Update: Bad Wolves guitarist AJ Rebollo has left the band, issuing a statement on Instagram denouncing the single’s release and the label’s decision to release it without Parton’s involvement. Original story below.
BAD WOLVES had a collaboration with DOLLY PARTON in motion. Following her sudden passing, the band will release the song as a tribute to the country music icon and to support one of her most enduring philanthropic efforts.
The band will drop its heavy metal rendition of “Jolene” on Aug. 31, with proceeds from the track benefiting Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
According to BAD WOLVES founder John Boecklin, the project began after the band’s singer shared videos covering the 1973 classic. BAD WOLVES recorded its own version for an upcoming album, and the finished demo eventually made its way to Parton’s manager, Danny Nozell.
“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,” Boecklin says. “We then sent over the stems for Dolly’s studio engineers to work with.”
Parton died before those vocals could be recorded, turning what had been shaping up as an unexpected metal-country collaboration into something far more poignant.
“Like everyone, we were devastated by this week’s news of Dolly’s passing,” Boecklin says. “We will honor Dolly’s incredible legacy by donating proceeds from ‘Jolene’ to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.”
Founded by Parton in 1995, the Imagination Library provides free, age-appropriate books to children from birth to age 5. The program has distributed more than 300 million books worldwide and currently mails more than 3 million each month.
BAD WOLVES hopes its version of “Jolene” can help that work continue.
“With ‘Jolene’, we are proud 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,” Boecklin says.
He also offered condolences on behalf of the band.
“Our thoughts are with Dolly’s extended family, manager Danny Nozell, and all of the many thousands of people she touched in her extraordinary life who are grieving her passing.”
Dolly Parton never got the chance to put her voice on BAD WOLVES’ “Jolene,” but her connection to the recording — and the cause it will now support — gives the song a meaning no one could have planned.
Check out BAD WOLVES’ recent single, “Paint It Red,” below.
