People Told Dolly Parton She Was ‘Crazy’ for Trying to Cover 2 Classic Songs

Dolly Parton had wanted to cover two songs for several years. When she said she planned to record them, she faced some backlash.

In 1977, Dolly Parton released a new album that featured two songs she did not write. Parton has always prided herself on her abilities as a writer, but she felt both songs, which she had loved as a teenager, were good additions to the album. Here’s how people reacted when she told them she would be covering these songs.

Dolly Parton covered 2 of her favorite songs on the album ‘New Harvest … First Gathering’

In 1977, Parton released the album New Harvest … First Gathering. Though it was not her first solo album, it was the first album she’d ever self-produced and she hoped it would bring her crossover success. She had long been a success in Nashville, but she wanted broader recognition.

Parton wrote eight of the album’s ten songs, but she included two covers that listeners would likely recognize. These were The Temptations’ “My Girl” and Jackie Wilson’s “(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher.” Both were among Parton’s favorite songs while she was growing up and she had long wanted to cover them. She finally had a chance to because she produced her own album. Still, people believed the covers were a mistake.

“Everyone thought I was crazy when I said I wanted to record them,” Parton told Alanna Nash in the book Dolly.

The covers did bring her a bit of criticism. Some critics thought Parton sounded too country for the songs. Others believed that including non-country music on her album was a betrayal of Nashville.

People felt Dolly Parton was moving away from country music when she covered these songs

Parton’s ambition for mainstream success rankled some of her peers in Nashville. Parton said she knew that trying to score a spot on the pop charts would bring some criticism.

“Any time you make a change, you gotta pay the price,” she wrote in an advertisement for the album. “A lot of country people feel I’m leaving the country, that I’m not proud of Nashville, which is the biggest lie there is. I don’t want to leave the country, but to take the whole country with me wherever I go. There are really no limits now.”

Still, many of her peers defended Parton’s artistic decisions on New Harvest … First Gathering.

She said the album meant a great deal to her

Though it rubbed some people the wrong way, Parton said New Harvest … First Gathering would always be an important album to her. The ability to cover songs she had always loved without pushback was a major part of this. She finally felt as though she was in charge of her career.

“Even if it doesn’t sell a nickel’s worth, it will always be my special album, because it was the first time in my whole life I got to do something totally on my own,” she said, adding, “This is by far the best thing I’ve ever done. It was the first chance I had to have total musical freedom and self-expression — the first time I’ve ever produced anything. I got all my ideas down and also had some great ideas from the creative people in my group, like Gregg. But it’s the first thing I’ve done of this nature, and it’s not the only kind of thing I’m ever gonna be doin’.”

She said she hoped to continue to grow and push boundaries on albums to come.