Dolly Parton has taken herself out of the running to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame later this year.

Earlier today, the 76-year-old country music legend asked the Hall to withdraw her name from the 2022 ballot, saying “I don’t feel that I have earned the right.”

Parton was one of 17 artists nominated for the Rock Hall class of 2022, along with Eminem, Lionel Richie, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, JUDAS PRIEST and Beck, among others.

Writing on social media, Parton told her fans: “Dolly here! Even though I am extremely flattered and grateful to be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I don’t feel that I have earned that right. I really do not want votes to be split because of me, so I must respectfully bow out.

“I do hope that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will understand and be willing to consider me again – if I’m ever worthy. This has, however, inspired me to put out a hopefully great rock ‘n’ roll album at some point in the future, which I have always wanted to do!

“My husband is a total rock ‘n’ roll freak, and has always encouraged me to do one. I wish all of the nominees good luck and thank you again for the compliment. Rock on!”

The 2022 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame nominees were announced last month, with Dolly appearing on the ballot for the first time.

Parton told Billboard last month that she never thought of herself as a rock ‘n’ roller “in any sense of the word, but I guess they judge it on the music and the influence certain songs have had, and I guess I’ve had songs with other people in that realm,” she said: “I’m not expecting that I’ll get in. But if I do, I’ll immediately, next year, have to put out a great rock and roll album — which I’ve wanted to do for years, like a Linda Ronstadt or HEART kind of thing.”

Parton was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 1986, the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1999 and the national Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 2001.

Dolly is the most honored and revered female country singer-songwriter of all time. Achieving 25 RIAA-certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards, she has had 26 songs reach No. 1 on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. Recently, Parton reached No. 1 on the Billboard Christian Airplay chart for the first time for her duet with Grammy Award-winning Zach Williams of “There Was Jesus”, for which they won a Grammy, making that her 11th Grammy win. She received her first Dove Award for short-form video for her collaboration with KING & COUNTRY on the song “God Only Knows”. Parton is the first artist to have topped Billboard’s Adult Contemporary, Christian AC Songs, Hot Country Songs, Christian Airplay, Country Airplay and Dance/Mix Show Airplay radio charts. Parton recently became the first country artist honored as Grammy MusiCares Person Of The Year given out by NARAS. She has 44 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 110 career-charted singles over the past 50-plus years.

Photo credit: Stacie Huckeba

Florida death metal veterans DEICIDE have announced a special summer 2022 North American tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of their second album, “Legion”. The Glen Benton-fronted outfit will perform the LP in its entirety, along with other tracks from the band’s vast catalog. Support on the trek will come from KATAKLYSM, which will perform its classic 2004 album “Serenity In Fire” in its entirety, along with INHUMAN CONDITION.

The 29-date trek will kick off on August 11 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and conclude on September 10 in Tampa, Florida.

All the details can be found on the poster below.

According to Wikipedia, “Legion” “is one of DEICIDE’s most musically ambitious releases, incorporating more technical riffing and song structures. The band considers this album to be its most difficult, and claims it is too chaotic. When the Hoffman brothers” — guitarists Eric and Brian — “quit the band, Eric stated that one of the main reasons was Benton refusing to play longer sets and being unable to perform the technical bass guitar riffing required for ‘Legion”s material.”

In a 2004 interview, Benton stated about the LP: “I think ‘Legion’ was ahead of its time. It was just too fast for everybody at the time. I think it just caught everybody off guard. They thought we were gonna put out a la-di-da album, and here comes this fuckin piece of music, fuckin style of music that’s fuckin’ over the top. Everybody fuckin hated it, all the magazines hated it; now it’s years later and everybody loves it.”

Back in 1995, Benton shot down the perception that he was totally unhappy with “Legion”.

“I made a comment saying that ‘Legion’ sucked,” Glen said in another interview. “Now everybody thinks I hated it. That’s not true. I didn’t hate the record. I just said that to the band, because that’s how I wanted to get my point across at the time. As far as that record goes, the only things I did not like was that we were being rushed by the record company, and the production was not totally satisfying. Because we were being rushed, we weren’t able to be selective with amplifiers and instruments, so when you compare ‘Once Upon The Cross’ to ‘Legion’, there is an obvious difference.

“The problem with ‘Legion’ was that we just went into the studio and played, then tried to fix things,” he said. “Of course, the more you do that, the more it takes away from the sound.”

Two months ago, DEICIDE announced the addition of guitarist Taylor Nordberg (THE ABSENCE, INHUMAN CONDITION) to the group’s ranks. Taylor joined the band as the replacement for Chris Cannella who amicably left the outfit after a three-year run.

Benton said in a statement: “We are pleased to announce and welcome Taylor Nordberg to the DEICIDE family! An amazing and accomplished guitarist who takes our sound to the next level and brings a profound level of professionalism that completes and compliments the DEICIDE machine!”

Cannella said in a separate statement: “Yes, it is true. I am no longer in DEICIDE. There is no drama and we all kept it quiet as to not lead into drama or speculation.

“I have all the love and respect for Glen, Steve and Kevin. I had so many great times over the last three years I cherish for a lifetime, especially the friendship.

“Cheers to all and thanks for all the love and support. I’m excited for what’s to come.”

Cannella joined DEICIDE in 2019 following the departure of guitarist Mark English.

English became a member of DEICIDE in 2016 after the exit of longtime guitarist Jack Owen.

DEICIDE’s latest album, “Overtures Of Blasphemy”, was released in September 2018 via Century Media.

Ukrainian vocalist Denis “Stoff” Shaforostov, who recorded one album with ASKING ALEXANDRIA, “The Black”, before exiting the band in October 2016, has shot down Internet chatter that he was killed during Russia’s ongoing invasion of his country.

The rumors apparently started when his Wikipedia page was updated to indicate that he passed away on Sunday (March 13).

Earlier today, Shaforostov took to his Instagram Story to write: “I’m still in a safe place and I’m fine today. Whoever faked my Wikipedia deserve what they deserve… Let’s pray together that this war ends soon. Love ya guys.”

After Denis left ASKING ALEXANDRIA more than five years ago, guitarist Ben Bruce said in a video message that Shaforostov had “just stopped talking to us.”

He added: “When Denis first joined the band, people within the music industry and fans alike, they all told us these different things about Denis’s past, and we got many warnings, and we said, that’s his past — forgive and forget; we don’t know any of that side of things. So we gave him the benefit of the doubt, and, you know, there’s no smoke without fire, and I guess we found that out the hard way.”

Shaforostov has not spoken out about his departure from ASKING ALEXANDRIA, although he did tweet at one point that he “left AA because I can’t be in a touring band at this point in my life. There’s no drama and I don’t want to be a part of it.”

Singer Danny Worsnop rejoined ASKING ALEXANDRIA in the fall of 2016.

Shaforostov is currently a member of DRAG ME OUT, which will release its second album, “Demons Away”, on May 6 via their own label imprint Lödereih Music.