Hear Dolly Parton Celebrate Her Bluegrass Roots on Posthumously Released Stanley Brothers Tribute ‘Bound to Ride’

The track -- also featuring The First Ladies of Bluegrass -- appears on Where the Soul Never Dies: Celebrating 80 Years of The Stanley Brothers. Dolly Parton performs at the Pacific Design Center on March 4, 2006, in Los Angeles. Michael Buckner/Getty Images Trending on Billboard Two weeks after her Aug. 25 death, new music from Dolly Parton has emerged. “Bound to Ride,” credited to Dolly Parton & The First Ladies of Bluegrass, came out Wednesday (Sept. 9). The song, which features banjoist Alison Brown, fiddle player Becky Buller, mandolin player Sierra Hull, bassist Missy Raines and guitarist Molly Tuttle, is part of Where the Soul Never Dies: Celebrating 80 Years of The Stanley Brothers, which comes out Oct. 16 on Compass Records. Parton, singing to a track already laid down by the First Ladies of Bluegrass, recorded her part in isolation during COVID, according to Rolling Stone, which premiered the song, originally released by the legendary Stanley Brothers in 1964. Explore See latest videos, charts and news However, the dynamic track sounds incredibly lively and cohesive, with Parton giving a delightfully spirited vocal delivery and even adding in ad libs like, “Pick it girls!,” and calling out the musicians by name as they go into solos. Parton grew up playing bluegrass and early on in her career released a cover of Jimmie Rodgers’ bluegrass standard “Mule Skinner Blues.” She frequently returned to her love of bluegrass, including recording three seminal bluegrass albums for Sugar Hill Records, in 1999 (the Grammy-winning The Grass Is Blue), 2001 (Little Sparrow) and 2002 (Halos & Horns). Fans know there’s at least one more unreleased track coming from Parton: “My Place in History,” a song Parton wrote in 2015, has been placed in a lockbox at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, with strict instructions from Parton for it to be unveiled on Jan. 19, 2046, which would have been her 100th birthday. Where the Soul Never Dies also includes Willie Nelson, Jamey Johnson, Billy Strings, Dierks Bentley, The Travelin’ McCourys, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Rhiannon Giddens, Steve Martin, Jim Lauderdale, Tim O’Brien and more taking on Stanley Brothers classics. Where the Soul Never Dies track list: 1. “If I Lose” – Billy Strings & Drew Emmitt2. “Bound to Ride” – Dolly Parton & The First Ladies of Bluegrass (Alison Brown, Becky Buller, Sierra Hull, Missy Raines, Molly Tuttle)3. “Rank Strangers to Me”- Jamey Johnson & Shawn Camp4. “Riding That Midnight Train” – Jim Lauderdale & The Traveling McCourys5. “I’ll Fly Away” – Willie Nelson & Sierra Ferrell6. “Mother No Longer Awaits Me at Home” – Ralph Stanley II & Tim O’Brien with The Clinch Mountain Boys7. “Think of What You’ve Done” – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Alison Brown8. “Little Birdie” – Rhiannon Giddens & Dirk Powell9. “How Mountain Girls Can Love” – Dierks Bentley & Della Mae10. “Pardon Me, Stranger” – Steve Martin & Ed Helms with Alison Brown11. “Ralph’s Banjo Special” – Kristin Scott Benson, Gena Britt, Alison Brown12. “Going Up Home to Live in Green Pastures” – I’m With Her (Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins) Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up