Dolly Parton feels like she's ''just getting started'' in the music business.

The 74-year-old icon released her debut album, 'Hello, I'm Dolly', back in 1967 - but she's now insisted that her passion for making and performing music remains as strong as ever.

Dolly shared: ''I'm touched and honoured that I'm still around and that I'm able to still be important in the business.

''I honestly feel like I'm just getting started. I know that sounds crazy but I really feel like I might have a big music career, record career. Who knows?''

Dolly also credited her father with helping to instil a strong business sense in her, even though he was illiterate and struggled for money during her childhood.

Speaking to Billboard magazine, she explained: ''Even though my daddy didn't get an education, my daddy was really smart in making deals and bargaining and how he raised a family like he did.''

Dolly was raised in modest surroundings in Tennessee, but she has always been proud of her upbringing and where she's come from.

The award-winning singer - whose mother Avie was a homemaker who had as many as 12 children by the time she was 35 - previously insisted she'd never shy away from the route she's taken to music stardom.

Reflecting on her upbringing, Dolly - who has also achieved significant success as an actress - explained: ''I would trade nothing for being brought up in the Great Smoky Mountains.

''I've never been ashamed of my people no matter how poor or dirty we might have been. I've always loved being from where I am, and having the folks that I've had.''