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In this week’s crop of new tunes, Jelly Roll releases a new song that ties into his recent acting debut. Meanwhile, Turnpike Troubadours and Muscadine Bloodline both issue new albums, while Avery Anna goes deep into fan connections on her latest track.
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Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of the best country, Americana and bluegrass songs of the week below.
Jelly Roll, “Dreams Don’t Die”
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Tied to Jelly Roll’s acting debut on CBS’s Fire Country, the Billboard 200 chart-topping artist released this moody, anthemic track, which he wrote with Chris Tompkins, Daniel Ross and Jessie Jo Dillon. Here, Jelly Roll pleads with a lover for real, unconditional love and support on lines such as “I know how to hurt, been doing it all my life/ Please don’t bring me down/ I just wanna fly.” Sonically, the polished, soulful and rock-infused track fits right in Jelly’s wheelhouse and he wrings out every nuance of anguish and far-flung hope.
Turnpike Troubadours, “Heaven Passing Through”
One of Red Dirt country’s most revered groups just digitally released the new album The Price of Admission, via Bossier City Records/Thirty Tigers. The group also just launched a four-concert run at Stillwater, Oklahoma’s Boone Pickens Stadium, marking the group’s largest shows yet.
Among the standout tracks on the new project is the Evan Felker-written “Heaven Passing Through.” Shimmering guitar work backs this pensive musing on soaking in good moments as they come. The song’s lyrics depict the swift changes life brings, from the wide-eyed perspective of a young child gazing at nighttime stars and wishing to grow up, to party-seeking teenage impulses, and finally to the wisened viewpoint of an adult looking at those same stars and trying to recapture that childhood perspective again. Gentle fiddle and guitar put Felker’s warm voice and timeless message forward, culminating in the feel of a new, timeless fan favorite song.
Avery Anna, “Danny Don’t”
Anna has a sterling, gripping vocal that she wraps around this response to a letter from a fan who was battling internal struggles and contemplating giving up on life. “Can I just talk you through it?” she entreats as she traces the man’s journey from growing up in an abusive home to now, as an adult, struggling to change the habits he’s learned. “You don’t wanna talk and you don’t wanna listen/ Don’t know why you’re broken, so how could you fix it?” she sings. The song is the first from her upcoming Warner Music Nashville album, Let Go Letters, out May 16. The project is built upon letters Anna received from fans, and serves as her response to the struggles, heartaches and trauma that her fans shared with her through those letters.
Brett Young, “Drink With You”
A mesh of acoustic guitar and twangy pedal steel elevates Young’s newest release, which marks a bit of a departure for the soulful country singer. He’s known for loved-up songs such as “In Case You Didn’t Know” and “Here Tonight,” but on his latest, his lends his simmering, honeyed vocal to a tale of two ex-lovers who tend to make poor decisions when alcohol flows. The song is an early glimpse from his upcoming album 2.0, marking Young’s first project since 2023’s Across the Sheets.
Muscadine Bloodline, “Borrowing a Broken Heart”
On their new album …And What Was Left Behind, the ACM Award-nominated duo offers a varied palette of sounds, from the bluegrass-dipped “The High Horse vs. The White Horse” to the bluesy grit of “Ain’t For Sale.” “She won’t ever be mine/ Am I just wasting my time?” they ponder on the rustic, self-reflective “Borrowing a Broken Heart” — a particularly stellar track, one that adds to Muscadine’s potent canon of top-shelf heartbreak anthems.
The SteelDrivers, “The River Knows”
Bluegrass group The SteelDrivers, known for songs such as “If It Hadn’t Been for Love,” offers up another entry in bluegrass music’s legacy of murder ballads, this one written by SteelDrivers fiddler and singer Tammy Rogers along with songwriter Tom Douglas (“The House That Built Me”) and artist-writer Daniel Ethridge. The group’s signature blues-bluegrass mesh works particularly well on this haunting track, filled with fiery fiddle and jaunty mandolin scaffolding the song, along with the group’s coolly intertwined harmonies, as the lyrics spill out a mystery of small-town denizens pondering how the death of a known scoundrel came to be. “The River Knows” will be featured on their new album Outrun, which releases May 23 on Sun Records.
