\u201cJolene,\u201d The White Stripes<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"LONDON](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-the-white-stripes.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Jim Dyson\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tMany rock-loving millennials were introduced to Parton\u2019s tune by the White Stripes, whose famously sparse, haunted version of the song breathed life into an old classic and gave it a stamp of cool for an entire generation. It didn\u2019t hurt that Jack White found his own personal and emotional lens through which to tell the story: \u201cI thought to take the character and change the context and make this red-headed woman my girlfriend, and that she\u2019s cheating on me with one of my friends,\u201d White once told<\/a> NPR. \u201cThen, that would be what I could really get emotionally attached to.\u201d \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cDiane,\u201d Cam<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"'Diane,'](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
![\"'Diane,'](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-cam-diane.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Youtube\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tWhat might be most remarkable about this 2017 song from country singer Cam is that, while it shared very little with Parton\u2019s song musically, it\u2019s almost just as catchy. The premise follows the typical \u201cJolene\u201d response song mold: We hear from Jolene and get a moving window into her own complexities, uncertainties, regrets, and inner emotional life. In this version of this story, \u201cJolene\u201d pleads ignorance, insisting she had no idea \u201che was your man.\u201d \u201cAll those nights that he\u2019s given to me,\u201d she sings, \u201cI wish that I could give them back to you.\u201d Like all the response songs, \u201cDiane\u201d came out of a deep reverence for the original: \u201cShe\u2019s not busy being competitive,\u201d Cam said<\/a> of \u201cJolene.\u201d \u201cShe\u2019s not being adversarial. For that to have come out 40 years ago and have those kinds of vibes between two women is amazing.\u201d \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cJolene,\u201d Stephanie Urbina Jones and Honky Tonk Mariachi<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\""Jolene,"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-Stephanie-Urbina-Jones.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: YOUTUBE\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tPart of the magic of \u201cJolene\u201d is that despite the song\u2019s signature, finger-plucked, folk-inspired sound, it can be recreated in myriad styles and genres. And because Dolly Parton was always a global influence, attracting Latin and Tejano musicians to her country-pop sound, that\u2019s meant the song has gotten some Mexican-driven reboots over the years. \u201cJolene\u201d has been refashioned into cumbia, banda, and mariachi versions, with perhaps the most memorable being this take from Stephanie Urbina Jones and the Honky Tonk Mariachi. With its blaring horns and bold guitarron chords, it shows just how well the song could be adapted into the style \u2014 and has since inspired local mariachi bands to belt out their own aching interpretations. \u2014J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cGeraldene,\u201d Miranda Lambert<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"LAS](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-miranda-lambert-geraldine.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: John Shearer\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\t\u201cYou\u2019re trailer park pretty,\u201d Lambert sings in this ZZ Top-inspired country-rocker from 2022. \u201cBut you\u2019re never gonna be Jolene.\u201d Lambert\u2019s song is a send-up of Dolly\u2019s character, written \u2014 with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall \u2014 from the perspective of Jolene reimagined as what Lambert has called a \u201ctruck stop queen.\u201d \u201cGeraldene wishes she was Jolene but she was never gonna be that cute,\u201d Lambert said<\/a> of the song. \u201cAnd we knew that up front.\u201d \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cJolene,\u201d Leila Forohaur<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"BURLINGAME,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-leila-forouhar.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Kimberly White\/WireImage\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tThis bass-heavy take from the Iranian singer Leila Forohaur might be the funkiest. It also introduced Parton\u2019s song to an entire new audience in a part of the world most wouldn\u2019t associate with East Tennessee: pre-revolution Iran. The concept of a woman singing this song about female desire might have been radical at the time, but decades later, Forohaur\u2019s cover stands out as one of the most electric and urgent renditions of Parton\u2019s song ever put to record.