Dolly Parton’s take on “Bound to Ride”, a tribute to the Stanley Brothers, marks the first song to be released since her death and it will certainly not disappoint her fans.
The late country music icon contributed to Where the Soul Never Dies: Celebrating 80 Years of the Stanley Brothers, a tribute album for the bluegrass duo.
Due for release next month, the album celebrates the band who were posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame earlier this year.
They popularised “Bound to Ride” with a 1964 recording; Parton, who died aged 80 on 25 August, recorded the traditional song back in 2022. The all-star tribute album also features songs from Willie Nelson, Jamey Johnson, Dierks Bentley and many more.
While most of the songs for the album were performed live in the studio, Parton recorded her vocals ahead of time due to a spike in Covid cases that year, Rolling Stone reports.
She is accompanied by the First Ladies of Bluegrass, an all-female supergroup featuring accomplished musicians such as banjo player Alison Brown, bass player Missy Raines, fiddle player Becky Buller, guitarist Molly Tuttle and mandolin player Sierra Hull.
Buller also sang Parton’s part for a demo version so that the “9-5” star could hear the correct key and work with the band without risking her health.
The group were apparently moved when Parton, who goes back to her mountain roots on the song, called them out by name.
Garry West, bassist, producer and owner of Compass Records, which released Where the Soul Never Dies, told Rolling Stone his team were “shocked” when Parton sent her vocals over.
“I call it the full Dolly,” West, who produced the album with his wife, banjoist Alison Brown, said. “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.”
Parton died last month following “a brief battle with cancer” at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, surrounded by loved ones, her representatives said at the time.
In a statement announcing her death, they acknowledged how Parton “spent her life and career bringing joy, laughter, hope and integrity into everything she touched”.
“Her unmatched generosity reached the lives of countless people whom she would never meet, yet she was always there to offer a helping hand,” her representatives said.
In an interview this week, Parton’s sister Stella explained to CBS Mornings host Gayle King why the type of cancer Parton had was not being disclosed by her family.
She also said she would miss her “optimism” the most and that the “I Will Always Love You” legend was “definitely prepared”.
Parton was laid to rest in a private funeral on 28 August, with close family in attendance, according to her niece, Lainey Parton.
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