Country music songwriter Larry Bastian, known for penning songs including Garth Brooks’ “Unanswered Prayers” and “Rodeo,” died on Sunday (April 6) at age 90, Billboard has confirmed. Bastian’s passing was previously reported by the Porterville Recorder.
Bastian, a longtime writer for Major Bob Music, was born Sept. 1, 1934, in Porterville, Calif. He was born into a family who farmed in California’s San Joaquin Valley. After graduating from Porterville High School in 1952, he went on to work as a biologist for 15 years at the Department of Agriculture in Kern and Tulare counties. He also harbored a love for music and songwriting.
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He launched his songwriting career in the 1970s, when he connected with Bonnie Owens and other musicians forging the Bakersfield Sound. He soon became friends and cowriters with Jim Shaw, and together they wrote a song called “This Ain’t Tennessee and He Ain’t You,” that was recorded by Janie Fricke and released in 1980 (Eddy Arnold and Tom Jones would later also record the song).
He has written songs recorded by Merle Haggard and David Frizzell (“Lefty”), Tammy Wynette (“Back to the Wall”), Conway Twitty (“Saturday Night Special”), Tracy Byrd (“Why”) Sammy Kershaw (“If You’re Gonna Walk, I’m Gonna Crawl,” “Yard Sale”), Reba McEntire (“The Girl Who Has Everything”), Rhett Akins (“Somebody Knew”), Moe Bandy (“Nobody Gets Off in This Town”), George Jones (“Forever’s Here to Stay”) and Craig Morgan (“Look at Us”).
Some of his biggest country chart successes came in the 1990s as a writer on Brooks’ “Unanswered Prayers” and “Rodeo.” Bastian solo wrote the latter, which, according to Garth Brooks: The Anthology Part 1, was originally titled “Miss Rodeo” and written for a female artist.
“This was a song I had written probably six or seven years before I met Garth … it was about a gal lamenting the fact that her guy was in love with the rodeo rather than her,” Bastian wrote in the Brooks anthology. “Finally, Garth said to me, ‘I’m going to record it.’ I said, ‘You can’t record it. It’s a girl’s song.’ He said, ‘Just watch me.’” The song became a top five Billboard Country Airplay hit in 1991.
Garth Brooks: The Anthology Part 1 also notes Bastian provided a key lyrical hook for “Unanswered Prayers” (co-written by Brooks and Pat Alger), which became a two-week Country Airplay chart No. 1 in 1991. Beyond those hits, Bastian also wrote and/or cowrote other songs recorded by Brooks, including “I’ve Got a Good Thing Going,” “The Old Man’s Back in Town,” “Cowboy Bill,” “Nobody Gets Off in This Town” and “Man Against the Machine.”
“That type of drive, first off you have to know that you can do it,” Bastian said during an interview on The Paul Leslie Hour in 2020. “There was no doubt in my mind that I could write a song. I think you have to be that driven to succeed, and then there’s a lot of luck. They have a saying, ‘You can’t get out of the way of a hit song,’ and that’s so right.”
A celebration of life is pending.
The first track on Jon Pardi’s new album may be called “Boots Off,” but don’t expect the project to simply be a repeat of songs similar to his signature hits “Dirt on My Boots” and “Head Over Boots.”
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Each of his previous four albums reached at least the top 5 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, with his 2016 album California Sunrise debuting at the listing’s pinnacle. He’s lodged several songs in the upper echelons of the Country Airplay chart, with five No. 1s — such as “Heartache Medication” and “Last Night Lonely.”
On his fifth studio album Honkytonk Hollywood, out on UMG Nashville today (April 11), Pardi continues paying homage to his California roots and penchant for rock-infused, neo-traditional country, but he also crafted an album that showcases both the 39-year-old’s maturity as a person (he’s now a father to two young daughters) — and how, more than a decade into his career, he continues eschewing any creative confines.