\u00a0\u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cYou Can Have Him Jolene,\u201d Chapel Hart<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\""You](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-chapel-heart-you-can-have-him.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: youtube\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tIn the lineage of \u201cJolene\u201d response songs, many have imagined the other side: what Jolene might have been thinking, how she might have felt. Some even asked for empathy. But Chapel Hart\u2019s take, \u201cYou Can Have Him Jolene\u201d leaves any sort of pining or sadness aside. Instead, the trio lets Jolene have his sorry, no-good cheating ass. \u201cHe\u2019s your problem, good luck keeping him home,\u201d sing sisters Danica and Devynn Hart and their cousin Trea Swindle. Sadly Chapel Hart have since taken a hiatus, but their fiery contribution to the canon lives on. Parton liked it, too, posting, \u201cwhat a fun new take on my song, Chapel Hart! Carl\u2019s birthday is today, so I think I\u2019ll hang on to him, and I\u2019m not notifying Jolene that today is his birthday.\u201d \u2014M.M.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cJolene,\u201d Lil Nas X<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\""Jolene,"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-lil-nas-x.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Youtube\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tRemember when Lil Nas X couldn\u2019t stop teasing a culminating Dolly Parton \u201cOld Town Road\u201d remix? While Parton declined the offer (\u201cNo point in going down that same Old Town Road,\u201d she said), she was broadly supportive of the singer\u2019s renegade country blockbuster in 2019. Two years later, Lil Nas X repaid the compliment with this moody, understated take on Parton\u2019s classic song, turning it into a desolate desert blues. \u201cDolly sings it with desperation,\u201d as one YouTube commenter<\/a> pointed out. \u201cHe sings it like he\u2019s already defeated.\u201d \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cCaroline,\u201d Kirsty MacColl<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"UNITED](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-kirsty-maccoll-caroline.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Patrick Ford\/Redferns\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tWhat character in popular music has been pondered more than Jolene? This 1995 pop-rocker by Kirsty MacColl (best known as the woman vocalist replying to Shane MacGowan in \u201cFairytale of New York\u201d) might be the first<\/em> song to tell a story from the perspective of Jolene. \u201cI just didn\u2019t think there were that many songs where the third party in that eternal triangle gets her shot at replying,\u201d MacColl told<\/a> a newspaper in 1995. In her version of the song, Jolene has more than a few regrets: \u201cShe\u2019s embarrassed,\u201d said MacColl,\u00a0 \u201cbecause he\u2019s not worth it.\u201d \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cJolene,\u201d Fiona Apple<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Recording](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-fiona-apple.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Michael Bezjian\/WireImage\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tIt\u2019s not easy to capture the pain and the pathos that Parton conveys on \u201cJolene,\u201d but Fiona Apple, alongside Sara and Sean Watkins and Sebastian Steinberg at Los Angeles\u2019 the Largo, does it perfectly. As masterful an interpreter as she is a songwriter, Apple transmits the emotion from vocals to her face, showing anger and sadness in one swoop. The string performance keeps everything ominous, as if we all should be looking over our shoulder for a striking redhead who might swoop in at any moment. \u2014M.M.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cJolene,\u201d Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"LONDON,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-mumford-and-laura-marling.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Barney Britton\/Redferns\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tThe live performance from this group of Brits shows that 30 years after it was written, the Parton pop gem became, among many other things, a foundational text of the early aughts folk-stomp moment. Mumford would later perform<\/a> \u201cJolene\u201d solo acoustic, while Laura Marling, for her part, is an enormous Parton devotee who\u2019s covered a number<\/a> of her songs over the years. Performed together, it\u2019s a reminder that the tune\u2019s propulsive rhythm (played by Nashville drummer Kenny Malone<\/a>) is as central to the desperate story Parton is telling as anything else. \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cJolene,\u201d Brandi Carlile<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\""Jolene,"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-brandi-carlile.