A few of the singers on this list of country stars who’ve quit touring made a big announcement or launched a farewell tour.
A few others just slipped away quietly, with little fanfare or applause.
Dolly Parton falls into the latter category. Nobody knew the 2016 Pure and Simple Tour would likely be her last until years later, when she revealed she needed to be home with her husband Carl. His health was a concern, and she feared not being around if something happened to him.
Related: 25 Rockers Who’ve Quit Touring
Several artists on this list needed to quit touring for health reasons, but many — like Anne Murray — are feeling fine. The reasons are varied, but sometimes the grind of road life just took its toll. Can you blame them?
Is there an artist on this list of stars who’ve quit touring that you’ll miss forever? At the end you’ll spot three artists who tried to quit but just couldn’t do it. George Strait is the most famous, but certainly not the only legend to give in to the temptation of a comeback. Hopefully, we don’t make you too wistful.
Billy Dukes is a Senior Editor and Executive Producer of Video Content at Taste of Country. He specializes in country music interviews, trend analysis and the Secret History of Country Music. Additionally, Billy covers Yellowstone, 1923 and related television shows through the Dutton Rules podcast. To date, he’s written more than 13,000 articles for Taste of Country and produced over 3,000 videos for the Taste of Country YouTube channel.
14 Country Stars Who’ve Quit Touring + 3 Tried But Couldn’t
Life on the road was just too much for these 17 country stars.
You’ll find several legends in perfectly good health as well as at least two young (relatively) hitmakers on this list of stars who quit touring. You’ll also find three artists who pulled a Tom Brady — they tried to retire, but life at home just wasn’t what they longed for.
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
18 Country Artists That Kind of Disappeared
“Who I Am” and “Ode to Billie Joe” are songs we all know the words to — we’ve sung along to them on more than one occasion — they were huge hits! But what ever happened to Jessica Andrews and Bobbie Gentry?
You’ll often find us reminiscing over some of our favorite artists who took a break from music, whether to start a family, solely write songs … or just plain vanish(?!).
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes