Years after their partnership fell apart, Dolly Parton found the words she couldn’t say out loud, writing a heartbreaking goodbye to the man she never stopped loving.
Parton’s iconic tribute to her former mentor and professional partner, Porter Wagoner, was immortalized in the song “I Will Always Love You.” The song will be featured in a “double album” that features “20 previously unreleased live recordings from the Opry stage,” as reported by Billboard.
The country icon performed the song directly to her former mentor during a 50th anniversary celebration of his Opry induction in 2007. “If it hadn’t been for Porter, I wouldn’t have written this song. It was kind of my goodbye song to Porter, and he wouldn’t get away,” Parton admitted during the telecast.
“This song means a great deal to me. We all love you Porter,” she concluded.
The LP, Opry 100: Country’s Greatest Songs, will be released on Friday, November 7. Per Billboard, the record will include 20 previously unreleased live Opry recordings. The Opry’s official 100th anniversary show is scheduled for November 28, 2025.
Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner’s relationship
In 2024, Dolly Parton guested on Martha Stewart‘s podcast alongside her sister, Rachel Parton. It was there that she discussed her professional and personal relationship with Porter Wagoner, and how splitting from him and taking the reins of her own career helped propel her into superstardom.
Newsweek reported that Porter had a syndicated radio show, where Parton appeared as a young performer for seven years. He mentored her and ultimately, managed her career.
Stewart asked the country icon how she managed to take control of her career in 1974, during a time when women in country music largely didn’t have that option. Parton responded, “[Porter] and I had a lot of duets together, but we were like oil and water, so to speak. I never really figured out, if we were so much alike we couldn’t get along, or that [it was because] we were so different.”
She added, “He had his dreams and I had mine, and I just felt that I had to go, and ‘climbing on that ladder of success,’ as they say, didn’t go over well with him.” Parton later told The Tennessean, “How am I gonna make him understand how much I appreciate everything, but that I have to go?”
The country icon elaborated, “He won’t listen to me. He’s not listening to reason when I want to go!” So I went home and I thought, ‘Well, what do you do best? You write songs.’ So I sat down and I wrote the song [‘I Will Always Love You’].”
“I Will Always Love You” became infamous after it was covered by Whitney Houston in 1992 as part of the soundtrack to the feature film The Bodyguard. Per the singer’s official website, the song spent 14 weeks at #1 on the Hot 100.
Houston said of the song, “I think Dolly Parton is a hell of a writer and a hell of a singer. I was so concerned when I sang her song how she’d feel about it, in terms of the arrangement, my licks, my flavor. When she said she was floored, that meant so much to me.”
In a 1993 interview with Rolling Stone, Houston said Parton called her to thank her for her version of the song. “Whitney, I just want to tell you something. I’m just so honored that you did my song,” Parton told Houston.
Dolly Parton continues to write and record music. Her latest album was 2023’s Rockstar.
