Dolly Parton’s Jolene

＂Jolene＂ is one of Dolly Parton’s most well-known and beloved songs. Released in 1974 as the title song of Dolly’s thirteenth studio album, it has become a cultural phenomenon. Often seen as a cheating song, ＂Jolene＂ is compelling because of its ambiguity: Who is Jolene? Is she a heartless homewrecker or an unwilling recipient of attention from a guy who will cheat on his partner? What does she decide? Does she want to have an affair? Is ＂Jolene＂ sung by a narrator who is fearful and weak? Or is the singer taking matters into her own hands?

In Dolly Parton’s Jolene, author Lydia R. Hamessley offers readers new perspectives on the song through a close look at Dolly’s stories about the song’s origins and its place on her album Jolene. Hamessley offers multiple ways of understanding the lyrics and includes a detailed musical analysis. The book explores notable covers of the song, including Olivia Newton-John’s recording of ＂Jolene＂ and the duet version of ＂Jolene＂ that she and Dolly recorded just months before Newton-John’s death. Hamessley also looks at covers by Mindy Smith, The White Stripes, The Congo Cowboys, Lil Nas X, Gloria Ann Taylor, and Chiquis and Becky G, as well as the ＂Jolene＂ episode from Dolly’s 2019 television series, Heartstrings, and several answer songs, including ＂You Can Have Him Jolene＂ by Chapel Hart. How has one song had the flexibility to embrace so many versions, responses, and reimagining? Hamessley argues that these are possible because the song is, in a sense, unfinished: ＂my happiness depends on you and whatever you decide to do, Jolene.＂

Lydia R. Hamessley is the John and Anne Fischer Professor in the Fine Arts in Music at Hamilton College (Clinton, NY) where she teaches courses in country music, medieval and Renaissance music, music in film, and world music. She received her Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Minnesota in 1989 and has won two teaching awards at Hamilton. She writes on old-time and bluegrass music, with an emphasis on women and Southern Appalachia. She has also written about the banjo in nineteenth-century America, Appalachian murder ballads, and Peggy Seeger. She appeared in the BBC2 documentary Dolly Parton: Here I Am. She is also a clawhammer banjo player.