Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson‘s paths first crossed in 1965, when she began writing for Combine Music Publishing and was signed to Monument Records. At the time, Parton had some early hits, whcih she co-wrote with her Uncle Bill Owens, including Bill Phillips’ 1966 single “Put It Off Until Tomorrow,” which features an uncredited Parton on backing vocals and went to No. 6 on the Country chart, and“The Company You Keep,” which peaked at No. 8, and and Skeeter Davis’ “Fuel to the Flame” from 1967.
Nelson also had a track record of hits by then with Billy Walker’s “Funny How Time Slips Away,” “Pretty Paper” by Roy Orbison, and Patsy Cline’s “Crazy.”
Though they never collaborated at the time, they later formed a lifelong friendship and collaborations spanning nearly 60 years.
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“I love Willie as much as I love anybody outside of my own family, and he feels like family to me,” said Parton in 2016, the year she received the Country Music Association’s Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. “I’ve known Willie since we both came to Nashville in the early ’60s. We used to sit out in the same building and write songs for the same publishing company and record for the same record label, and we’ve known each other for a long time.”
She continued, “Willie is one of the sweetest, most generous people I know, in addition to being one of the greatest songwriters and greatest stylists of all time.”
Here’s a look behind four memorable duets by the country legends.
[RELATED: 3 Times Dolly Parton Covered Bob Dylan (1997-2014)]
“Everything’s Beautiful In Its Own Way” (1982)
Written by Dolly Parton
The lead single from The Winning Hand, the 1982 collaborative album between Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Brenda Lee, “Everything’s Beautiful (In Its Own Way)” was one of two songs the duo shared on the release. Released on November 8, 1982, the ballad, written by Parton and sung as a duet with Nelson, went to No. 7 on the Country chart.
“Happy, Happy Birthday Baby” (1982)
Written by Margo Sylvia and Gilbert Lopez
Parton and Nelson share one more duet on The Winning Hand album, a cover of the 1957 hit by the Tune Weavers, “Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby.” When first released, the song went to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 4 on the R&B chart. and was initially written by the Tune Weavers’ Margo Sylvia (1936-1991) following her breakup with then-boyfriend Donald Clemens from the group the Sophomores. “The words came so easily,” said Sylvia in The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, released a year before she died in 1990. “It was real.”
Before her duet with Nelson, Parton covered “Happy, Happy Birthday Baby” decades earlier when she was 19, just after signing with Monument Records in 1965.
“From Here to the Moon and Back” (2013)
Written by Dolly Parton
Parton initially wrote 12 songs for the soundtrack to her 2012 film Joyful Noise, which she co-starred in with Kris Kristofferson, Queen Latifah, and Keke Palmer. Though she originally sang “From Here to the Moon and Back” with Kristofferson for the film, Parton recorded it again a year later with Nelson.
Their version appears on Nelson’s 2013 album To All the Girls…, nod to his 1982 No. 1 hit with Julio Iglesias “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before,” featuring a collection of duets with female singers, including Loretta Lynn, Mavis Staples, Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow, Alison Krauss, Carrie Underwood, and Miranda Lambert. The album went to No. 2 on the Country chart, and Parton later featured their duet on her 2014 box set Blue Smoke.
“I love Willie,” said Parton of their collaboration. “I love that old funky sound he gets on that guitar. But he’s very hard to sing with because of his phrasing. It was like an exercise of some sort, like trying to catch him with all his little phrases and all. But it was a joy, and I’m glad we did it.”
“Pretty Paper” (2020)
Written by Willie Nelson
Decades after their first duet together, Parton and Nelson joined up again for her 2020 holiday album A Holly Dolly Christmas with a new rendition of “Pretty Paper,” which became a hit for Roy Orbison in 1964. Originally written by Nelson in 1963, “Pretty Paper” tells the story of a disabled man that Nelson would often see selling ribbons and paper on the sidewalk in Fort Worth, Texas, who would shout “pretty paper” to grab the attention of passersby.
The moving ballad is one Roy Orbison connected with, delivering it in his own unique voice. Orbison’s take on the song was different from Nelson’s more stripped-back version from 1964. Nelson rerecorded the song again for his first Christmas album in 1979, Pretty Paper.
Parton and Nelson’s version was accompanied by a festive animated music video featuring both legends riding through Fort Worth by wagon.
[RELATED: 6 Songs Willie Nelson Wrote That Were Made Famous by Other Artists]
Photo: Bob D’Amico/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
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