Dolly Parton’s music is already beginning to live on in a new way.
A few weeks after the country music icon’s death, fans can hear her voice on a newly released song, “Bound to Ride,” marking her first posthumous musical release.
Parton recorded the song in 2022, years before her death, for an upcoming tribute album honoring bluegrass legends The Stanley Brothers. The First Ladies of Bluegrass – Alison Brown, Becky Buller, Sierra Hull, Missy Raines and Molly Tuttle – recorded the backing track.
Parton died August 25 at age 80 following what her team has described as a “brief battle with cancer.” Her death prompted an international wave of tributes, and both fans and her loved ones are mourning her death.
Dolly Parton’s music
“Bound to Ride” was popularized by The Stanley Brothers in 1964 and draws from the Appalachian musical tradition that influenced Parton throughout her childhood and career.
The song appears on Where the Soul Never Dies: Celebrating 80 Years of The Stanley Brothers, a forthcoming tribute project dedicated to the influential duo.
Even after becoming a global superstar, Dolly Parton never lost her connection to the mountain music of Tennessee.
And fans already know more unreleased Dolly Parton music is coming.
One of the most unusual examples is “My Place in History,” a song Parton wrote and recorded in 2015 specifically to be heard after her death. She placed the recording inside a wooden “Dream Box” at Dollywood’s resort in Tennessee, where it has been sealed away as part of a time capsule.
The box is scheduled to be opened January 19, 2046 – the date that would have marked Parton’s 100th birthday.
Recorded music to be released after her death
Parton revealed the unusual story behind the song in her 2020 memoir, “Songteller: My Life in Lyrics.” She had been asked to write a song that would remain sealed away for 25 years, creating a piece of music specifically intended for an audience she might never meet.
“I had to write this song that nobody was going to hear ‘til then, and I tell you you have no idea how that has bothered me,” she said during a 2022 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, according to E! News. “I want to go dig that up so bad.”
“It’s a really good song,” she said. “I don’t know whose damn idea that was.”
Parton had made even broader preparations for her music to continue after her death. She previously revealed that she had recorded thousands of songs that had never been released and had arranged for future producers to potentially build new versions of songs around her existing vocals.
For now, “Bound to Ride” is the first real look at what that musical legacy could become, and a reminder that even though Dolly Parton is gone, her voice is far from finished being heard.
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