Country music legend Dolly Parton is preparing for the upcoming release of her Christmas album “A Holly Dolly Christmas” on October 2. In anticipation for this, she just released her “emotional” rendition of the classic Christmas song “Mary, Did You Know?”
“I got very emotional recording ‘Mary, Did You Know?’ It’s the sweetest song about beautiful things being born out of unexpected situations and that’s a message we all need to hear now more than ever,” Parton, 74, wrote on Instagram of her version of the song.
This comes after the country music legend told Billboard that she the name of her Christmas album to be “cute and clever,” and that she was inspired by the classic “A Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives.
“He used to be on all of my Christmas specials all through the years,” Parton said of Ives. “I think of him as Mr. Christmas. I thought, ‘Why don’t do I call it something cute and clever, like that or Deck the Halls with Boughs of Dolly, something corny like that.'”
This is Parton’s first Christmas album since 1990, when she released “Home For Christmas.” For this new album, she teamed up with various other musicians including Michael Bublé for the single, “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas.” She was also joined by Jimmy Fallon for a cover of Mariah Carey’s iconic holiday hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” a decision inspired by an appearance on the host’s late-night show.
“I thought, ‘What other songs are really hot?’ And I thought, ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You.’ Jimmy Fallon, a couple of years ago, I was on his show around Christmas and he asked me to sing that and I didn’t know it and I felt so bad,” Parton recalled, according to PEOPLE magazine. “So I went and learned it and I was just going to put it on my album and then I went, ‘I’ll ask Jimmy Fallon to sing it with me!’ And he said, yes. So I’m really excited about that.”
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Parton and the artists she collaborated with had to record their portions of songs separately.
“They had done some of the tracks before the pandemic, but then we went in and started doing our vocals,” Parton said. “We’ve been very smart, very careful, because we’re trying to protect ourselves and I’m an older person.”
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