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With the new project, the Red Light-managed singer-songwriter leaned into the influences of classic rock artists such as the Eagles, Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac.
“The ‘70s country of the West Coast was Hollywood; when I say rock ‘n’ roll, that’s what I’m thinking about. Sonically, it’s there in the snare drums and the grit of the guitar and the grit of the whole recording itself. Classic rock, it blends so well with traditional country music, ’cause it doesn’t sound too crazy or modern. I feel like this record has good soul to it.”
Key to that sonic shift was Pardi’s choice to switch up producers and work with Jay Joyce, known for his no-boundaries, music-forward approach to making records. Grammy winner Joyce has fashioned enduring albums for Eric Church and Cage the Elephant, with Pardi crediting Church’s Carolina as a factor that drew him to working with Joyce.
“Some people call him a mad scientist. I call him a professor,” Pardi says of Joyce. “He always had an edge, something different about him. He’s a respectful music guy and I’ve been a big fan of his. I felt more than ever this was the time to reach out and he doesn’t work with everybody.”
They holed up at Joyce’s east Nashville church-turned-recording studio for the better part of a month, recording and piecing together the album’s 17 songs. Pardi also welcomed in his touring band to play on the album, placing the band’s tight-knit musicianship at the album’s fore.
“He took me and my band to school and we became even better players,” Pardi says of Joyce. “I remember him telling my guitar player, ‘Why are you f–king playing so much? You played so much on every song.’ It was just funny and we were learning. We had time on our side and that really helped this record be what it is. I’m not saying anything bad about the Nashville way. It’s a machine, it’s fast, it’s great, but it was nice to slow down. We were always in the studio, focusing on music. I wasn’t out bush-hogging or feeding cows.”
Honkytonk Hollywood builds upon and broadens the country-leaning, tough-minded sounds he forged on songs such as “Dirt on My Boots.” That rock influence is threaded through songs such as the slinky groove of “Hey California” and hard-charging “Friday Night Heartbreaker.”
The album isn’t all night-out party anthems. “He Went to Work” pays tribute to a father’s dogged determination to provide for his loved ones. Alongside “Hard Knocks,” it offers a double set of songs that inspired by his family and his father.
“Looking back as a grown man, he had a lot on his plate,” Pardi says. “He had ran a big construction business and just a lot of hustle and bustle. We learned so much. We were always out in the country, either on big construction sites developing land or in agriculture. His side of the family is all farmers. And he could fix anything.”
Meanwhile, “She Drives Away” finds Pardi looking to the future and the kind of days that are ahead of him as a parent to his daughters Presley Fawn and Sierra Grace. Though Pardi wrote eight of the album’s 17 songs, he couldn’t resist recording this song, penned by Seth Ennis, Jordan Minton, Zach Abend and Jimi Bell.
“I wanted to write a Presley song, but that song showed up in the inbox and how are you not going to record that? You hear that song and you’re like, ‘I’m not going to write a better one. That one’s great.’ So I got my dad and daughter song, and I feel like the universal aspect of that song touches so many people. I was like, ‘This is going to be a father-daughter dance song all day… that is the pure emotion of songwriting, and that is why we write songs.”
It’s not lost on Pardi that his new album comes at a time when country music’s impact — both domestically and globally — has been surging, with artists including Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan, Luke Combs and Kane Brown doing headlining large international tours in areas including the U.K. and Australia, while continuing to headline arenas and/or football stadiums stateside.
“It’s not just one artist. There’s a handful. We’ve now entered the level where there is the football [stadium] level [of performers] and multiple artists are doing it,” Pardi says. “It’s always been like one guy— Garth, and Kenny Chesney — now it’s a bunch of people. It’s crazy.”
Though artists such as Jelly Roll and Morgan Wallen have released elongated, 30-something track albums, Pardi says he won’t be following suit anytime soon.
“I mean, I thought [long albums] were going away,” Pardi says, “Then Morgan came out and was like, ‘I’m doing another 37.’ I’m like, ‘D–n it, I thought my 17 was a lot.’ That’s 20 more songs. I don’t think I’d ever go that many. I think 20 is a good amount of songs. I don’t think I would go more than 20.”
