Watching this video was easily the best six minutes I’ve spent all day.
Back in the late 80’s Dolly Parton had her own TV show, Dolly, where she often invited fellow country legends to sing with her, like Merle Haggard and Loretta Lynn, just to name a few.
But possibly my favorite one yet was her medley on the program with the one and only Willie Nelson… they make one helluva duo.
They went through five of his biggest hits, where she introduced him by saying how much she loved him and his music:
“I love your band, I love your sound, I love your music, I love your songs, I love you… you know, you’ve recorded tons of records, and you’ve done a lot of songs that other people wrote, that you didn’t write.
But theres tons of songs I’d bet you a million dollars people don’t have any idea that you wrote. Like songs, well sing Patsy’s song, well the song Patsy made famous.”
He then went into “Crazy”, as well as one of my personal favorites “Funny How Time Slips Away”, and the fan-favorite “On The Road Again”.
Dolly then told the story of how Willie gave her a bible for Christmas one year with lyrics from his song “Family Bible” in it, saying it’s something she’ll treasure forever.
It was also her Grandma Parton’s favorite song, and she had always wanted Dolly to sing it at her funeral, which Dolly says she was ultimately unable to do because she was so upset at the time her grandma passed away. So on the show, they did a duet for her there, and it’s beautiful.
Dolly also called Willie’s classic, “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain”, “the prettiest song he didn’t write”, and told him she listened to the record it was featured on, his iconic 1975 album Red Headed Stranger, a million times.
I think it’s time we get these two back on the stage together sometime soon… you absolutely cannot beat the talent on that stage with a stick:
