Artists & Bands

Dolly Parton | Tunes + Guitar Lessons

Dolly is one of the most influential country artists of all time. She found major success in the ’70s and continued into the ’80s with original chart-toppers and covers!

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Dolly Parton: The Queen of Country Music and Iconic Hitmaker

Dolly Parton is one of the most famous female country singers in the world.

With over 100 million albums sold, more than four decades of chart success and thousands of songs to her name, she has become far more than a country star. Dolly is now an icon of American popular culture. She’s also an extraordinary songwriter.

Dolly has written thousands of songs, and her career has constantly moved between her own compositions, songs written by other people, collaborations and covers. That’s one of the things that makes her catalogue so useful for guitarists.

You get Country. You get Soul. You get Motown. You get Rock ‘n’ Roll. You get Pop. And occasionally you get all of them at once.

Let’s take a look at Dolly’s tunes, decade by decade.

Hello, I’m Dolly

Dolly’s recording career began in the late 1960s with four albums: Hello, I’m Dolly, Just Because I’m a Woman, In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad) and My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy.

These early records showed the combination that would define her career: Dolly’s own compositions sitting alongside covers and co-writes. There weren’t many major hits yet, but one of the covers is particularly interesting for a guitarist.

In the Ghetto was originally recorded by Elvis Presley. Dolly’s version gives the song a very different country perspective.

It’s a reminder that Dolly has never been afraid of other people’s songs. She can take a song that is strongly associated with another artist and make it feel like it belongs to her.

Dolly’s Breakthrough in the 1970s

The 1970s were extraordinary. Dolly released an astonishing 17 studio albums during the decade, so trying to cover everything would be almost impossible. Instead, let’s look at the songs that really matter for a guitarist building a repertoire.

The first major breakthrough came with Coat of Many Colors in 1971. This tune was deeply personal, drawing on Dolly’s childhood, and it helped establish her as much more than just another country singer.

She was becoming a songwriter people wanted to hear. Then came 1974. And two of Dolly’s most important songs.

Jolene and I Will Always Love You

In 1974, Dolly released Jolene and I Will Always Love You. Both became number-one country hits.

There’s a myth surrounding these songs which in later years has been somewhat debunked: Dolly did claim that she wrote Jolene and I Will Always Love You on the same day, but later admitted the two were found after each other on a demo tape and perhaps were written in the same week. Nevertheless, most artists don’t write tunes this good, especially not one after the other!

Jolene

Jolene is probably Dolly’s most famous song as a songwriter. It’s also one of those tunes that works incredibly well in a live setting. From personal experience, I can tell you that Jolene is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.

You don’t need a huge arrangement. You don’t need a spectacular guitar solo. The song itself does the work. That’s a valuable lesson for a working guitarist.

The best repertoire isn’t the most complicated music. It’s the music that people recognise immediately and emotionally connect with.

Jolene has also been covered countless times, including versions by Jack White, Miley Cyrus and Postmodern Jukebox.

There are parody versions too. That’s normally a sign that a song has become part of popular culture.

I Will Always Love You

The other song Dolly wrote that day became one of the biggest songs of her career. I Will Always Love You was originally written for Dolly’s professional split from Porter Wagoner, and Dolly recorded it herself.

But its biggest moment was still to come. In the 1990s, Whitney Houston recorded the song for The Bodyguard, turning it into a worldwide phenomenon.

Dolly’s composition suddenly reached an audience far beyond country music. It’s one of the best examples of the power of a great song.

The original arrangement doesn’t have to be the biggest or loudest version. If the songwriting is strong enough, the song can survive almost any arrangement.

My Girl, Higher and Higher and Dolly’s Motown Side

Dolly’s willingness to cross genres became particularly obvious in 1977. Her album New Harvest… First Gathering included covers of My Girl and Higher and Higher.

These aren’t country songs. My Girl is one of The Temptations‘ defining Motown recordings, while Higher and Higher is associated with Jackie Wilson.

But Dolly didn’t try to pretend they were country songs. She brought them into her world.

For a guitarist, this is another fantastic lesson in repertoire. Genre isn’t necessarily a barrier. Arrangement is what makes the difference.

A Country band can play Soul. A Soul band can play Country. A wedding band can play both. The important thing is knowing how to make the arrangement work.

Here You Come Again

That same year Dolly released Here You Come Again. The title track became a huge crossover hit and earned Dolly a Grammy.

