BAD WOLVES HONOR DOLLY PARTON WITH THEIR VERSION OF “JOLENE”
Rockfiend • 28 August 2026
Bad Wolves Will Donate Proceeds From “Jolene” releasing 31st August, to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Her Honour

BAD WOLVES HONOR DOLLY PARTON WITH THEIR VERSION OF “JOLENE”
Dolly Parton was preparing to add vocals to heavy metal version of 'Jolene’
Bad Wolves Will Donate Proceeds From “Jolene” releasing 31st August, to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Her Honour
NEW YORK, NY, August 28th 2026: Bad Wolves join millions of fans around the world in mourning the sudden passing of the one and only Dolly Parton, whose legacy has touched generations of artists and fans globally.
In a poignant turn of events, Bad Wolves were recently in discussions with Parton's management team about a special collaboration. Just weeks ago, the band had recorded a heavy metal version of the singer's iconic hit "Jolene," and Parton herself was planning to contribute her signature vocals to the recording.
Bad Wolves founder John Boecklin “Our singer is a big fan of Dolly and had posted a bunch of videos of her covering “Jolene”. So, we decided to make a Heavy Metal cover version for our next album. On hearing our version, our label CEO Dan Waite sent the finished demo to Dolly’s Manager Danny Nozell with a request for Dolly to guest feature on our version. 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. We then sent over the stems for Dolly’s studio engineers to work with. Like everyone, we were devastated of this week’s news of Dolly’s passing. We will honor Dolly’s incredible legacy by donating proceeds from ‘Jolene’ to the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.”
According to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library they have given away over 300 million books to children around the world, over 3 million each month.
Founded by Dolly Parton in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is the flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation; a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring a love of reading in children around the world. The program provides free, high-quality, age-appropriate books to registered children from birth to age five, regardless of family income, mailing each book directly to the child’s home. Today, the program mails more than three million books to children each month.
Boecklin continued “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.”
In closing, Boecklin 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”.
‘Jolene’ by Bad Wolves will release Monday 31st August, 2026.