Pardi has seen the country music genre’s progressive-to-traditional ebbs and flows, and takes a “rising tide lifts all boats” perspective.
“Traditional country will always come back and save country music when it’s gone too far,” he says. “I compare Zach Top to when Randy Travis came out with songs [in the 1980s] and it’s like just a stone-cold country comeback. I’m always on everybody’s team. Country’s going to be poppy and popular, but you’re going to get all these new artists coming out with more of a rootsy-country song, or [a] traditional song that starts picking up steam.
“But all that pop, hip-hop and all the super-popular songs — that helps everybody, and it’s good for a traditional artist. It sucks sometimes — I mean, I’m on the Pardi train and I’ve been a steam engine since 2012. I’m never going to get a rocket ship, but I’m fine on the train tracks. Still chugging along, but you stay your path and you do what makes you feel good.”
The highs, lows and secrets within the Judd family will be explored in the upcoming Lifetime four-part documentary series The Judd Family: Truth Be Told, which will air on Mother’s Day weekend, May 10-11, at 8 p.m. ET.
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The documentary delves into the nuanced relationship between The Judds matriarch Naomi Judd and her daughters Ashley and Wynonna. According to an announcement regarding the Alexandra Dean-directed and executive-produced documentary, the series seeks to explore “the complex mother-daughter dynamics and intergenerational trauma as seen through the eyes of the Judd family.”
Naomi and Wynonna Judd formed the successful mother-daughter country music duo The Judds, garnering 14 No. 1s on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart in 1980s. Meanwhile, Ashley Judd went on to become a successful actress, known for roles including Double Jeopardy and Heat.
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The trailer for the documentary shows Naomi and Wynonna together in the early days of The Judds’ career. Naomi smiles at Wynonna and says, “You love me?” as Wynonna nods. “Are you ever going to leave me?” Naomi asks, as Wynonna grins and shakes her head no.
“I was so proud of their success,” Ashley Judd later says in the trailer, which also features comments from The Judds’ fellow country star Reba McEntire. From there, the trailer quickly shifts, alluding to family secrets and struggles, with Ashley saying of Naomi at one point, “She had no idea what I went through as a child.”
Later Wynonna says, “It’s a blessing and a curse to be that close to your mother.”
The Judds led headlining tours and notched hits including “Love Can Build a Bridge” and “Why Not Me.” They won five Grammy Awards and nine CMA Awards during their career, before Naomi’s battle with hepatitis C brought the duo’s career to a halt. Wynonna then forged a successful solo career on the strength of songs including “No One Else on Earth” and “Tell Me Why.”
In April 2022, tragedy struck when Naomi died by suicide at age 76, one day prior to The Judds’ induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. At the time, a statement from Wynonna and Ashley Judd said, “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.”
The documentary series is produced by Propagate Content for Lifetime, with Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens, Isabel San Vargas and Jonathan Schaerf acting as executive producers. Elaine Frontain Bryant and Brad Abramson are executive producers for Lifetime.
Watch the trailer below:
Shaboozey still hasn’t gotten where he’s going. The “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” hitmaker announced an expanded version of his breakthrough album on Friday (April 11), dubbed Where I’ve Been, It’s Where I’m Going: The Complete Edition, which will add six new tracks to the original 12-track LP Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going.
The revamp due out on April 25 via Empire will feature the just-released Myles Smith collaboration “Blink Twice,” as well as “Amen” featuring Jelly Roll, the Sierra Ferrell team-up “Hail Mary” and the fresh tracks “Fire and Gasoline” and “Chrome,” as well as previously released single “Good News.”
Shaboozey’s big year will roll on this weekend when performs on Sunday (April 13) at the Coachella Festival and then returns to Indio, CA on April 26 for night two of this year’s Stagecoach Festival, where he’ll share the stage with Jelly Roll, Sturgill Simpson, Nelly, Ashley McBryde and Koe Wetzel.