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Youtube\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tWhile Brandi Carlile\u2019s most famous version of \u201cJolene\u201d might be alongside Amanda Shires, Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby (a.k.a The Highwomen) and Parton herself at Newport Folk Festival<\/a>, she\u2019s been covering the song for well over a decade. Carlile grew up singing country music, and her harmonies with the Hanseroth Twins are in their gorgeous sweet spot: Parton even returned the favor when she covered \u201cThe Story\u201d on Cover Stories: Brandi Carlile Celebrates 10 Years of the Story (An Album to Benefit War Child UK)<\/em><\/a>. \u201cBefore I met her, I loved her because she took a risk and accepted me (and all of us) for being gay in a time where she didn\u2019t need to say anything,\u201d Carlile wrote on Instagram<\/a> after Parton\u2019s death. \u201cShe never wavered on accepting anyone for who they were and who they were meant to be.\u201d \u2014M.M.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cNever Chase a Man,\u201d Esm\u00e9 Patterson<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"COLORADO](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-esme-patterson-never-chase-a-man.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Larry Hulst\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tThis 2014 song from the indie-folk Colorado singer-songwriter Esm\u00e9 Patterson is an essential entry in the many feminist interventions on \u201cJolene. \u201cMy Jolene tells Dolly\u2019s character that she deserves better and she should find a man that can return her love,\u201d Patterson told<\/a> the Guardian<\/em>. The result is a catchy narrative that plays on Parton\u2019s original while treading new musical ground. The song was part of Patterson\u2019s album Woman to Woman<\/em>, a fascinating project in which she writes songs from the perspective of a number of famous female pop-music subjects, including the Beatles\u2019 Eleanor Rigby, Michael Jackson\u2019s Billie Jean, and the Beach Boys\u2019 Caroline. \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cJolene,\u201d Chiquis Rivera With Becky G<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\""Jolene,"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-chiquis-becky-g.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: YOUTUBE\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tDolly Parton inspired a generation of artists, even those making music in Spanish. In 2020, Chiquis Rivera \u2014 the daughter of the late Tejano icon Jenni Rivera \u2014 decided to show just how much Parton had influenced her by linking up with Becky G and dropping a Spanish-language version of \u201cJolene,\u201d set to an endlessly catchy, syncopated cumbia rhythm. \u201cDolly is an icon in music and for women, an example to follow, and it is an honor to sing this song in Spanish,\u201d Rivera told Telemundo at the time, while Becky added, \u201cCountry music was always heard in my house, with the Mexican [influences], and our \u2018Jolene\u2019 is that. It has the essence of Dolly with a little bit of our itch.\u201d \u2014J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cSon of Jolene,\u201d Belles With Dolly Parton<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\""Son](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-belles-son-of-jolene.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Youtube\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tOne of the very last recordings Parton contributed to during her lifetime was this \u201cJolene\u201d rewrite by an up-and-coming country singer-songwriter. Kelli Belles, who records as Belles, imagines the kind of smooth-talking player the titular Jolene might have spawned, had she ever had a kid. \u201cHe\u2019s still got me in his hands while he\u2019s holding someone else,\u201d she sings. \u201cNow I know how Dolly felt.\u201d Parton loved the concept enough to hop on the song to add some vocals. \u201cI thought it was very clever,\u201d Parton said. \u201cNo one had ever thought of it that way.\u201d \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cJolene,\u201d Olivia Newton-John<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Unspecified](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-olivia-newton-john.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Charles W Bush\/ABC\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tThree years after Parton released the song, the international pop singer Olivia Newton-John gave \u201cJolene\u201d an even bigger, more crossover audience with her reverent cover. Her version was popular all over the world, helping kickstart the global appeal of \u201cJolene\u201d as it charted in countries as far away as Japan. Newton-John remained connected to the song her whole life. The last piece of music she recorded before her death<\/a> in 2022, in fact, was a duet of \u201cJolene\u201d<\/a> with Parton.\u00a0\u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cJolene,\u201d Mindy Smith<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"BURBANK,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-mindy-smith.