Dolly Parton Just Did the ‘Most Punk Rock Thing You Could Imagine’

NASHVILLE — Last week, when Dolly Parton declined to be considered for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, she offered a straightforward explanation: “I don’t feel that I have earned that right.”

Ms. Parton, 76, has rightfully earned a lot of accolades during her many decades as a country artist: more than 30 music awards, a Primetime Emmy, Kennedy Center Honors, Time’s 2021 list of the 100 most influential people. She’s already a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and, of course, the Country Music Hall of Fame. Three of her songs — “Coat of Many Colors,” “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” — are in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

And none of that is counting Ms. Parton’s justly celebrated nonprofit, the Imagination Library, which has given away more than 176 millionbooks to children around the world (and won a