Covers Project: Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’
She might be better known today for her flamboyant style, plastic surgery excesses and dumb blond stage persona, but before she became a pop-culture caricature, Dolly Parton was a tremendous singer, under-rated songwriter and country music ambassador to the world.
By the age of 13, Parton had already been signed to a label and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry and was well on her way to being dubbed the “Queen of Country Music”. To date, she has 25 number-one singles and a record 41 top-10 country albums.
Along with classics like “Coat of Many Colors,” “Islands in the Stream” and “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene” became one of Parton’s signature songs and has been covered by a wide range of musicians, from fellow country and bluegrass stars (Rhonda Vincent) to folk (Mindy Smith), pop (10,000 Maniacs) and rock (The White Stripes). In addition to those artists, we’ve also included a video of Bon Iver and St. Vincent performing a live duet.
MP3s:
Dolly Parton – “Jolene”The White Stripes – “Jolene”
Paula Cole – “Jolene” [Live]
Rhonda Vincent – “Jolene”
Mindy Smith – “Jolene” [f. Dolly Parton]
10,000 Maniacs – “Jolene” [f. David Byrne]
The Cake version is not a cover of the Dolly Parton song.
Thanks for the heads up. I removed the song and fired our fact checker…
The Little Willies did a cover of the song too. At least YouTube says so.
In my opinion, Darcy Clay’s Jolene is the most imaginative cover:
Okay, so the Cake song isn’t a Dolly Parton cover…but what a song! Always loved that tune – thanks for posting it even if it didn’t quite fit.
Thanks for finding that Bon Iver/St. Vincent cover. That’s really sweet.
Hey Hey! Check out the new song Broken Bells posted on their myspace its called “Vaporize”: http://www.myspace.com/brokenbells . This record is going to be record of the year!!!