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Kevin Winter\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tMindy Smith was a relatively unknown artist from New York, and new to Nashville, when she was offered the opportunity to cover \u201cJolene\u201d for a 2003 Parton compilation called Just Because I\u2019m a Woman: The Songs of Dolly Parton<\/em>. At the time, Smith was working odd jobs around town and frequently playing writers\u2019 rounds hosted by Daniel Tashian, who went on to produce Kacey Musgraves\u2019 Golden Hour<\/em>. Smith\u2019s version is mystical and haunting, playing with the cadence and melody just enough to heighten the tension but never veering too far from the original. Parton and Smith later played the song together on Jay Leno<\/em>. \u201cI think the main character is really the person singing about Jolene,\u201d Smith said<\/a>. \u201cJolene\u2019s a mess. She just steals things.\u201d \u2014M.M.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cThat Girl,\u201d Jennifer Nettles<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\""That](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-jennifer-nettles-that-girl.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Youtube\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tIt took a moment for the Sugarland singer to realize what song she was channeling when she started writing \u2014 with Butch Walker \u2014 this song from the perspective of a woman decrying her role as a sidepiece. Eventually, everything clicked: \u201cI looked at him and said, \u2018This should really be called \u2018The Ballad of Jolene\u2019 in parentheses,\u201d Nettles recalled<\/a>. \u201cAll we hear from Dolly is her one perspective as the narrator\u2026But what if Jolene doesn\u2019t want to take her man just because she can? We never know.\u201d Nettles\u2019 song is an essential entry in the canon of Jolene response tunes.\u00a0\u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cJolene,\u201d Beyonc\u00e9<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"HOUSTON,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-beyonce-jolene.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Brooke Sutton\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tBeyonc\u00e9\u2019s 2024 take on the song has arguably become the most well-known interpretation of \u201cJolene.\u201d Her version lands somewhere between a straight cover and a spin-off, with rewritten lyrics: \u201cIt takes more than beauty and seductive stares to come between a woman and a happy man,\u201d she sings, turning Parton\u2019s desperation into righteous indignation. The cover was divisive, but Beyonc\u00e9, as much as any artist on this list, truly made Parton\u2019s song her own: \u201cI know I\u2019m a queen, Jolene,\u201d Beyonc\u00e9 sings. \u201cI\u2019m still a Creole banjee bitch from Louisiana.\u201d For her part, Dolly approved: \u201cI love what she did to it,\u201d she said<\/a>. \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cJolene (But From Jolene\u2019s POV),\u201d Brielle Anderson<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\""Jolene](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-brielle-anderson-from-jolenes-pov.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Youtube\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tThis spinoff\u2019s pretty self-explanatory. Anderson\u2019s \u201cJolene\u201d tribute takes a different route than any of the others, using the song\u2019s classic melody as an occasion to pay tribute to the women who wrote it. \u201cYou really think I wanna take your man,\u201d Anderson sings as Jolene, reassuring the original song\u2019s narrator that she\u2019s not going after her fella. \u201cI just wanna worship you, Dolly.\u201d This is kind of Anderson\u2019s whole thing: Her Spotify is filled with songs from the perspective of those who\u2019ve been sung about in various pop hits, from Chappell Roan\u2019s \u201cGood Luck, Babe\u201d to Katy Perry\u2019s \u201cI Kissed a Girl.\u201d \u2014 J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cJolene,\u201d Sisters of Mercy<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Group](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jolene-sisters-of-mercy.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Luciano Viti\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\n\tWho doesn\u2019t want to hear a goth version of \u201cJolene?\u201d Parton has never commented on this spooky take of the song, but it\u2019s hard to imagine her not loving it: The creepy synths, the drum loops, the sinister guitars, the rising drama in the vocal delivery as the track progresses. Sisters of Mercy\u2019s cover has become a live staple for the Eighties British rockers, and for good reason: It shows that the musical bones of Parton\u2019s song is so great that it works in almost any genre.