It sounds like the country music dream summit of the century — Shania Twain and Dolly Parton, two of the genre’s most powerful voices, sitting together on a Tennessee porch with guitars, notebooks, and endless laughter. But according to Shania, that songwriting trip turned out to be far more about connection than composition.
In a new interview, Twain revealed that she once spent an entire week at Dolly Parton’s farm, hoping to collaborate on new material — but instead, the two stars spent most of the time swapping stories, drinking coffee, and laughing until they cried. “We laughed more than we wrote,” Shania admitted. “Every time we tried to get serious about a lyric, Dolly would tell a story that had us in tears — from laughter, not sadness.”
The visit happened in the early 2000s, when Shania was at the height of her crossover fame and Dolly was enjoying one of her many creative resurgences. “I idolized her growing up,” Twain said. “She was my blueprint — writing her own songs, staying true to herself, and never apologizing for her sparkle. So when she invited me to stay at her farm, I packed my guitar and a dream.”
But instead of long writing sessions, the days unfolded gently. “We’d sit on the porch, and Dolly would pour tea and talk about her early days in Nashville — the tiny cabins, the radio stations, the faith it took to keep going,” Shania recalled. “Then we’d start humming something together, only to get distracted by a funny memory or one of her farm animals wandering by.”
Though few songs actually came from that week, Twain insists the experience shaped her as an artist in deeper ways. “Dolly reminded me that songwriting isn’t about chasing hits — it’s about living honestly,” she said. “She told me, ‘If you can laugh about it, you can sing about it. Pain turns into melody faster when you love life enough to laugh.’”
The two women have remained close ever since, often praising each other publicly as trailblazers in a male-dominated industry. “She’s a sister in spirit,” Dolly once said of Shania. “That girl’s got grit and glitter — my kind of gal.”
When asked if she’d ever release the songs they began that week, Twain smiled and shook her head. “Maybe someday,” she teased. “But honestly, that week wasn’t about finishing songs — it was about filling my heart. And Dolly did that better than anyone.”
In the end, the trip may not have produced a chart-topper, but it left something richer behind — two women, two guitars, and one timeless reminder that sometimes the best music starts with laughter under a Tennessee sky.