A new Dolly Parton recording has emerged just two weeks after the country icon’s death, offering fans a final glimpse of her voice on a song steeped in bluegrass tradition.
Parton died aged 80 on 25 August “after bravely facing a brief battle with cancer”.
Her first posthumous release, Bound To Ride, was recorded in 2022 and will appear on a tribute album honouring The Stanley Brothers, due out on 16 October.
Parton tracked her vocals for the tune — first popularised by The Stanley Brothers in 1964 — in her private studio during a Covid surge, choosing not to travel because she did not want to take any chances.
The recording is set to feature on Where The Soul Never Dies: Celebrating 80 Years Of The Stanley Brothers.
The project is produced by husband-and-wife team Garry West and Alison Brown, conceived as a salute to Carter and Ralph Stanley — towering figures in bluegrass, a genre Parton deeply loved.
West told Rolling Stone that Parton’s performance exceeded expectations: “I call it the full Dolly. We didn’t know what we would get back, and she really did over-deliver.
“We were shocked. We couldn’t have gotten anything better.”
Willie Nelson, Steve Martin and Ed Helms are among the other artists appearing on the album.
Across a career spanning more than 60 years, Parton sold more than 100 million records worldwide and wrote more than 3,000 songs, including Coat Of Many Colours and Jolene.
Beyond music, she built a wide-ranging business portfolio that included the theme park Dollywood, and she became known as a trailblazing philanthropist.
Her Imagination Library — a book-gifting programme aimed at nurturing children’s love of reading — has distributed more than 325 million books worldwide, including over 200,000 to children in Ireland.
After her death, tributes poured in from around the globe, including messages from major music stars such as Elton John, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.
