The Guitars Of Dolly Parton's "Jolene." Featuring Chip Young & Wayne Moss - Ask Zac - 124

April 17, 2020

Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” is one of the most well-known songs of the last 50-years. She recorded the tune in the summer of 1973 and it has continued to be a perennial favorite, from one of the world’s favorite singers. Today we get the rare privilege of hearing the two main guitar tracks isolated from the original 16-track master recording. The track spotlights guitarists Chip Young and Wayne Moss, who worked out their intertwining guitar arrangement beforehand.

This track was initially played for me as there was some mystery as to who actually played the gut-string part, as the master had it labeled “Jimmy.” I went down a long rabbit trail to see if Jimmy Colvard, who had played on a number of other cuts off the same album had been the guitarist in question. It ended with the master being mislabeled, as Jimmy Colvard had played on some earlier sessions, but not on the track in question, “Jolene.”