Watch Zac Brown sing Dolly Parton's '9 to 5' at her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction

Dolly Parton makes everything better.

At least that's what fans say about the iconic 76-year-old singer, actress and philanthropist who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Nov. 5, 2022. 

Georgia's own Zac Brown played Parton's song "9 to 5" with Sheryl Crow at the annual induction ceremony at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. 

Taking the stage with Crow near the end of the evening, Brown led a rendition of Parton's famous theme song from the 1980 movie in which she starred with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin and then stuck around to accompany her on the brand-new "Rockin'," a Carl Perkins-style shuffle Parton says she wrote to "earn" her place in the Rock Hall.

The concert's finale included an all-star jam of Parton's evergreen 1973 hit "Jolene," with singers Brown, Crow, Brandi Carlile, Eurythmics' Annie Lennox, Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon, Judas Priest's Rob Halford, Pink and Pat Benatar trading verses with the newly minted inductee.

"I'm a rock star now," Parton exclaimed, elated after accepting the honor she tried to refuse when first nominated this past March.

As for Brown, the Atlanta-based country star with 14 number-one hits has also had a year of ups and downs.

In late 2021, the Zac Brown Band released its seventh studio album, The Comeback, which received good reviews and featured duets with Blake Shelton, Jimmy Buffett and James Taylor. 

But on the heels of that success, John Driscoll Hopkins, a founding member, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist for the ZBB announced this past spring that he has ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease).

Then last month the group was forced to cancel a concert in Vancouver after a snafu at the Canadian border.

Recently, Hopkins, 51, appeared on CBS Mornings on Oct. 26 to discuss coping with the terminal disease. And on Nov. 3, the ZBB announced musician Caroline Jones as a permanent new addition to the band (not Driscoll's replacement) — and the first woman to join the group.

Brown's Rock Hall appearance on Nov. 5 was a sunny spot in an otherwise turbulent season for the Gainesville, Ga., native.

Caption

Dolly Parton and Zac Brown at the 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Los Angeles on Nov. 5, 2022.

Credit: JB Rowland, courtesy of Dolly Parton Productions

Other highlights from the 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony 

Several thrilling combinations preceded Parton's induction at the end of the evening.

At the top of the program, actor Robert Downey Jr. inducted Duran Duran into the Hall, joking about the headbands the group wore in their risqué 1981 music video for "Girls on Film" before they performed a funky version of the new have hit at the ceremony followed by "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Ordinary World."

Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame played the iconic guitar solo in the Commodores' "Easy" during inductee Lionel Richie's performance of the 1977 ballad. 

U2's the Edge praised Eurythmics inductees Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, who brought down the house with a seamless medley of their soulful hits "Would I Lie to You?", "Missionary Man" and "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," the latter of which remains one of the most popular songs of the 1980s and is nearing 1 billion streams on Spotify.

Janet Jackson introduced inductees Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who gave heartfelt speeches about the power of music; Crow inducted singer Pat Benatar and her guitarist husband Neil Giraldo; Olivia Rodrigo and Sara Bareilles féted Carly Simon; Alice Cooper congratulated Judas Priest on their induction; and Dr. Dre awarded Eminem Rock Hall honors before the rapper gave a not-to-be-missed performance with Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and singer Ed Sheeran. Bruce Springsteen, Lenny Kravitz, John Mellencamp and more appeared.

The Rock Hall and its annual concert have been around since 1983, often garnering criticism for lack of racial, gender and genre diversity. But the 2022 ceremony expanded the traditional definition of rock and roll for the next generation. 

Listeners can thank Dolly Parton for that.

The 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony premieres on HBO on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022.