Reba McEntire Reveals Surprising Way She Has to Contact Dolly Parton

Reba McEntire is a country music icon in her own right, and she recently released her first-ever duet with fellow legend Dolly Parton. But in a surprising new interview, McEntire admits that she can't just pick up the phone and call Parton ... and apparently, neither can much of anyone else.

McEntire and Parton re-recorded McEntire's classic duet with Linda Davis, "Does He Love You," for McEntire's Revived Remixed Revisited collection in October of 2021. Dave Cobb produced the tracks for the Revisited portion of the triple album, and in an interview on Apple Music's Southern Accents Radio, Cobb asks McEntire how she felt "making that phone call" to ask Parton to collaborate.

"Well, you don't call Dolly, you fax her," McEntire replies, adding, "And you fax your people, and your people talk to her people."

Cobb expressed surprise at that, since fax machines are mostly viewed as outmoded in the digital age.

"That's the only way I know to get ahold of her," McEntire states, adding that she's not the only superstar who's collaborated with Parton who can't dial her directly.

"I even asked Kenny Rogers one time, I said, 'Do you have Dolly's cell number?'" she tells Cobb. "He said, 'No.' So you fax her."

Even Parton's goddaughter, Miley Cyrus, apparently communicates with her at least partly via fax. According to People, the pop superstar revealed in a 2020 interview on the the Graham Norton Show that Parton had tried to get in touch with her to ask her to collaborate on a song for her Christmas album, A Holly Dolly Christmas. But Cyrus never received the message, because she does not own a fax machine.

"She faxed me," Cyrus shared, adding, "She gets upset when you don't respond, and it's like, I'm sorry, I don't even know. Half the people watching your show might not even know what a fax machine is."

Despite her unusual way of staying in touch, McEntire was thrilled at the chance to finally duet with Parton after knowing her for years. They'd performed on the same bills, tributed each other at ceremonies and even co-hosted the 2019 CMA Awards alongside Carrie Underwood before, but "Does He Love You" has so far marked their only recorded collaboration.

"It's a dream come true for me to have finally had the chance to record something with her," McEntire told Billboard. "And then to see the reaction to it, and the video has just been icing on the cake. I can't believe it's taken us this long to finally get together, but I sure am glad we did."