NEW YORK – Dolly Parton’s The musical’s story goes back much further than most people expect, to the British Isles of the 1600s. This is where their ancestors came from, and they eventually set foot in the shouts of East Tennessee and the familiar mountain ranges, bringing their songs with them. A new album released Friday called “Smoky Mountain DNA: Family, Faith & Fables,” credited to Dolly Parton and Family, explores the grand legacy of her maternal family, the Partons and Owens, while performing with five generations of family members.

“My grandfather used to say, when I became famous, ‘He walked out crying in the key of D,'” she told the Associated Press. “I think we all did.”

“Smoky Mountain DNA” was an inevitable labor of love and taught Parton more about her family lineage.

“We kind of Carter family. We’re going back generations,” Parton said. (The Carters are widely considered country music’s first family.)

“I imagine this will be my favorite album,” Parton said. “This actually includes my grandparents, my uncles and aunts, and all the people who have had the biggest impact on my life from the very beginning. “What I remember from my childhood and even the incident goes back even further from there.”

Parton’s cousin Richie Owens, whom she describes as her “family historian,” produced the “Smoky Mountain DNA.” The family has been archivists for a long time, he says, but the idea of ​​curating a record started around 2010 and 2011, but was delayed by a few years. Then, just before the pandemic, Parton approached Owens and said, “We need to get together and start gathering all this information (and) material together,” since Owens was already working on a family story. specifically tied to his grandfather’s fiddle, they came together for what is now the “Smoky Mountain DNA”.

Owens used digital technology for some new songs. AI support The Beatles’ last new song, “Now and Then”, used to be Sound off John Lennon for a new composition from an old demo for “restoration work”.

“With existing technology, we have been able to achieve wonderful, miraculous situations where we can dig in from previous vocal recordings of deceased family members and create new pieces of music,” he says. This was about cleaning up crackle and noise – not creating doctored recordings.

“There have been many times when I’ve been singing that I’ve gotten very, very emotional, especially when I remember and hear the voices of those who have gone before,” Parton said. says Parton. “It put me in a deep emotional state, just like I had them back again. I mean, it was all so heartbreaking. But it was really amazing and very restorative. There were so many colors of emotion in it.”

Parton and Owens began curating the album by finding songs that she had written with deceased family members or that deceased family members had previously recorded. Others became hits and were integral to legacy stories, and songs recorded with younger members of the family, including those born in the 21st century, featured more Parton co-writing but featured styles that felt real to each person.

Centered around country, folk, hymns and bluegrass, the album features soulful R&B (as in “Not Bad” with Shelley Rená), swamp pop (as in “I Just Stopped by” with Parton’s late uncle Robert “John Henry” Owens), various rock genres (“Where Will We Live Tomorrow” with Rebecca Seaver and “Crazy in Love with You” with Richie Owens’ daughter Estelle).

The album also revisits Parton’s own career: There’s a gorgeous cover of “Puppy Love,” which she first recorded when she was 13 and now sings with some of the youngest members of her family.

“Some of the little ones,” he says, “remind me of when I played guitar when I was young.”

“Smoky Mountain DNA” could only end with one song: “When It’s Family,” which was originally co-written by Parton and released as “Family” on her 1991 album “Eagle When She Flies.” A touching song about acceptance, Parton sings: “Some are preachers, some are gay / Some are addicts, drunks and strays / But no one gets turned away / When it comes to family.”

“I do not condemn or approve of anything. “I love and accept people for where they are,” she explains. “And I don’t judge because like I said before, there’s a little bit of everyone in my immediate family, whether it’s trans, gay, transvestite or not. I mean, we have drunks, we have strays, we have drug addicts; When you have a family as big as ours, you’re always like this. And you love them all.”

So what about all the materials not included here? “I’m sure we’ll do compilation albums,” Parton says. “We’re also making a documentary series, we’re taking all the music back to the old country, a lot of our relatives there still sing the old songs that were brought here… It’s really touching.”

Meanwhile, he is working on a musical based on his own life. On Broadway in 2026. Like his “Smoky Mountain DNA,” this is an opportunity to reflect on his career and perhaps even what his legacy will become for another five generations.

“I hope most of my songs last that long,” he says. “And I hope I’m remembered as that person too I tried to do some good in the world and on the left, you know, a few nice things.”