\u00a0\u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\n\tMany rock-loving millennials were introduced to Parton\u2019s tune by the White Stripes, whose famously sparse, haunted version of the song breathed life into an old classic and gave it a stamp of cool for an entire generation. It didn\u2019t hurt that Jack White found his own personal and emotional lens through which to tell the story: \u201cI thought to take the character and change the context and make this red-headed woman my girlfriend, and that she\u2019s cheating on me with one of my friends,\u201d White once told<\/a> NPR. \u201cThen, that would be what I could really get emotionally attached to.\u201d \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tWhat might be most remarkable about this 2017 song from country singer Cam is that, while it shared very little with Parton\u2019s song musically, it\u2019s almost just as catchy. The premise follows the typical \u201cJolene\u201d response song mold: We hear from Jolene and get a moving window into her own complexities, uncertainties, regrets, and inner emotional life. In this version of this story, \u201cJolene\u201d pleads ignorance, insisting she had no idea \u201che was your man.\u201d \u201cAll those nights that he\u2019s given to me,\u201d she sings, \u201cI wish that I could give them back to you.\u201d Like all the response songs, \u201cDiane\u201d came out of a deep reverence for the original: \u201cShe\u2019s not busy being competitive,\u201d Cam said<\/a> of \u201cJolene.\u201d \u201cShe\u2019s not being adversarial. For that to have come out 40 years ago and have those kinds of vibes between two women is amazing.\u201d \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tPart of the magic of \u201cJolene\u201d is that despite the song\u2019s signature, finger-plucked, folk-inspired sound, it can be recreated in myriad styles and genres. And because Dolly Parton was always a global influence, attracting Latin and Tejano musicians to her country-pop sound, that\u2019s meant the song has gotten some Mexican-driven reboots over the years. \u201cJolene\u201d has been refashioned into cumbia, banda, and mariachi versions, with perhaps the most memorable being this take from Stephanie Urbina Jones and the Honky Tonk Mariachi. With its blaring horns and bold guitarron chords, it shows just how well the song could be adapted into the style \u2014 and has since inspired local mariachi bands to belt out their own aching interpretations. \u2014J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYou\u2019re trailer park pretty,\u201d Lambert sings in this ZZ Top-inspired country-rocker from 2022. \u201cBut you\u2019re never gonna be Jolene.\u201d Lambert\u2019s song is a send-up of Dolly\u2019s character, written \u2014 with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall \u2014 from the perspective of Jolene reimagined as what Lambert has called a \u201ctruck stop queen.\u201d \u201cGeraldene wishes she was Jolene but she was never gonna be that cute,\u201d Lambert said<\/a> of the song. \u201cAnd we knew that up front.\u201d \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThis bass-heavy take from the Iranian singer Leila Forohaur might be the funkiest. It also introduced Parton\u2019s song to an entire new audience in a part of the world most wouldn\u2019t associate with East Tennessee: pre-revolution Iran. The concept of a woman singing this song about female desire might have been radical at the time, but decades later, Forohaur\u2019s cover stands out as one of the most electric and urgent renditions of Parton\u2019s song ever put to record.\u00a0\u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tIn the lineage of \u201cJolene\u201d response songs, many have imagined the other side: what Jolene might have been thinking, how she might have felt. Some even asked for empathy. But Chapel Hart\u2019s take, \u201cYou Can Have Him Jolene\u201d leaves any sort of pining or sadness aside. Instead, the trio lets Jolene have his sorry, no-good cheating ass. \u201cHe\u2019s your problem, good luck keeping him home,\u201d sing sisters Danica and Devynn Hart and their cousin Trea Swindle. Sadly Chapel Hart have since taken a hiatus, but their fiery contribution to the canon lives on. Parton liked it, too, posting, \u201cwhat a fun new take on my song, Chapel Hart! Carl\u2019s birthday is today, so I think I\u2019ll hang on to him, and I\u2019m not notifying Jolene that today is his birthday.\u201d \u2014M.M.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tRemember when Lil Nas X couldn\u2019t stop teasing a culminating Dolly Parton \u201cOld Town Road\u201d remix? While Parton declined the offer (\u201cNo point in going down that same Old Town Road,\u201d she said), she was broadly supportive of the singer\u2019s renegade country blockbuster in 2019. Two years later, Lil Nas X repaid the compliment with this moody, understated take on Parton\u2019s classic song, turning it into a desolate desert blues. \u201cDolly sings it with desperation,\u201d as one YouTube commenter<\/a> pointed out. \u201cHe sings it like he\u2019s already defeated.