Hours after news of Dolly Parton‘s death broke on Tuesday (Aug. 25), Jack White paid live tribute to the late country icon by covering her song “Jolene” at London’s Eventim Apollo.
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The rock singer posted a snippet of the performance on his Instagram account after the show, beginning with the fitting lyric: “Your beauty is beyond compare.” White also shared a tribute to Parton earlier Tuesday, posting a 1965 photo of the legend with her classic beehive hairstyle with the two-word caption: “Instant Sainthood.”
This is hardly the first time White has covered Parton’s legendary 1973 song begging another woman not to steal her man. The White Stripes — White’s rock duo with drummer Meg White — released a studio version of the song as a B-side to “Hello Operator” in 2000 and also dropped a live single in 2004. Their cover never charted in the U.S., but it did top the UK Indie chart and peaked at No. 16 on the UK Singles chart in 2004.
Parton’s original version peaked at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Hot Country Songs chart in 1974. It also spawned many covers beyond The White Stripes’ as well, including Beyoncé‘s interpolation from her country album Cowboy Carter, which featured some new lyrics and peaked at No. 7 on the Hot 100 in 2024. Parton herself was also featured on a Pentatonix cover, which reached No. 18 on Hot Country Songs in 2016.
Following “a brief battle with cancer,” according to her team, Parton died Tuesday at age 80 in Nashville. Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, shared the news through a video message on Parton’s socials.
See White’s tribute to Parton below:
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