It was another important moment in her move beyond traditional country music. Dolly could now compete in the wider pop market without losing the personality that made her distinctive.

And this would become increasingly important during the 1980s.

Great Balls of Fire

Before the 1970s were over, Dolly also recorded Great Balls of Fire. Originally made famous by Jerry Lee Lewis, this tune is about as far removed from a gentle Dolly Parton Country ballad as you could imagine. And that’s exactly why it’s interesting.

Dolly was comfortable taking on Rock ‘n’ Roll classics and fitting them into her own musical personality.

She also recorded Help!, by The Beatles. Again, the pattern continues: great song + great interpreter + new arrangement.

That’s a huge part of what makes Dolly’s catalogue so useful for musicians.

9 to 5: Dolly Becomes a Movie Star

The 1980s were slightly less intense in terms of album output, but Dolly’s profile became even bigger, mainly because of 9 to 5.

Written for the movie of the same name, starring Jane Fonda and Dolly herself, 9 to 5 became one of Dolly’s best-known songs.

And there’s a wonderfully Dolly-like detail behind the recording. The famous typewriter sound at the beginning wasn’t created by a synthesizer. Dolly made it by rubbing her fingernails together.

She had been thinking about the sound of a typewriter while writing the song, and her nails provided the solution.

That’s the sort of detail I love about musicians. You don’t need expensive equipment. Sometimes you just need an idea.

9 to 5 and the Working Band

Country bands can sometimes stay firmly within their own genre, and party bands don’t always venture very far into country.

But 9 to 5 is an exception. Everyone knows it. The opening rhythm is instantly recognisable. And once the song starts, the audience knows exactly what it is.

That makes it a fantastic working-band tune. If you’re building a repertoire, songs like this are gold.

The House of the Rising Sun

The same 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs album also included The House of the Rising Sun. By this point, Dolly was demonstrating something that had become a major part of her career: She wasn’t limited by genre.

She could move from Country songwriting to Rock ‘n’ Roll, Soul, Folk and Pop without losing her identity.

And House of the Rising Sun is another useful guitar song because there are so many different traditions surrounding it. It’s the sort of tune that gives a guitarist a chance to think about arrangement rather than simply copying one famous recording.

Islands in the Stream: Dolly’s Biggest Hit

Dolly’s biggest commercial moment came in 1983 when she teamed up with Kenny Rogers for Islands in the Stream.

The song was written by the Bee Gees and had originally been conceived in a different style, with Diana Ross in mind.

When that plan changed, the song was reworked into a country duet for Dolly and Kenny. The result was enormous.

Islands in the Stream became a worldwide number-one hit and one of the most recognisable duets in popular music.

This is one of my favourite examples of how arrangement can completely transform a song. The same composition can exist in different musical worlds.

And the Dolly and Kenny version is the one that became definitive for most listeners. There are plenty of other versions, including performances by the Bee Gees themselves and covers by artists such as The Shires.

After listening to them, you can decide for yourself—for me, it’s difficult to beat Dolly and Kenny.

The Great Pretender

After Islands in the Stream, Dolly leaned even further into the art of interpreting other people’s songs. In 1984 she released The Great Pretender, an album packed with covers.

Among them were:

Save the Last Dance for Me
I Walk the Line
Downtown
I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)
The Great Pretender

I Can’t Help Myself is a fascinating choice. Originally a huge Motown hit for The Four Tops, it’s about as far away from Dolly’s Appalachian Country roots as you could get. Yet she makes it work.

And this is becoming a recurring theme in Dolly’s career. She doesn’t seem particularly interested in asking, “Is this song from my genre?”

She asks a much more useful question: “Can I sing this?” For a guitarist, that’s a great attitude towards repertoire.

Christmas, Covers and Collaboration

Dolly followed The Great Pretender with a Christmas album containing mainly cover material. Again, there’s no shortage of songs to learn here. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus is a particularly useful one for anyone playing seasonal gigs.

Christmas repertoire is an entire working-musician subject in itself. You don’t necessarily have to love every Christmas song. You just need to know which ones people want to hear.

And Dolly’s catalogue gives you plenty of opportunities to cross between Country, Pop and traditional Seasonal music.

Dolly and Kenny Rogers: Real Love

In 1985, Dolly and Kenny Rogers teamed up again for Real Love. It didn’t match the extraordinary success of Islands in the Stream, but it still reached number one in both the US and Canada.

