sat down to write. Even “cheating love” and “friends-with-benefits love” came into play!

“When I wrote the whole album of Pure & Simple, I really didn’t know what I was going to do,” Parton says. “I knew we were going on tour and we needed a CD. And I thought, ‘Well, we’re calling the tour Pure & Simple because we had brother down the show… to where we don’t have a lot of big production things at all.

“I started just a song that turned out to be a sweet love song… This is my 50th year married, so [I decided] I’m going to write a whole album of love songs — all different kinds of love. I think I touched on every kind of love there ever was on this album: sweet love, precious love, cheating love, friends-with-benefits love. Any kind of love you talk about or know about or think about, I’ve got it in this album.”

Pure & Simple, Dolly Parton’s 43rd studio effort, comes out Friday; her 60-date tour begins Sept. 9.