Dolly Parton’s first posthumous song has arrived two weeks after her death

It’s only been a couple of weeks since the world lost the Queen of Country (and arguably, one of the best people America has ever produced), Dolly Parton. However, her first posthumous song has already been released.

Parton recorded the song in 2022 as part of a tribute album for the Stanley Brothers, who made the song popular in 1964. The Stanley Brothers were a bluegrass group who were recently posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Although the album called Where the Soul Never Dies: Celebrating 80 Years of The Stanley Brothers isn’t set to be released until October, Dolly fans can listen to her contribution now.

‘Bound to Ride’ is quintessential Dolly

Many of the songs on the tribute album were recorded live, but around the time Parton was meant to record, there was an increase in COVID-19 cases. As such, the singer pre-recorded her vocals. Also featured on the song are the First Ladies of Bluegrass, an elite group of all-female bluegrass players, featuring Molly Tuttle on guitar, Alison Brown on banjo, Missy Raines on bass, Becky Buller on fiddle, and Sierra Hull on mandolin.

Buller ended up singing Parton’s part on the demo so the singer could hear the song’s key and work with the group without risking her health. The vocals that came back impressed not only the bluegrass group, but the owner of Compass Records, the company behind the tribute album.

The owner, Gary West, explained, according to People, “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.”

For those eager to hear Parton’s latest, Compass Records released a recording on YouTube.

This isn’t the last fans will hear from Dolly

Parton passed away on August 25th after a brief battle with cancer that few people knew about. On September 10th, her sister Stella Parton spoke with CBS Mornings and explained why Parton had chosen to keep her health issues quiet.

According to her, “Well, Dolly did not want anybody to tell that because Dolly could not bear negative things and she would not have wanted her fans worried about it. She didn’t want a lot of the family worried about it. Some of us knew, the ones that were closer, but not every relative.”

The Stanley Brothers tribute album isn’t the only project from Parton set to come out posthumously either. She had been planning for this moment and worked until the end to ensure that she had a team in place to continue any projects after she was gone. The projects range from a docuseries to a Broadway show that begins previews in December.

Her long-time manager Danny Nozell said in a statement soon after her death that “If you see unreleased music, products, books, experiences, and campaigns launched through official Dolly Parton channels, you can have confidence in knowing that she placed her personal stamp on it.”

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