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He kicked off the year with “Blink Twice,” following a jam-packed 2024 in which he appeared on Beyoncé‘s three-time Grammy-winning Cowboy Carter LP and also scored the longest-running solo Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single of all time with “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”; the track spent an eye-popping 17 weeks at the top of the tally. Nearly a year into its run, “A Bar Song” continues to tear it up, dropping to No. 4 from No. 3 in the most recent chart frame dated April 12, while “Good News” is hanging out at No. 51 after previously peaking at No. 47.
Check out the full track listing for Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going: Complete Edition below:
1. “Horses & Hellcats”
2. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
3. “Last Of My Kind” (feat. Paul Cauthen)
4. “Anabelle”
5. “East Of The Massanutten”
6. “Highway”
7. “Let It Burn”
8. “My Fault” (feat. Noah Cyrus)
9. “Vegas”
10. “Drink Don’t Need No Mix” (feat. BigXthaPlug)
11. “Steal Her From Me”
12. “Finally Over”
13. “Amen” (feat. Jelly Roll)
14. “Hail Mary” (feat. Sierra Ferrell)
15. “Fire And Gasoline”
16. “Blink Twice” (feat. Myles Smith)
17. “Good News”
18. “Chrome”
Two of the 2024’s biggest breakout stars have lent each other a hand for a new springtime single. Five-time Grammy nominee Shaboozey and Brit Award-winning Myles Smith have joined forces for “Blink Twice,” an infectious, folk-inflected track built on twangy finger-picked guitars, pounding drums and raucous stomps and claps. “Oh me, oh my, would you […]
Austin City Limits is set to cap its 50th-anniversary celebrations with a special episode featuring Garth Brooks.
Austin City Limits Hall of Fame Honors Garth Brooks will have its broadcast premiere on May 3 at 8 p.m. ET. Recorded live at ACL’s studio home ACL Live in Austin, Texas, the hour-long special features Brooks performing many of his hits while sharing the stories behind many of those songs.
Brooks made his ACL series debut in 1990, shortly after the release of his 1989 self-titled debut, which included now-classic country songs such as “The Dance” and “If Tomorrow Never Comes.” A decade later, he returned to ACL to open and close ACL’s milestone season 25 with two hourlong episodes.
The new special will also highlight moments from Brooks’ ACL performances over the years. The special also features Brooks’ wife and fellow country artist Trisha Yearwood, as well as longtime ACL executive producer Terry Lickona, who inducts Brooks into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. Yearwood previously joined the ACL Hall of Fame in 2023 alongside John Prine.
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“You can bring all the smoke and mirrors you want, and trust me—I’ve used ‘em all,” Brooks said in a statement, “but you come here and it’s the real deal.” He added, “Always try to associate your name with a name greater than your own. Being associated with ACL has been one of the greatest assets of my career. I can’t thank Terry and the gang enough for all the years and all the love.”
“You can’t tell the story of Austin City Limits without Garth Brooks,” Lickona added. “Garth gets it. He gets what makes Austin City Limits special, and why it’s an honor for an artist to step onto that stage and deliver the best performance of their life. And it’s an honor for us to share that stage with artists like Garth, who have so much to offer.”
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the revered music institution, which premiered on PBS in 1975. Since 2014, the ACL Hall of Fame has honored artists who have played an essential role in the series’ half-century as a premier supporter of top-shelf music. The inaugural 2014 awards feted Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
In 2021, Brooks appeared on ACL for two non-broadcast events to close out Studio 6A on the University of Texas campus. Brooks’ performances marked the final shows at that historic studio, which served as ACL’s home until 2010, before it moved to downtown Austin.
Over the course of his first three albums, Morgan Wallen has notched Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits and crafted projects with sprawling, 30-song-plus track lists. He’s notched hit collabs with Eric Church (“Man Made a Bar”), Post Malone (“I Had Some Help,” from Post’s F-1 Trillion album) and Ernest (“Cowgirls”). But he has yet to release a collaboration with a female artist.
That seems likely to change on his upcoming album, I’m the Problem, out May 16.
