When Dolly Parton says a cover doesn’t “get any better than” this one, fans are taking a closer listen. ML

With one of the most fruitful songbooks in music history, Dolly Parton has soundtracked generations of lovers, mourners and believers with her country-pop tales, channelling her familial ties and reflections on love into songs that have spun into lives of their own.

From a young age, singing was in Parton’s blood, an inexplicable impulse as much as a hobby. She acquired her talent from her mother, who she recalls singing at any given time during her childhood. “My mother had that old-timey voice,” Parton recalls in her book, Songteller: My Life and Lyrics, “and she used to sing all these songs that were brought over from the Old World. They were English, Irish, Welsh, folk songs where people tell stories.”

It was this grounding in tradition that remained with Parton as she began writing her own songs at the age of seven, hence their timeless, continual resonance. She has always possessed a natural ability to write songs that, while originating from the heart, could reflect poignantly in the hearts of others. 

Inevitably, such powerful songs would impact fellow musicians, spurring them to sing their own renditions of Parton’s classics. Take ‘I Will Always Love You’, a ballad for the ages that also features one of her most stunning vocal performances. Initially, it caught the ear of country artists, with the likes of Linda Ronstadt and Kenny Rogers adapting their talents to mould to Parton’s story of evolving from her mentorship with country singer Porter Wagoner. Whitney Houston’s recording of the song for 1992’s The Bodyguard rearranged Parton’s original into an equally moving portrayal of heartbreak, while Parton’s intentions of farewell remained interwoven in the song’s true passion.

Given Parton’s roots in the country-folk tradition and the countless adaptations of her illustrious output, she, too, understands the value of covering a song, giving it a new life and honouring its foundations. Her 2022 album, Rockstar, is a star-studded tribute to the songwriters and musicians whose songs resonated with Parton’s soul, as so many of her songs have done, in turn. She assembled an enviable roster of musicians to collaborate with on the album, spanning the spectrum of rock ‘n’ roll from Elton John, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Sting, Stevie Nicks and numerous more.

To convince her list of musicians to join her on her foray into rock ‘n’ roll, she relied on her infectious kindness. “I just sent them a love note through their managers, and I just said what I was doing,” the singer told NPR. “And I said, ‘I didn’t want to put you on the spot, but I’d love to have you sing with me on my rock album. And if you’re interested, call me at this number.’” Unsurprisingly, Parton’s hospitality worked, and she received resounding ‘Yes’s, with two in particular garnering immediate excitement: Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

Parton enlisted the two Beatles to perform a cover of their 1970 hit ‘Let It Be’, the McCartney-written final single before he departed from the band. The concept came to McCartney in a dream, one about his late mother, Mary Patricia McCartney, who passed when he was 14 in 1956. “It was great to visit with her again,” the musician reflected. “I feel very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing ‘Let It Be’.” With the moving cry of “Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom,” McCartney communicates a mournful tribute that surely Parton appreciated in its familial resonance. 

“Well, does it get any better than singing ‘Let It Be’ with Paul McCartney, who wrote the song?” Parton said in a statement. “Not only that, he played piano!” The pair’s beautiful duet is joined by Starr on drums, Peter Frampton on guitar, and Mick Fleetwood playing percussion. “I mean, seriously, how much better does it get?” Parton enthused.

In her truly legendary career, Parton has always remained humble in her respect for other artists and their talents, and the covers she performs on Rockstar stand as impassioned tributes to the music that has followed her for decades.