This year Dolly Parton celebrated thanksgiving by dressing as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and performing Queen covers for 80,000 football fans

Dolly Parton onstage at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas — (Image credit: Ron Jenkins)

Dolly Parton could have stayed at home in Nashville for thanksgiving this year, chowing down on turkey and pumpkin pie, but instead she was out on the road, promoting her much-talked-about Rockstar album.

The latest leg of the roadshow took Parton to the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, where she took to the stage dressed in the iconic blue-and-white uniforms of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad (appropriately nicknamed "America's Sweethearts").

After appearing via video to launch the Salvation Army's Red Kettle Campaign (an annual fundraiser which kicks off on Black Friday), Parton entertained the 80,000 attendees with a half-time set that included sections of her classics Jolene and 9 To 5, plus stadium-friendly snippets of two Queen songs written for precisely this sort of of occasion, We Are The Champions and We Will Rock You.

Parton taped covers of both songs for Rockstar, while a new version of Jolene, recorded with Måneskin, was released earlier this week. Other stars who contributed to the album include Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Stevie Nicks, Steven Tyler, Peter Frampton, Rob Halford, Richie Sambora, Steve Perry, John Fogerty, Debbie Harry, Elton John and many more.

Meanwhile, back at the football, the Dallas Cowboys blew out the Washington Commanders 45-10, scoring 40 points for the fourth time in five home games, and bringing their current winning streak at the AT&T to 13.

The video of Parton's performance is below, although you'll need to click through to YouTube to watch it, because, well, that's the way the NFL does things.

Read our exclusive interview with Dolly Parton about the making of Rockstar in the new issue of Classic Rock.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.