The song was originally written and performed by Dolly Parton in 1974. She wrote it for her mentor and partner Porter Wagoner after leaving their band.
Many dozens of major hit songs in the pre-Beatles 50s and 60s were covers of sons previously recorded by black artists. The covering bands & labels did not have to get permission to cover the songs … the laws allowed anyone to record them it without negotiating a license, but still had to pay the statutory royalty fees.
Before Alan Freed, black music was not played on most radio stations.
Fun fact - In the film The Bodyguard, Whitney Houston plays a famous singer who’s being stalked and her new bodyguard, Kevin Costner’s character, brings her to one of his bars… a country n western place. They dance to the Dolly Parton song and this is kinda the start of their relationship and they fall in love.
Fast forward to the end, and Whitney Houston’s character decides to cover the song in a new album and goes on tour and it’s a massive hit.
Good film by the way, worth a watch even it’s a bit cheesy. The stalker guy is actually lowkey terrifying lol
She wrote Jolene on the same night that she wrote I Will Always Love You.
I saw in an interview that Dolly first heard Whitney’s version while in the car and had to pull over because she thought it was beautiful and got a little misty-eyed.
