Shirlaine Forrest/WireImage.comLeave it to Dolly Parton to get me singing about Jesus.
The second single from her new album, Backwoods Barbie, is called “Jesus and Gravity,” and the music video just hit YouTube, so I called up the director, my pal Steven "Flip" Lippman, this afternoon at his office in New York City.
Lippman, who also directed the video for the album’s first single, “Better Get to Livin’,” told me he got what he needed in just three hours with the singer. “She really gave it her all,” he said. “In the first couple of takes, I asked her to do it more subdued and more meditative and then for the final three or four takes, I told her to take it church…When you’re working with Dolly Parton, you’re not working with a novice.”
The shoot took place just days after Parton had come off of some much-needed—and doctor-ordered—down time because of back problems. “You would never have known she had ever been laid up,” Lippman said. “She was ripping across that stage.”
Wanna see the video? Click the video player below.