Weeks before her passing, Dolly Parton loved the Bad Wolves’ heavy take on her signature song and was set to add her own vocals. Now the proceeds go to her Imagination Library.
Bad Wolves take on ‘Jolene’ was meant to have Dolly Parton’s Vocals
Some stories hit different depending on when you hear them. This is one of those.
Like millions around the world, Bad Wolves are mourning Dolly Parton, who died peacefully in Nashville on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at the age of 80, after a brief battle with cancer. And in a genuinely poignant twist, the Nashville-based band was in the middle of something special with her when the news broke.
Here’s how it came together. Bad Wolves recorded a heavy metal cover of “Jolene” — and this wasn’t a shot in the dark. Founder John Boecklin explains that new vocalist Sara “KILLBOY” Skinner was already a big Dolly fan who’d been posting videos of herself covering the track, so a metal version felt like a natural fit for the next album. Better Noise Music CEO Dan Waite sent the finished demo to Parton’s manager Danny Nozell with a simple ask: would Dolly guest on it?
The answer floored them. Nozell played her the track, Dolly loved it, and word came back that she planned to head into the studio to add her signature vocals very soon. The band sent over the stems for her engineers to work with. And then — like everyone else — they got the devastating news.
Crucially, this isn’t just the band’s telling. Parton’s longtime manager Danny Nozell confirmed the whole account, and pointedly cleared up misinformation swirling online in the process: Dolly was a champion of artists pushing musical boundaries, he said, she heard the arrangement weeks ago, gave it her full blessing, and was genuinely excited to collaborate — and releasing it as a tribute for the Imagination Library is exactly what she and her team wanted.
Turning A Planned Collab Into Something That Matters
Rather than shelve the song, Bad Wolves released “Jolene” on August 31 as a tribute, with all proceeds going to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. If you don’t know it, the program is worth knowing: founded by Parton in 1995 as the flagship of The Dollywood Foundation, it mails free, age-appropriate books straight to registered kids from birth to age five, no matter their family’s income. It’s currently sending out more than three million books a month, and to date it’s given away over 300 million books to children worldwide.
“With ‘Jolene,’ we are proud to help deliver critical funding to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library,” Boecklin said. “We know that we can contribute to Dolly’s vision of giving access to books and improving literacy.”
He closed with 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.”
We’ve Been Here Before
If this all feels eerily familiar, that’s because it is. Back in 2018, Bad Wolves broke through globally with a heavy reinterpretation of The Cranberries’ “Zombie” — a song frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan was scheduled to record vocals for before her sudden death. The band released it anyway and donated the proceeds to her children. O’Riordan’s husband and manager Don Burton has since vouched for the band amid the current chatter, noting that Better Noise followed through on that pledge to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars — and that, based on the “Zombie” track record, “Jolene” could put a lot of books into a lot of small hands.
Two icons, two songs left tragically unfinished, two tributes turned into something bigger than the music. There’s a strange, sad symmetry to it — and honestly, there’s something fitting about a metal band and a country legend meeting in the middle over a song this iconic.
‘Jolene’ by Bad Wolves is out now.
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