It may be a new year, but Dolly Parton is going to old school with her latest single.
Country singer and authentic national treasure joined Barry Gibb for a new version of the classic Bee Gees song “Words”, a track that came out online on Friday from the next star album “Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1. “The album, which will be released on January 8, is a collection of songs reinvented with a country touch.
Parton posted a teaser video on Twitter, “Words” Friday, which Gibb and his late brothers Robin and Maurice recorded for the first time in 1967, and mentioned that she was “honored” that “my dear friend” Gibb asked her to join him .
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“I had a lot of fun singing this song together,” added Gibb on his own New Year’s Day Twitter missive.
In addition to Parton, “Greenfields” also features Gibb songs remade by Jason Isbell (“Words of a Fool”), Little Big Town (“How Deep Is Your Love”), Olivia Newton-John (“Rest Your Love on Me”) , Sheryl Crow (“How can you mend a broken heart”), Alison Krauss (“Too Much Heaven”), Brandi Carlisle (“Run to Me”), Keith Urban (“I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You”) , and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (“Butterfly”).
The album is produced by Dave Cobb, who recently told The Tennesseean that the first day of recording had him playing with Parton and Gibb together in the same room.
“They are three feet from me and I’m playing the guitar and I start walking to where my guitar was and my legs start to shake,” said Cobb. “Simply terrifying. It’s not just legends, icons – Dolly has a theme park and Barry is a knight. It’s a lot to absorb.”
Contributing: Matthew Leimkuehler, Nashville Tennessean
This article was originally published in USA TODAY: Dolly Parton duets with Barry Gibb in the remake of the classic Bee Words ‘Words’