- 4 days ago
She's covered far more than you'd expect, and the results are jaw-dropping! Join us as we count down our picks for the most surprising, unexpected and boldest covers in Dolly Parton's recording catalog. From rock legends to pop icons, Parton has reimagined them all through her unmistakable musical voice. Which cover surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments!
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00:00Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.
00:06Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:08And today, we're counting down our picks for the most surprising, unexpected, and boldest covers in Dolly Parton's recording catalog.
00:15And the world will live as one.
00:21Number 10. Wrecking Ball, originally performed by Miley Cyrus.
00:26Don't you ever say, I just walked away, I will always want you.
00:33Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus already share a family connection, so hearing them tackle wrecking ball together feels almost inevitable.
00:41Miley's 2013 original is a towering pop ballad about heartbreak, built around synths, programmed percussion, and that famously dramatic vocal.
00:50I came in like a wrecking ball. I never hit so hard in love.
00:58Parton's 2023 version keeps the emotional core, but shifts the texture toward rock, live instrumentation, and her unmistakable phrasing.
01:06While Miley returns for a featured vocal.
01:09I came in like a wrecking ball. I never hit so hard in love. All I wanted was to break
01:19your walls.
01:21That detail matters. Parton isn't impersonating her goddaughter.
01:25She's reinterpreting a song written for a very different pop era through her own musical vocabulary.
01:31The result sounds more seasoned and rootsy, while Cyrus' presence neatly bridges two generations of listeners.
01:37I never meant to start a war. I just wanted you to let me in. And instead of using force.
01:48Number 9. Heart of Glass. Originally performed by Blondie.
02:00Dolly Parton going from country to Blondie's Heart of Glass sounds like a huge detour, but that's precisely the fun.
02:07Blondie's 1979 hit fused disco rhythms with new wave cool, turning Debbie Harry's detached delivery into one of pop's most
02:15recognizable singles.
02:24Parton's 2023 recording keeps the song's sleek pulse while placing her warmer, more elastic voice at the center.
02:31And there's a delicious full circle moment.
02:33Harry herself joins Parton on the track.
02:36In between what I found is pleasing and I'm feeling fine. Love is so confusing.
02:43Rather than trying to recreate Blondie's original, Parton lets the song sit comfortably inside her rock-era experiment.
02:50Proving that her voice can sell a disco classic without losing its country-rooted character.
02:55Of course Dolly Parton gets to shimmer.
02:57You seem like the real thing. All of you find.
03:01What you mistrust, love's gone behind.
03:09On a cold and gray Chicago morn, a poor little baby child is born in the ghetto.
03:17Long before Dolly became a rock star in her own right at 77, she was already covering Elvis Presley.
03:23In the ghetto, written by Mac Davis and first recorded by Elvis in 1969, tells the bleak story of poverty
03:30through the life of a child born into deprivation.
03:40Dolly recorded her version that same year for her fourth solo album, My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy.
03:45Musically, she stays relatively close to Presley's arrangement, including the recurring guitar figure.
03:51But her voice changes the emotional temperature.
04:01Her pronounced vibrato and plaintive delivery make the tragedy feel intensely personal.
04:07Parton's recording even arrived while Presley's version was still climbing the charts, making this an unusually timely cover.
04:13He buys him a gun, and he steals a car, and he tries to run, but he don't get far,
04:19and his mama cries.
04:22Number 7.
04:23What's Up.
04:24Originally performed by Four Non Blondes.
04:26All of these years and my life is still.
04:29Just trying to get up that great big hill of hope.
04:34Few songs scream 1990's alternative rock quite like What's Up by Four Non Blondes.
04:39Released in 1993, Linda Perry's soaring anthem became a defining hit of the decade, powered by its instantly recognizable chorus
04:47and searching lyrics.
04:49Dolly Parton revisited it three decades later on Rockstar, but she had an ace in the booth, Perry herself.
05:00Dolly's performance gives the song a more organic, roots-oriented feel, allowing her phrasing and country sensibility to soften some
05:08of the original's alt-rock urgency without draining its emotional punch.
05:12And so I wake up in the morning and I step outside and I take a deep breath and wonder
05:20why.
05:20Having Perry appear on the track also makes the cover feel less like a novelty and more like a musical
05:26handoff between two very different generations of women.
05:35No. 6. I Walk The Line.
05:40Originally performed by Johnny Cash.
05:42I keep a close watch on this heart of mine.
05:47I keep my eyes wide open.
05:51Johnny Cash's I Walk The Line is so closely identified with its creator that covering it is practically musical trespassing.
05:58I keep the ends out for the tide that binds.
06:02Because you're mine.
06:05I walk the line.
06:06Dolly Parton nevertheless put her stamp on the song for her 1984 album The Great Pretender.
06:12Where Cash's 1956 recording is spare, intimate and famously anchored by its distinctive bass pattern,
06:18Parton's version takes a polished early 80s approach, with a fuller, more contemporary arrangement and a brighter vocal presence.
06:25Happiness I've known proves that it's right.
06:30Because you're mine.
06:33I walk the line.
06:35She doesn't try to imitate Cash's low-key authority.
06:38Instead, her flexible phrasing turns the vow of fidelity into something more openly dramatic.
06:43The result is unmistakably Dolly, familiar enough to honor Cash, but stylized enough to remind you that country standards can
06:51survive any form of change.
06:53Because you're mine.
06:56I walk the line.
06:59Because you're mine.
07:00Number 5.
07:02Me and Bobby McGee.
07:03Originally performed by Roger Miller.
07:06Most people associate this song with Janis Joplin's electrifying 1971 posthumous recording of it.
07:12Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.
07:17Nothing.
07:17That's all that Bobby left me.