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On X, Wallen responded to a comment from Patrick R Thomes, who wrote, “@MorganWallen, please, please, PLEASE confirm ‘What I Want’ is a duet. You haven’t yet sang with any female artists on any of your first three albums, so PLEASE tell me this is the case.”
Wallen responded simply, “Indeed sir,” seeming to confirm there will be a collaboration with a woman artist on the project, though Wallen offered no other details. Fans swarmed the comments section, speculating on the possibility of a range of artists, including Lainey Wilson, Ella Langley and Megan Moroney. Another name mentioned was Miranda Lambert, with whom Wallen co-wrote the One Thing at a Time standout “Thought You Should Know.” The pair performed the song together as a duet for the first (and so far only) time at Wallen’s Knoxville, Tennessee, concert in September.
During a previous story with Billboard in 2023, Wallen said that though he hadn’t released a coed duet yet, he had made attempts at such a collaboration, saying, “I’ve reached out to a couple of people, and they’ve turned me down. … I just really want certain people, and I haven’t gotten the chance to do it yet. I’m going to keep trying to write songs for it or write with them.”
He also added at the time that he “would love” to write with more women artists and songwriters, but noted that he most often revisited his “little squad” of frequent co-writers “because I’ve just been slammed, and when I’m not on the road, I’m spending time with my son or hunting. I haven’t really wanted to branch out much just because I needed to keep myself sane.”
Indeed, the writers on some of the songs he’s already released from the upcoming album — “Love Somebody” and “Lies Lies Lies” — are many of his longtime collaborators, including HARDY, Hunter Phelps, ERNEST, Ashley Gorley and Ryan Vojtesak.
Four-time ACM Awards nominee and three-time CMA Triple Play winner Ernest has teamed with rap superstar Snoop Dogg for the new song “Gettin’ Gone.”
The song marks the first release from an upcoming project on Ernest’s newly-minted DeVille Records, which he launched in partnership with Big Loud Records. “Gettin’ Gone” was written by Ernest, Snoop Dogg, Ben Hayslip, Rhett Akins and Mark Holman, with production by Jacob Durrett.
The song embodies a hybrid of captivating melodic hooks and a solidly driving, folk-rock honky-tonk sound, creating the preview for what fans can expect from the expansive sounds on Ernest’s upcoming Cadillac Sessions mixtape-style compilation, out May 9. The set will highlight two new original songs and a cover song from DeVille Records artists Chandler Walters, Cody Lohden and Rhys Rutherford.
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Leaning into the song’s good-time vibes, the video for “Gettin’ Gone” highlights the camaraderie between the two creative forces, featuring Snoop Dogg and Ernest driving around Nashville in Ernest’s Cadillac DeVille, as well as footage of the pair outside of Williamson County, Tennessee’s Castle Recording Studios, where “Gettin’ Gone” was produced.
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Over the past few years, Ernest has steadily been forging a reputation as a multi-faceted hitmaker and industry kingpin, notching his own hit songs such as “Flower Shops” and “Cowgirls” (both featuring Morgan Wallen), as well as his work penning hits for artists including Wallen, Post Malone, Kane Brown, Diplo, Chris Lane and Florida Georgia Line. He also launched the music publishing venture ERN’s Cadillac Music in 2023.
This isn’t Snoop’s first time in the country space — the rap legend recently teamed with rapper-turned-country star Jelly Roll for “Last Dance With Mary Jane,” which flips the Tom Petty classic “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.” The pair introduced the song last year during Jelly Roll’s headlining show at Bridgestone Arena. Earlier this year, Snoop Dogg made a surprise performance at Nashville venue Losers Bar and Grill, and more recently made his own imprint on downtown Nashville with the the new bar, Still G.I.N. Lounge by Dre and Snoop, on 2nd Avenue in Nashville.
Check out the video for “Gettin’ Gone” below:
East Tennessee native and cultural icon Dolly Parton will soon have her inspirational career spotlighted in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Museum, when the Hall launches its new exhibition, Dolly Parton: Journey of a Seeker, on May 20. The exhibit will run until September 2026.