The pairing worked because the two voices were so different. That’s another useful lesson for anyone arranging music for a band. Contrast can be more interesting than similarity.

You don’t need two singers who sound alike, the magic is in the difference.

Trio: Dolly, Linda and Emmylou

In 1987, Dolly joined Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris for Trio. The album included To Know Him Is to Love Him, Telling Me Lies and Those Memories of You.

The combination of three distinctive voices made the album a major success and earned them a Grammy.

For a producer and arranger, this is a fantastic reminder that great vocal arrangements don’t need to be complicated. Three strong voices, carefully arranged, can create an enormous sound.

Dolly’s Soul and Pop Connections

By now, Dolly’s repertoire had become almost impossible to categorise. She had recorded Country standards, Motown, Rock ‘n’ Roll, The Beatles, folk songs, pop songs and Christmas material. And she kept doing it.

In the 1990s she released more albums, including another Trio record, further covers and Christian-themed material.

One of the songs she continued to perform was Me and Bobby McGee, written by Kris Kristofferson and made most famous by Janis Joplin. Dolly eventually recorded it with Kristofferson himself in 2005.

It’s another example of a song that has travelled through many different artists and styles. And if you’re building a guitar repertoire, that’s exactly the kind of song you want. Learn one great song and you can discover an entire musical family around it.

I Can’t Help Myself, My Girl and Me and Bobby McGee

When you look through Dolly’s cover repertoire, you start to see how broad her musical taste really was.

My Girl brings us back to Motown.
I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) takes us back to The Four Tops.
Me and Bobby McGee takes us into the country songwriting tradition.
Great Balls of Fire brings in rock ‘n’ roll.
The House of the Rising Sun brings in folk and blues.
In the Ghetto connects Dolly with Elvis.
Islands in the Stream connects her directly with the Bee Gees and Pop music.

That’s an incredible repertoire for one artist.

Creepin’ In

Dolly’s ability to collaborate across generations continued into the 2000s. In 2004, she appeared with Norah Jones on Creepin’ In.

It’s another example of Dolly being completely comfortable stepping outside the boundaries of traditional country music. She doesn’t have to abandon her roots to collaborate with younger musicians.

Instead, she brings those roots with her. That’s one of the reasons her music has lasted so well.

Dolly Parton: The Ultimate Cover Artist?

There’s an interesting contradiction at the heart of Dolly Parton’s career. She’s one of the greatest country songwriters ever.

Songs like Jolene, Coat of Many Colors, 9 to 5 and I Will Always Love You are unmistakably Dolly. But she’s also an extraordinary interpreter.

She can take a Motown song, a Beatles song, an Elvis song, a Jerry Lee Lewis song, a folk standard or a Bee Gees composition and turn it into something that sounds like Dolly. That’s an incredibly valuable skill for a working musician.

You don’t always need to write the song. You need to understand the song. You need to know what makes it work. And then you need to find your own way of performing it.

Dolly Parton and Your Guitar Repertoire

If you’re learning guitar to play in a band, Dolly gives you a huge amount of material to work with.

Start with Jolene and 9 to 5. Then add In the Ghetto, My Girl, Higher and Higher and I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch).

Then there’s Great Balls of Fire, The House of the Rising Sun, Me and Bobby McGee and Creepin’ In. And don’t forget I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus when December comes around!

Then, of course, there’s Islands in the Stream. That’s a serious amount of repertoire before you’ve even scratched the surface of Dolly’s own songwriting.

The Queen of Country—and So Much More

Dolly Parton’s career is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t put musicians into boxes. She may be known as the Queen of Country, but her catalogue stretches far beyond country music.

She wrote some of the greatest songs of her generation. She recorded other people’s songs. She turned Motown into country. She took rock ‘n’ roll songs and made them her own.

She worked with Kenny Rogers, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones and countless other artists. And perhaps most importantly, she never stopped learning from the music around her.

For a guitarist, that’s the real lesson. Don’t just learn songs from the genre you think you belong to.

Learn Jolene. Learn 9 to 5. Learn My Girl. Learn Great Balls of Fire. Learn Me and Bobby McGee. Learn Islands in the Stream.

Learn the covers. Learn the originals. Then put them into your repertoire and see what happens.

Because Dolly Parton’s greatest strength may not simply be that she wrote thousands of songs. It’s that she understands what makes a great tune work—and she’s never afraid to make it her own.