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Dolly Parton “really did over-deliver,” when she recorded “Bound to Ride,” which became the beloved legend’s first posthumous song to release.
Parton’s representatives confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE on August 25, “after bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones.” She was 80. The country music community and many others around the world quickly shared tributes to Parton after her passing. Parton was laid to rest in a private service for immediate family beside her husband of nearly six decades, Carl Dean. Dean died in March 2025. He was 82.
Parton’s first posthumous track to release since her death is “Bound to Ride,” which will appear on a star-studded tribute album to The Stanley Brothers, titled Where the Soul Never Dies: Celebrating 80 Years of The Stanley Brothers. The bluegrass duo delivered their rendition of the song in the 1960s. Parton recorded her vocals in her own studio, rather than live with the musicians, in 2022 because of a rise in Covid cases, according to Rolling Stone. Parton’s rendition of “Bound to Ride” with the First Ladies of Bluegrass — which includes Alison Brown, Becky Buller, Sierra Hull, Missy Raines and Molly Tuttle — arrived about two weeks after her death.
Garry West, bassist, co-producer of the tribute record and co-owner of Compass Records with wife Brown, told Rolling Stone of “Bound to Ride”: “I call it the full Dolly. We didn’t know what we would get back, and she really did over-deliver. We were shocked. We couldn’t have gotten anything better.”
Where the Soul Never Dies: Celebrating 80 Years of The Stanley Brothers will arrive on October 16, timed with The Stanley Brothers’ posthumous induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. They’ll be inducted alongside hit songwriter Paul Overstreet and country icon Tim McGraw. The album will also include performances by Willie Nelson, Jamey Johnson, Dierks Bentley and more. Listen to Parton’s first posthumous song with the First Ladies of Bluegrass here: