Dolly Parton and Kelsea Ballerini paired up for a “Big Dreams and Faded Jeans,” off Parton’s new album Run, Rose, Run during the 57th ACM Awards in Las Vegas on March 7.
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Introduced by Parton’s Run, Rose, Run co-author James Patterson, Parton, who was hosting the awards along with Gabby Barrett and Jimmie Allen, came on stage, guitar around her neck singing solo before Ballerini joined her singing through Big dreams and faded jeans / Fit together like a team Always busting at the seam / Big dreams and faded jeans / Just my ole guitar and me / Out to find my destiny / Nashville is the place to be / For big dreams and faded jeans.
“Big Dreams and Faded Jeans” is one of 12 songs on Parton’s accompanying album Run, Rose, Run, a companion to the book.
Ballerini is featured in the audiobook cast of Parton’s book as the main character AnnieLee Keyes, a young singer who moves to Nashville to make her musical dreams come true. Soneela Nankani, James Fouhey, Kevin T. Collins, Peter Ganim, Luis Moreno, Ronald Peet, Robert Petkoff, Ella Turenne, and Emily Woo Zeller also round out the audiobook cast of “Run, Rose, Run.”
“It is an incredible privilege to voice the story and character of AnnieLee, a girl who has seen the worst of what people can do to each other, but who still has the pure ambition to want bigger and better things for herself,” said Ballerini in an earlier statement. “She has an unwavering belief in her innate talent and relentlessly pulls herself from the depths of hell into finding her platform to share her gifts with the world.”
Prior to their ACM duet together, Parton and Ballerini expressed their excitement to perform together during the ACMs. “I’m gonna be doing a number in the show with Kelsea Ballerini, we’re gonna be doing one of the songs from my ‘Run, Rose, Run album,’ said Parton on social media a few days prior to the awards.
“Just a couple of east Tennessee girls getting ready to sing together at the [ACM Awards],” wrote Ballerini earlier in the week.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for ACM
