A band called Bad Wolves was putting together a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” before her passing, and now that the label is still pushing for them to release it, one of the band members is calling it quits.
We all knew that Dolly Parton was struggling with some health issues, and that it was serious enough to keep her from making many public appearances that she had planned. But I don’t think any of us were ready for the immensely sad news of her passing that broke earlier this week.
Her team provided a statement on August 25, saying the country legend passed peacefully in her home state of Tennessee at the age of 80 after a brief battle with cancer. Since then, the country music world and the world at large has tried to figure out how to move forward in a world without the “Queen of Country Music.”
Tributes have poured in for Parton throughout the week (with actor Vin Diesel taking the award for the strangest), as everyone tries to put into words how much the country star meant to them. Artists have also dedicated songs to the late, great icon on stage, and some have even included Dolly Parton covers into their setlist.
A heavy metal band named Bad Wolves even has a cover of “Jolene” coming out on August 31… but if they had it their way, their take on the smash hit would have never seen the light of day.
Why is that? Bad Wolves had originally decided to cover the song prior to Parton’s death, and their intention was to have the country star sing on the track. Everything had been set up for Dolly to record her parts for the heavy metal cover of her song, but due to her declining health, she was never able to fulfill her portion.
Once she passed, Bad Wolves decided that they no longer wanted to release the cover. After all, it was incomplete, since Parton herself was supposed to sing on it. However, their label, Better Noise Music, blindsided them by sharing that the cover would be released on August 31.
That was evidently the last straw for Bad Wolves guitarist AJ Rebollo. He took to Instagram to announce that he is actually stepping away from the band because of the issues that the group has run into with their label – most notably this latest decision to still release “Jolene” even though Bad Wolves no longer wished to:
“This will be a long one, so if you don’t want to stay for the whole thing, the main point is – I am making the decision to step away as a member of Bad Wolves. In short, I can no longer in good faith remain a member and co-sign the decisions constantly being made FOR this band by the label, among other issues I have with the inner workings of the business.
When I stepped into the picture, a part of me knew what I was getting into, but the full extent of it was unknown to me. I have been at odds with one too many decisions being made for the band for quite some time, but the final nail in the coffin was the label’s decision to move forward with the upcoming Dolly Parton cover, after we blatantly expressed our opposition.
We, as an entity, told the label we had no interest in releasing the cover after learning of Dolly’s unfortunate passing as her collaboration on the song was no longer a possibility, and we felt it would (understandably) be interpreted as somewhat of a capitalization on her passing from an outside perspective. They went ahead and posted that we were releasing it anyway, despite efforts from more than one member, myself included, to oppose it.
With the label completely disregarding numerous decisions we make out of passion, and ultimately just unknowingly exhausting the band’s attempts to fully enjoy being here, I am no longer happy here. The amount of hate, negativity, and harassment we receive on a daily basis due to decisions made outside of our control has taken a massive toll on our sanity.”
Completely reasonable for Bad Wolves to not want to move forward with their “Jolene” cover, and no surprise that the label saw the window of opportunity and wanted to still release it.
The label did announce that any profits from Bad Wolves’ cover of “Jolene” would go towards Dolly’s Imagination Library, and that Dolly was gonna sing on it:
“Our singer is a big fan of Dolly and had posted a bunch of videos of her covering “Jolene”. So, we decided to make a Heavy Metal cover version for our next album.
On hearing our version, our label CEO Dan Waite sent the finished demo to Dolly’s Manager Danny Nozell with a request for Dolly to guest feature on our version. We heard back that Danny had played the track to Dolly, and that Dolly loved our version, and that Dolly was going to go into the studio and add her vocals very soon. We then sent over the stems for Dolly’s studio engineers to work with.
Like everyone, we were devastated of this week’s news of Dolly’s passing. We will honor Dolly’s incredible legacy by donating proceeds from ‘Jolene’ to the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.”
Rebollo admitted that was the right choice, however, it didn’t take away from the fact that he thought there was “ill intent” to move forward with the cover, and he still felt as though it was the right choice for him to leave the band:
“While the donation to her Imagination Library is an incredible choice to do something good with the profits, I can’t help but feel there is ill intent behind the decision to release the song. I would like to acknowledge and thank the label and John specifically for helping me sustain a living as much as possible while being off the road.
There was a level of care there that is definitely not lost on me, but I have never been one to allow my art and decisions within the music world to be compromised, and I have no interest in being a vessel for what I believe to be terrible decisions.
Music is my job, my livelihood, and most importantly, my passion. Stepping away from this is absolutely terrifying as I am sacrificing what little I have left when it comes to stability within the music world. I do not know what the future holds for me regarding that. This is not, by any means, some sort of call to arms against anyone, nor do I wish ill will on anyone involved in the label’s decision making.
I absolutely loved the time I got to spend with the band. I love them all (the old and new members) as bandmates, people, and friends. I loved creating this upcoming album with them as I think it is a genuinely incredible piece of art, but this is a decision I just have to make.”
