Dolly Parton‘s first posthumous release is taking her right back to where so much of her music began: the mountains.

Dolly is featured on “Bound to Ride,” a traditional song the Stanley Brothers helped popularize with their 1964 recording. The song appears on Where the Soul Never Dies: Celebrating 80 Years of The Stanley Brothers, due Oct. 16, and arrives just two weeks after Dolly’s death at 80.

It’s a particularly fitting final musical appearance for Dolly, whose connection to the sounds and traditions of the Appalachian mountains remained a defining part of her music and identity throughout her career.

Dolly Parton’s ‘Bound to Ride’

Nearly every track on Where the Soul Never Dies was recorded live in the studio, but Dolly’s vocal for “Bound to Ride” was recorded separately during a COVID-19 surge around 2022, according to Rolling Stone.

The First Ladies of Bluegrass — Alison Brown, Becky Buller, Sierra Hull, Missy Raines and Molly Tuttle — recorded the backing track before Dolly added her vocal at her own studio.

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The group also rearranged the traditional song, adding a new eight-bar bridge based on an obscure verse. Buller recorded a scratch vocal in Dolly’s key to help the musicians shape the arrangement.

The result was everything they hoped for and then some, according to producer Garry West.

I call it the full Dolly. We didn’t know what we would get back, and she really did over-deliver. We were shocked. We couldn’t have gotten anything better.

Dolly even calls out each of the First Ladies by name during the performance, a moment that deeply moved the musicians.

The Stanley Brothers’ Influence Runs Deep

The Stanley Brothers — Carter and Ralph — were pioneers of the bluegrass sound, blending the string-band music of Bill Monroe with the mountain ballads and church singing they learned in southwestern Virginia.

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It’s a musical tradition that feels especially at home with Dolly.

She grew up in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, surrounded by the Appalachian sounds that would eventually become woven into her own music.

Even after becoming one of the biggest stars in country music, Dolly never lost that connection to her roots.

Other artists featured on Where the Soul Never Dies include:

• Willie Nelson and Sierra Ferrell — “I’ll Fly Away”
• Jamey Johnson and Shawn Camp — “Rank Strangers to Me”
• Dierks Bentley and Della Mae — “How Mountain Girls Can Love”
• Jim Lauderdale and the Travelin’ McCourys — “Riding That Midnight Train”
• Nitty Gritty Dirt Band — “Think of What You’ve Done”
• Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell — “Little Birdie”
• Ralph Stanley II and Tim O’Brien — “Mother No Longer Awaits Me at Home”
• I’m With Her — “Going Up Home to Live in Green Pastures”
• Steve Martin and Ed Helms — a Stanley Brothers comedy routine

“Bound to Ride” has a special significance as Dolly’s first release since her death. Her voice is still carrying the sound of the mountains that shaped her — and that’s a pretty beautiful way for her music to keep going.