Overview
- Roughly two weeks after her death on August 25, 2026, the single "Bound To Ride" was issued as the first posthumous release featuring Dolly Parton’s voice.
- Parton’s vocal was recorded around 2022 in her own home studio during the COVID lockdown while the First Ladies of Bluegrass recorded the instrumental parts separately.
- Producer Garry West said the team was surprised by the strength of the recording and called the performance "Dolly in Reinform," saying she delivered more than expected.
- "Bound To Ride" is billed as the lead single from the all-star tribute album Where the Soul Never Dies: Celebrating 80 Years of The Stanley Brothers, a 12-track set featuring artists such as Willie Nelson, Billy Strings and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and tied to the Stanley Brothers’ Hall of Fame induction on October 16 and a Nashville tribute concert on October 28.
- Parton had said in 2019 she was preserving recordings for future releases, producers plan to release more tracks in coming weeks, and this rollout highlights how pandemic-era archives and curator decisions now shape artists’ posthumous legacies.