Bad Wolves have released a heavy metal version of Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’, revealing the country icon had planned to add vocals to the track before her death last week.
The band released their take on ‘Jolene’ today (August 31st), with proceeds going to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in honour of the singer, songwriter and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, who sadly passed aged 80 on August 25th.
According to Bad Wolves founder John Boecklin, the idea started with the band’s new vocalist KILLBOY, whose own covers of the Parton classic helped plant the seed.
‘Our new singer is a big fan of Dolly and had posted a bunch of videos of her covering ‘Jolene.’ So, we decided to make a heavy metal cover version for our next album.’
Things then moved far beyond a simple reinterpretation.
Boecklin says Better Noise Music CEO Dan Waite sent the completed demo to Parton’s manager Danny Nozell, with the band asking whether Dolly might appear on the recording.
‘We heard back that Danny had played the track to Dolly, and that Dolly loved our version, and that Dolly was going to go into the studio and add her vocals very soon. We then sent over the stems for Dolly’s studio engineers to work with.’
Parton died before those vocals could be recorded.
Stream Bad Wolves ‘Joelene’ here.
Bad Wolves turn ‘Jolene’ into a fundraiser
Rather than shelving the track, Bad Wolves decided to release it in Parton’s memory and direct proceeds towards the Imagination Library.
‘Like everyone, we were devastated of this week’s news of Dolly’s passing.We will honor Dolly’s incredible legacy by donating proceeds from ‘Jolene’ to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.’
Founded by Parton in 1995, the literacy program provides free books to children from birth to five years old and has distributed more than 300 million books globally.
Boecklin added:
‘With ‘Jolene,’ being able to use our platform to help deliver critical funding to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, we know that we can contribute to Dolly’s vision of giving access to books and improving literacy.’
The release lands less than a week after Parton’s death, which triggered tributes across country, pop, rock and metal.
That crossover makes Bad Wolves’ version particularly fitting. ‘Jolene’ has always survived reinterpretation, but knowing Parton herself had apparently heard this one, approved it and planned to step into the studio gives the track a far more bittersweet weight.
What could have become an unlikely collaboration now stands as a tribute instead.
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