\u201d \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tWhat character in popular music has been pondered more than Jolene? This 1995 pop-rocker by Kirsty MacColl (best known as the woman vocalist replying to Shane MacGowan in \u201cFairytale of New York\u201d) might be the first<\/em> song to tell a story from the perspective of Jolene. \u201cI just didn\u2019t think there were that many songs where the third party in that eternal triangle gets her shot at replying,\u201d MacColl told<\/a> a newspaper in 1995. In her version of the song, Jolene has more than a few regrets: \u201cShe\u2019s embarrassed,\u201d said MacColl,\u00a0 \u201cbecause he\u2019s not worth it.\u201d \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s not easy to capture the pain and the pathos that Parton conveys on \u201cJolene,\u201d but Fiona Apple, alongside Sara and Sean Watkins and Sebastian Steinberg at Los Angeles\u2019 the Largo, does it perfectly. As masterful an interpreter as she is a songwriter, Apple transmits the emotion from vocals to her face, showing anger and sadness in one swoop. The string performance keeps everything ominous, as if we all should be looking over our shoulder for a striking redhead who might swoop in at any moment. \u2014M.M.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThe live performance from this group of Brits shows that 30 years after it was written, the Parton pop gem became, among many other things, a foundational text of the early aughts folk-stomp moment. Mumford would later perform<\/a> \u201cJolene\u201d solo acoustic, while Laura Marling, for her part, is an enormous Parton devotee who\u2019s covered a number<\/a> of her songs over the years. Performed together, it\u2019s a reminder that the tune\u2019s propulsive rhythm (played by Nashville drummer Kenny Malone<\/a>) is as central to the desperate story Parton is telling as anything else. \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tWhile Brandi Carlile\u2019s most famous version of \u201cJolene\u201d might be alongside Amanda Shires, Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby (a.k.a The Highwomen) and Parton herself at Newport Folk Festival<\/a>, she\u2019s been covering the song for well over a decade. Carlile grew up singing country music, and her harmonies with the Hanseroth Twins are in their gorgeous sweet spot: Parton even returned the favor when she covered \u201cThe Story\u201d on Cover Stories: Brandi Carlile Celebrates 10 Years of the Story (An Album to Benefit War Child UK)<\/em><\/a>. \u201cBefore I met her, I loved her because she took a risk and accepted me (and all of us) for being gay in a time where she didn\u2019t need to say anything,\u201d Carlile wrote on Instagram<\/a> after Parton\u2019s death. \u201cShe never wavered on accepting anyone for who they were and who they were meant to be.\u201d \u2014M.M.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThis 2014 song from the indie-folk Colorado singer-songwriter Esm\u00e9 Patterson is an essential entry in the many feminist interventions on \u201cJolene. \u201cMy Jolene tells Dolly\u2019s character that she deserves better and she should find a man that can return her love,\u201d Patterson told<\/a> the Guardian<\/em>. The result is a catchy narrative that plays on Parton\u2019s original while treading new musical ground. The song was part of Patterson\u2019s album Woman to Woman<\/em>, a fascinating project in which she writes songs from the perspective of a number of famous female pop-music subjects, including the Beatles\u2019 Eleanor Rigby, Michael Jackson\u2019s Billie Jean, and the Beach Boys\u2019 Caroline. \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tDolly Parton inspired a generation of artists, even those making music in Spanish. In 2020, Chiquis Rivera \u2014 the daughter of the late Tejano icon Jenni Rivera \u2014 decided to show just how much Parton had influenced her by linking up with Becky G and dropping a Spanish-language version of \u201cJolene,\u201d set to an endlessly catchy, syncopated cumbia rhythm. \u201cDolly is an icon in music and for women, an example to follow, and it is an honor to sing this song in Spanish,\u201d Rivera told Telemundo at the time, while Becky added, \u201cCountry music was always heard in my house, with the Mexican [influences], and our \u2018Jolene\u2019 is that. It has the essence of Dolly with a little bit of our itch.\u201d \u2014J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tOne of the very last recordings Parton contributed to during her lifetime was this \u201cJolene\u201d rewrite by an up-and-coming country singer-songwriter. Kelli Belles, who records as Belles, imagines the kind of smooth-talking player the titular Jolene might have spawned, had she ever had a kid. \u201cHe\u2019s still got me in his hands while he\u2019s holding someone else,\u201d she sings. \u201cNow I know how Dolly felt.\u201d Parton loved the concept enough to hop on the song to add some vocals. \u201cI thought it was very clever,\u201d Parton said. \u201cNo one had ever thought of it that way.