Dolly Parton’s 1977 All-Star Jam “Applejack” Marked a Number of Firsts in Her Career

Released on Valentine’s Day, 1977, New Harvest… First Gathering topped the Country chart and was a milestone on many levels for Dolly Parton. It marked the first album to go to No. 1 on the Country chart, the first she self-produced, and the first solo release without any input from her longtime mentor Porter Wagoner.

Along with two Motown covers—The Temptations’ 1964 classic “My Girl” (sung as “My Love”), and Jackie Wilson’s 1967 hit “(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher,” Parton had her originals, including a more old-school country song based in her hometown in the Smoky Mountains.

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Banjos and the Smoky Mountains

“Applejack” is the story of a banjo-playing man named Jackson Taylor, who lived near the apple orchards in the Smoky Mountains. The song was actually based on two people in Parton’s life: her great uncle Philip Owens, who taught her how to play the clawhammer-style banjo, and a man named Perry Lindsey (“Sawdust”), whom she knew from growing up in East Tennessee.

Here’s a story about someone else that I grew up knowing and loving in the Smokies
This is a story about an old friend of mine that used to play the banjo
And his name was Applejack

He lived by the apple orchard in this little old orchard shack
His real name was Jackson Taylor, but I called him Applejack
Now, old Applejack was loved by everyone he ever knew
Of course, Applejack picked apples, but he picked the banjo too

Play a song for me, Applejack, Applejack
Play a song for me and I’ll sing

Play a song for me, Applejack, Applejack
Play a song, let your banjo ring
Now I’d go down to Applejack’s just almost every day
We’d sit and we’d drink applejack that old Applejack had made
Then he’d take his banjo down, then he’d ask me if I’d sing
And he would play the banjo, and I’d play my tambourine

“He had a bunch of old hunting dogs, and he stunk like crazy, but I would sneak off to his place,” recalled Parton of Lindsey in her 2020 book Songteller: My Life in Lyrics. “Mama said, ‘Don’t go up there.’ But I was so intrigued, because I’d heard him playing the banjo and just loved how he played. I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just hold my nose and go.’”

She added, “Neither one of them was named Applejack. I just created my own little person to tell that story.”

[RELATED: The 1955 Louvin Brothers Hit That Became the Only Collaboration Between Dolly Parton and Don Henley]

All-Star Band of Friends and Family

On the track, Parton is backed by some country legends and members of her family, including Louis “Grandpa” Jones, Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper, Chet Atkins, Minnie Pearl, Roy Acuff, Johnny Wright, and Kitty Wells, along with her parents Robert Lee and Avie Lee Parton, and her brother Randy Parton.

“The rest of the stars loved the song and loved being part of what I was doing,” said Parton. “I was a new, progressive person, but I loved the older folks, so I just had to get them on that song. That was a very fun day for all of us.”

Photo: Richard McCaffrey/ Michael Ochs Archive/ Getty Images