07:20Yeah.
07:21Yeah.
07:22However, it was written by Kris Kristofferson, and originally performed by honky-tonk novelty singer Roger Miller.
07:28Feeling good was seasoned, Lord, when Bobby sang the blues.
07:33Feeling good was good enough for me.
07:36Dolly Parton approached it from a very different angle on her 2005 album, Those Were the Days.
07:43And Kristofferson himself joined her.
07:45Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.
07:50And nothing, Lord, is all that Bobby left me.
07:55That detail gives the recording a special authenticity.
07:58Dolly was interpreting a song together with the man who created its characters and story, rather than simply revisiting older
08:05versions.
08:05Her performance leans into the song's country and folk roots, emphasizing its storytelling, tenderness, and sense of movement.
08:13Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.
08:19Nothing ain't worth nothing, but it's for me.
08:23The result feels less like a rock lament, and more like a seasoned storyteller recounting a life that got away.
08:29But I trade all of my tomorrows for a single yesterday.
08:36Holding by this body next to mine.
08:42Number 4. Shine, originally performed by Collective Soul.
08:47Give me a word, give me a sign.
08:50Show me where to look and tell me what will I find.
08:54Collective Soul released the song in 1993, and it became one of the defining anthems of the grunge-adjacent alternative
09:01rock era.
09:02Heaven let your light shine down.
09:08Heaven let your light shine down.
09:11Heaven let your light shine down.
09:20Heaven let your light shine.
09:39The gamble paid off spectacularly.
09:42Her recording earned the Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance at the 2002 Ceremony.
09:47It's one of the clearest examples of Parton treating a cover as raw material, rather than a template.
09:52High, high.
09:56Heaven let your light shine down.
10:02Heaven let your light shine down.
10:07Number 3. Imagine, originally performed by John Lennon.
10:11Covering one of the most beloved songs ever written is a daunting proposition for anyone.
10:16You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
10:25Dolly approaches it not with reverence that tips into stiffness, but with genuine feeling.
10:30Her 2005 version appeared on Those Were the Days, an album devoted to songs from the 1960s and 70s, and
10:37features David Foster.
10:38Imagine there's no countries.
10:45It isn't hard to do.
10:49Instead of attempting Lennon's spare piano intimacy, Parton surrounds the melody with country and bluegrass colors, including banjo, strings, and
10:57acoustic textures.
10:58Her voice remains the focal point, moving between tenderness and quiet power as she delivers Lennon's vision of peace.
11:05You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
11:15Parton said she chose the song because its message of hope still resonated.
11:20Coming from her, the performance feels like a heartfelt country hymn.
11:24Imagine all the people sharing all the world.
11:47The Beatles recorded Help in 1965 as the title track to their film of the same name.
11:53The song began as a commercial assignment and ended up being one of John Lennon's most candid emotional confessions.
11:59Help me if you can, I'm feeling down.
12:04And I do appreciate you being around.
12:09Dolly Parton dressed it up quite differently.
12:11Her version, which appears on 1979's Great Balls of Fire, is explicitly bluegrass inspired,
12:18replacing the Beatles' driving pop rock attack with acoustic country textures and a more homespun feel.
12:24Won't you help me get my feet back on the ground?
12:28Won't you please, please help me?
12:31That change is significant because Lennon later described the original as a genuine subconscious cry for help,
12:37despite its upbeat surface.
12:39Parton doesn't reproduce that frantic energy.
12:41She filters the song through the musical language she knows best.
12:45The result is quirky and proof that a Beatles classic can survive a trip to Dolly's Appalachia.
12:50Help me if you can, I'm feeling down.
12:54And I do appreciate you being around.
12:57Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
13:02After The Gold Rush, originally performed by Neil Young, Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris
13:08turned this folk ballad into a country classic.
13:10There was a band playing in my head, and I felt like I could cry.
13:21My Girl, My Love, originally performed by The Temptations.
13:25Parton's take replaces Girl with Love to give the romance a fresh southern twang.
13:29What could make me feel this way?
13:37Peace Train, originally performed by Cat Stevens.
13:41Featuring Ladysmith Black Mombazo, Parton brings a global folk harmony to this tune.
13:46Ride on the peace train.
13:49Ooh-i-i-u-i.
13:52Come on, peace train.
13:54Time for Me to Fly, originally performed by REO Speedwagon.
13:58Who knew anyone could turn this rock ballad into a banjo-powered bar dance anthem?
14:03Time for me to fly.
14:05Gotta set myself free.
14:07Time for me to fly.
14:09That's how it's got to be.
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14:42Number one, Stairway to Heaven, originally performed by Led Zeppelin.
14:47There's a lady who's sure, all that glitters is gold.
14:55No other song captures Dolly Parton's ability to turn a rock monument into something unmistakably hers, quite like this one.
15:02Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven begins as a delicate folk rock ballad, before building into one of rock's most famous
15:09climaxes.
15:10Dear people, can you hear the wind blow? And did you know, our stairway lies of the whispering wind?
15:20Parton recorded her version for 2002's Halos and Horns, stripping away much of Led Zeppelin's grandeur in favor of bluegrass
15:28instrumentation and Appalachian textures.
15:30Banjo, mandolin, and acoustic colors give the song a distinctly rootsy identity, while Parton's voice brings warmth to Robert Plant's
15:38famously dramatic melody.
15:40Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there's still some time to change
15:48the road you're on.
15:49It is an audacious choice, but the song's folk foundations make the transformation surprisingly logical.
15:56Guess you could say Parton hauled Stairway down from the arena and brought it home to Tennessee.
16:01And did you know, your stairway lies upon the whispering wind?
16:09Which of these Dolly Parton covers blew you away? Let us know in the comments below.