\u201d \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThree years after Parton released the song, the international pop singer Olivia Newton-John gave \u201cJolene\u201d an even bigger, more crossover audience with her reverent cover. Her version was popular all over the world, helping kickstart the global appeal of \u201cJolene\u201d as it charted in countries as far away as Japan. Newton-John remained connected to the song her whole life. The last piece of music she recorded before her death<\/a> in 2022, in fact, was a duet of \u201cJolene\u201d<\/a> with Parton.\u00a0\u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tMindy Smith was a relatively unknown artist from New York, and new to Nashville, when she was offered the opportunity to cover \u201cJolene\u201d for a 2003 Parton compilation called Just Because I\u2019m a Woman: The Songs of Dolly Parton<\/em>. At the time, Smith was working odd jobs around town and frequently playing writers\u2019 rounds hosted by Daniel Tashian, who went on to produce Kacey Musgraves\u2019 Golden Hour<\/em>. Smith\u2019s version is mystical and haunting, playing with the cadence and melody just enough to heighten the tension but never veering too far from the original. Parton and Smith later played the song together on Jay Leno<\/em>. \u201cI think the main character is really the person singing about Jolene,\u201d Smith said<\/a>. \u201cJolene\u2019s a mess. She just steals things.\u201d \u2014M.M.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tIt took a moment for the Sugarland singer to realize what song she was channeling when she started writing \u2014 with Butch Walker \u2014 this song from the perspective of a woman decrying her role as a sidepiece. Eventually, everything clicked: \u201cI looked at him and said, \u2018This should really be called \u2018The Ballad of Jolene\u2019 in parentheses,\u201d Nettles recalled<\/a>. \u201cAll we hear from Dolly is her one perspective as the narrator\u2026But what if Jolene doesn\u2019t want to take her man just because she can? We never know.\u201d Nettles\u2019 song is an essential entry in the canon of Jolene response tunes.\u00a0\u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tBeyonc\u00e9\u2019s 2024 take on the song has arguably become the most well-known interpretation of \u201cJolene.\u201d Her version lands somewhere between a straight cover and a spin-off, with rewritten lyrics: \u201cIt takes more than beauty and seductive stares to come between a woman and a happy man,\u201d she sings, turning Parton\u2019s desperation into righteous indignation. The cover was divisive, but Beyonc\u00e9, as much as any artist on this list, truly made Parton\u2019s song her own: \u201cI know I\u2019m a queen, Jolene,\u201d Beyonc\u00e9 sings. \u201cI\u2019m still a Creole banjee bitch from Louisiana.\u201d For her part, Dolly approved: \u201cI love what she did to it,\u201d she said<\/a>. \u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThis spinoff\u2019s pretty self-explanatory. Anderson\u2019s \u201cJolene\u201d tribute takes a different route than any of the others, using the song\u2019s classic melody as an occasion to pay tribute to the women who wrote it. \u201cYou really think I wanna take your man,\u201d Anderson sings as Jolene, reassuring the original song\u2019s narrator that she\u2019s not going after her fella. \u201cI just wanna worship you, Dolly.\u201d This is kind of Anderson\u2019s whole thing: Her Spotify is filled with songs from the perspective of those who\u2019ve been sung about in various pop hits, from Chappell Roan\u2019s \u201cGood Luck, Babe\u201d to Katy Perry\u2019s \u201cI Kissed a Girl.\u201d \u2014 J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tWho doesn\u2019t want to hear a goth version of \u201cJolene?\u201d Parton has never commented on this spooky take of the song, but it\u2019s hard to imagine her not loving it: The creepy synths, the drum loops, the sinister guitars, the rising drama in the vocal delivery as the track progresses. Sisters of Mercy\u2019s cover has become a live staple for the Eighties British rockers, and for good reason: It shows that the musical bones of Parton\u2019s song is so great that it works in almost any genre.\u00a0\u2014J.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cDiane,\u201d Cam<\/h2>\n
\u201cJolene,\u201d Stephanie Urbina Jones and Honky Tonk Mariachi<\/h2>\n
\u201cGeraldene,\u201d Miranda Lambert<\/h2>\n
\u201cJolene,\u201d Leila Forohaur<\/h2>\n
\u201cYou Can Have Him Jolene,\u201d Chapel Hart<\/h2>\n
\u201cJolene,\u201d Lil Nas X<\/h2>\n
\u201cCaroline,\u201d Kirsty MacColl<\/h2>\n
\u201cJolene,\u201d Fiona Apple<\/h2>\n
\u201cJolene,\u201d Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons<\/h2>\n
\u201cJolene,\u201d Brandi Carlile<\/h2>\n
\u201cNever Chase a Man,\u201d Esm\u00e9 Patterson<\/h2>\n
\u201cJolene,\u201d Chiquis Rivera With Becky G<\/h2>\n
\u201cSon of Jolene,\u201d Belles With Dolly Parton<\/h2>\n
\u201cJolene,\u201d Olivia Newton-John<\/h2>\n
\u201cJolene,\u201d Mindy Smith<\/h2>\n
\u201cThat Girl,\u201d Jennifer Nettles<\/h2>\n
\u201cJolene,\u201d Beyonc\u00e9<\/h2>\n
\u201cJolene (But From Jolene\u2019s POV),\u201d Brielle Anderson<\/h2>\n
\u201cJolene,\u201d Sisters of Mercy<\/h2>\n