Dolly Parton Joins Rory Feek On New Version Of ‘One Angel’

Dolly Parton joined Rory Feek on a new version of his “One Angel,” a song he had released as a solo in March as part of his upcoming Gentle Man album.

The new version sees Parton backing Feek with her ethereal vocals, helping to bring out the song’s complex and deeply personal emotions.

“One Angel,” was written by Sandy Emory Lawrence as a tribute to Feek’s late wife and former songwriting partner, Joey Feek, who died in 2016 after a difficult fight with cervical cancer. Sandy wrote the lyrics, giving vent to her frustration and anger about the chemotheraphy and radiation Joey endured during her illness.

“So here’s three fingers of tequila / One finger for the cancer / One finger for the poison they sent pouring through your veins,” Rory Feek sings in the chorus of the song. “One finger for the preacher / ‘Cause I don’t believe the Jesus / That you love so much would put you through such pain / But I do believe one angel knows my name.”

Gentle Man, which is Rory’s first solo album and the first album he has recorded without Joey, will be out on June 18.

Feek wrote on his blog that Parton joining him on the song was “unimaginable.” “Parton mailed that she didn’t just want to sing harmony. She wanted to sing a verse, and maybe add a few things. And she did. The voice of an angel, sang for an angel,” Rory wrote. “Something neither Joey, nor I could’ve ever, ever imagined actually happening.”