Parton, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, has forged a multifaceted career as a singer, songwriter, actor, author, businesswoman and philanthropist.
“Being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame was one of the greatest moments of my life, and being able to have a personal exhibit for the fans that put me there is a very big deal to me,” Parton said in a statement. “This seeker is very proud and honored, and I hope you enjoy my journey. I will always love you.”
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“After accomplishing enough for three lifetimes, Dolly Parton continues to astound and amaze us with her boundless talent, her vivacious wit and her tremendous generosity,” added Kyle Young, chief executive officer of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “Like all great artists, Parton has demonstrated consistently that she can transform adversity and setbacks into works of stunning beauty and insight into the human condition.”
The exhibit will feature costumes, awards, instruments, photographs, handwritten lyrics and exclusive interview footage from throughout Parton’s career. In 1978, Parton was named as the Country Music Association’s entertainer of the year, and she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999. At 79, her tireless passion for her career is evident, as she continues extending her career’s acclaim with the recent announcements of her upcoming musical and Nashville hotel.
The exhibit will highlight key points in Parton’s career, such as the handwritten lyrics to her No. 1 hit “Jolene,” and the Sony portable cassette tape player recorder she used when she wrote her now-iconic songs including “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene” and the exhibit’s namesake song, “The Seeker.”
Other pieces to be featured include Parton’s Kennedy Center Honors medallion she was presented with in 2006, as well as a cowgirl outfit Parton wore in the 1980 movie 9 to 5. Also on display will be a Lucy Adams-designed dress Parton wore on appearances on The Porter Wagoner Show, as well as the cover of the 1974 album Porter ‘n’ Dolly, which marked the final collaborative project from Parton and Wagoner. Another dress, designed by Steve Summers, features mesh fabric, spikes and breaded fringe, and was worn by Parton in promoting her 2023 album Rockstar.
The exhibit showcases Parton’s generational appeal through her inspirational, rags-to-riches story of growing up in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, in a home with no plumbing or electricity. She inherited from her family both a love of music and an intense work ethic, and by the age of 10, she was performing on radio and television broadcasts in Knoxville, Tenn. She began recording music by the time she was in her teens. She moved to Nashville after finishing high school, and released her debut album, Hello, I’m Dolly, in 1967 on Monument Records.
Crucially, Dolly Parton: Journey of a Seeker will highlight Parton’s determined spirit throughout her career and her unique creative and business vision, such as when, at age 13, she made her Grand Ole Opry debut, though only after she and her uncle Bill Owens persuaded Jimmy C. Newman to give her one of his Opry performance timeslots after an Opry manager refused to give her a performance timeslot due to her young age. In 1974, after a seven-year stint on The Porter Wagoner Show, Parton decided to part ways with Wagoner, with whom she had become one of country music’s most popular duos. That decision sparked the beginning of Parton’s rise as one of country music’s most revered and recognized solo artists.
Later on in her career, she opted to work with Los Angeles pop music producer Gary Klein on her 1977 album Here You Come Again, which brought backlash from some in the Nashville music community, who claimed she was abandoning Nashville in favor of pop music success. The album reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s top country albums chart, and the top 20 on the all-genre Billboard 200, spurred by songs including the title track and “Two Doors Down.” The album was also Parton’s first million-selling album, earned the star her first Grammy award win, and led to her film debut in the movie 9 to 5.
The exhibit also highlights the 10-time Grammy winner’s work as a philanthropist. Among her initiatives, in 1995, she encouraged new generations of children to love reading by founding Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Three years later, she launched the Dollywood Foundation, with the Imagination Library as its flagship program. The program is now active in not only all 50 states, but also in Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Along with the new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum exhibit, an illustrated and in-depth exhibit book will supplement the information presented in the gallery presentation. The book will highlight Parton’s career triumphs and share stories behind four of her most beloved songs, “9 to 5,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “I Will Always Love You” and “Jolene.” The book will also be sold in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s store starting May 20. An official exhibit playlist will be available on all major streaming platforms beginning on May 20.