Dolly Parton Once Feared That Releasing A Particular Song Might Put Her Country Music Career At Risk
Dolly Parton has written and released thousands of songs throughout her five-decade career. However, there was one moment she felt she came close to risking everything she had worked so hard to build.
By the 1970s, Dolly had already earned multiple number-one country hits. In 1977, she began crossing into the pop world when her song “Jolene” climbed to number 60 on the pop charts.
That ultimately ended up sparking her interest in exploring more of the genre. But, she was also afraid of losing her dedicated country fanbase in the process.
It’s no secret that when artists step outside the genre they built their career on, it can create mixed reactions. That’s why Dolly knew that if she wanted to blend pop into her country music career, she would need to be careful with how she did it.
This led her to collaborate with legendary songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.
Dolly Parton performs onstage with an acoustic guitar in circa 1974.
The song Dolly once hesitated to release was “Here You Come Again”
Originally, Mann and Weil wrote “Here You Come Again” as a comeback song for 1950s legend Brenda Lee. However, Lee passed on the track, and it was first recorded by B.J. Thomas.
That’s when the song caught Dolly’s attention, and she decided to give it a shot herself. But, she had one condition… she didn’t want it to sound like a straight-up pop song.
Dolly knew her fans might not connect with a fully pop track, so she reached out to legendary musician Al Perkins. Dolly had asked him to play a steel guitar solo over the song’s bridge to give the song just enough of a country feel to balance out the pop elements.
As fans may know, the track ended up being a success. It went on to top the country singles chart for five weeks, and reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, becoming her first major pop crossover hit.
Dolly Says She’s Taking a Break From Songwriting
Dolly Parton takes a lot of pride in her songwriting and has written most of the songs she’s released. However, during an appearance on Khloé Kardashian’s podcast earlier this month, the Country Music Hall of Famer shared that she’s taking a break from writing music.
It’s not that she’s out of ideas, though. Dolly says she just hasn’t been able to finish anything she’s started lately as she continues to grieve the recent passing of her husband, Carl Dean.
The couple were married for 59 years before his death in March 2025.
“There are a few things now that my husband passed away a few months ago, when you asked me if there were things that I started, but haven’t finished. Several things I have wanted to start, but I can’t do it,” she told Khloé. “I will later, I’m just coming up with such wonderful, beautiful ideas, but I think I won’t finish it. I can’t do it right now, because I got so many other things. I can’t afford the luxury of, you know, getting that emotional righténow. There are times like that, things like that, that will stall you a little bit. But I’ll write something else, though, if it comes. I’m just putting [songwriting] on hold.”
