DOLLY PARTON ON HER GODDAUGHTER MILEY CYRUS AND WHY HER HUSBAND DOESN'T LIKE HER MUSIC

She may be 68 years old, but Dolly Parton is as hip as ever. 

The country legend recently took the time to chat with (Us Weekly's Entertainment) Director Ian Drew about everything from her feelings on her "extreme" goddaughter Miley Cyrus, to her love for Twitter, and her latest album Blue Smoke, which is due out tomorrow, May 13. The Grammy winner, who is set to kick off a world tour later this year, also touched on how she and her husband of 48 years Carl Thomas Dean have kept the love alive for nearly five decades, and what she thinks of the new crop of country stars including Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.

Catch up with Parton in the interview below!

Us Weekly: I’m so excited about this album. It’s been four years since your last one, so I wanted to start with: You never slow down. Four years off is a long time for you—of course you were doing other things.

Dolly Parton: Yeah, but it doesn’t seem like it’s been that long since we were doing the Better Day album and the Better Day tour but now here we are, like you say four years later doing it again. We decided we’d go back on tour and anytime you decide to tour you need a good record to go along with it and so we put together this one and I really tried to fill it up with things that kind of spoke to all of the music that I’ve done through the years, some of the blue grass stuff, some of the mountain songs, some of the gospel stuff and all the different flavors, so I think it’s pretty colorful—kind of sums me up pretty good.

Us: Yeah and you have a few covers, of course, I wanted to ask you about those. First of all Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice,” and Jon Bon Jovi—so are you a rock fan?

DP: Well actually, I hear a lot of rock music. My husband is a big rock fan. He loves rock and roll so I’m always hearing him play his music in his den and all through the years I’ve heard him playing different songs and I would hear and think, ‘Wow, that would make a really good blue grass/country driving kind of song for some of the stuff I do.’ So actually, I’ve stolen some of those ideas from him just playing his music and as you know, as you said, I’ve covered other things through the years but first time I heard Bon Jovi’s song, “Lay Your Hands On Me,”—being brought up in the Pentecostal Church where we believed in praying for the sick and laying hands and all that—I thought, ‘Wow, that would just make such a great song, a gospel-flavored song.’ So then when I called Jon and asked if it would be ok if I worked on it a little bit and if they’d be willing to help me out, he and Richie Sambora, and they were excited about it, so they threw in their two cents worth, I threw in mine and it turned out really good.

Us: Wow, what was it like working with them, were they friendly?

DP: Well actually, we didn't actually work together. They just, you know, suggested a few things and you know sent little messages here and there and sent lines in. I’ve always loved Bon Jovi and I loved the group and so that was just a favorite song, so they were real proud of it.

Us: Aw that’s great. Does your husband like your music? Is he a fan? Or does he… you know, because you said he’s a rock fan but is he also a fan of your stuff?

DP: Not particularly. He loves me, but he is not necessarily a fan of mine. So in fact when I did “Stairway to Heaven,” which is one of his favorite songs in the whole world, he was not real happy about what I did with that. He thought nobody should ever have touched that song but them, but I thought, 'well somebody should.' But he didn’t particularly care for my version of it because he is just so in love with the original—which, a lot of people felt that way—but you know I’m not afraid to try things and I love the song. I thought it made a real nice record and I took liberties with it like I do with so many things.