Dolly Parton and Pentatonix Strike Grammy Gold with One-Day Studio Session
Dolly Parton’s collaboration with Pentatonix on a new rendition of “Jolene” was completed during a one-day studio session. The recording joined Parton’s country classic and immediately identifiable voice with the Texas-formed ensemble’s distinctive a cappella methods. Pentatonix constructed the accompaniment from layered vocal harmonies, a sung bass part and beatboxing, giving the familiar song a substantially different musical setting. Though Parton and the vocal group may not have seemed like an obvious pairing at first, the project became highly successful. It ultimately received a Grammy Award, while its video went on to exceed 53 million views on YouTube.
The song already had a history stretching back more than four decades when the collaboration took place. Parton wrote “Jolene” and made the original recording in 1973, and in February 1974 it reached the top of the country chart. Pentatonix’s later arrangement changed the way the song was presented without abandoning its defining narrative or recognizable melody. The ensemble’s all-vocal interpretation offered a fresh route into one of Parton’s best-known works and brought it before another generation of listeners. Parton’s performance remained central, framed by the group’s interlocking harmonies, low vocal foundation and voice-produced percussion rather than a conventional instrumental backing.
Pentatonix had established a national profile several years before entering the studio with Parton. The group gained broad attention by winning the third season of the NBC competition “The Sing-Off” in 2011. That background made its approach to “Jolene” notably different from the country original: every component of the new arrangement was produced with voices. At the same time, the group retained the composition’s core melody and story. The result therefore combined Parton’s original songwriting and vocal identity with the techniques that defined Pentatonix’s work, rather than replacing the essential elements of the song with an unrelated reinterpretation.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store’s Spotlight Music programme was responsible for bringing the artists together. The collaboration formed part of the promotional campaign surrounding the deluxe edition of Parton’s album “Pure & Simple.” When the accompanying video was released in September 2016, viewers responded quickly, and its total climbed by millions within the first several days. That initial surge developed into continuing popularity over the following years, eventually carrying the YouTube count past 53 million. The sustained audience for the performance showed the appeal of presenting a familiar country standard through an arrangement created entirely from human voices.
Watch the full performance on page two
