<p id=”par-1_47″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/dolly-parton/”>Dolly Parton</a> and Porter Wagoner collaborated for years, releasing 13 total <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/music/”>albums</a> together. Their final album didn’t come out until years after they went their separate ways, though. Initially, the album was not going to come out. It sat unreleased until Wagoner filed a lawsuit against Parton.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-dolly-parton-and-porter-wagoner-s-final-album-almost-didn-t-receive-a-public-release”>Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner’s final album almost didn’t receive a public release</h2>
<p id=”par-2_47″>In 1975, Parton and Wagoner released their twelfth studio album, <em>Say Forever You’ll Be Mine</em>. The record received positive reviews, stoking excitement for a follow-up. Fans had to wait, though. Parton was working with a <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-partons-friends-family-wary-management.html/”>new management team</a>, and they did not want to release the album.</p>
<p id=”par-3_59″>“[A]fter Porter and Dolly finished the recording, Porter allegedly received word from Dolly’s new management firm that the album was not to be released,” wrote Alanna Nash in the book <em><a href=”https://www.amazon.com/Dolly-Alanna-Nash/dp/0891695230″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Dolly: The Biography</a></em>. “Gossip has it that Katz-Gallin-Cleary told Porter that another duet album would be an embarrassment to Dolly, that her career was now headed in other directions.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Dolly-Parton-husband-5.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”A black and white picture of Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner sitting together.” class=”wp-image-3789013″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-4_16″>Not everyone had as harsh an opinion of the album as Parton’s management team reportedly did.</p>
<p id=”par-5_20″>“Some of the best things they’ve ever done are sittin’ down there in the can,” Wagoner’s secretary, Joan McGriff, said.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-the-dolly-parton-and-porter-wagoner-album-came-out-after-he-sued-her”>The Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner album came out after he sued her</h2>
<p id=”par-6_18″>In 1979, Wagoner sued Parton for <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/why-porter-wagoner-sued-dolly-parton-3-million-1979.html/”>breach of contract</a>, five years after she exited <em>The</em> <em>Porter Wagoner Show</em>. </p>
<p id=”par-7_79″>“Porter Wagoner filed suit against me for approximately three million dollars, claiming he had made me a star and was entitled to a percentage of my career for life,” Parton wrote in her book <em><a target=”_blank” href=”https://dollyparton.com/book/dolly-my-life-and-other-unfinished-business-autobiography” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business</a></em>. “I could have probably won the case in court, but to spare Carl and my family the heartache a long bitter court fight would have caused, I agreed to settle out of court for around one million dollars.”</p>
<p id=”par-8_14″>As part of the settlement, they released the album <em>Porter & Dolly</em> in 1980.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-she-spoke-about-how-she-dealt-with-the-lawsuit”>She spoke about how she dealt with the lawsuit</h2>
<p id=”par-9_11″>Parton <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-parton-paid-husband-porter-wagoner-sued.html/”>scraped together the funds</a> to pay Wagoner the million dollars.</p>
<p id=”par-10_48″>“Although I appeared to be a star in the eyes of the public, I did not have a million dollars or anything even close to it,” she wrote. “Even a millionaire would be hard-pressed to put his hands on a million dollars in liquid assets under such circumstances.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-2″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Dolly-Parton-husband-1-1-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Dolly Parton wears yellow and holds a microphone.” class=”wp-image-3785045″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Dolly Parton | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<div class=”related-article related-article–simple”>
<span class=”related-article-flag”>Related</span>
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<a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-parton-surprised-people-porter-wagoner-sugar-daddy.html/”>
Dolly Parton Wasn’t Surprised People Thought Porter Wagoner Was Her ‘Sugar Daddy’ </a>
</p>
</div>
<p id=”par-11_15″>She said this was no easy task, but she believed it was a necessary one. </p>
<p id=”par-12_44″>“I paid the debt,” she wrote. “It took everything I had, everything Carl had, everything I could make for years to come, but I paid it. I made up my mind that if he could live with it, I could live without it. </p>
<p id=”par-13_14″>She hinted that she didn’t think it was the right move on Wagoner’s part.</p>
<p id=”par-14_27″>“I have done all right without it,” she wrote, adding, “I suppose Porter has done all right with it. I am neither his conscience nor his accountant.”</p>
<p id=”par-15_7″>Parton and Wagoner reconciled before his death.</p>