Kesha and Jack White honoured the late Dolly Parton during their respective live shows on Tuesday.
The 80-year-old country music legend died on Tuesday after a brief battle with cancer, prompting an outpouring of online tributes from fans, friends and fellow musicians.
Kesha went one step further during her show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Tuesday by performing a cover of Parton’s 1980 hit Old Flames (Can’t Hold a Candle to You), which was co-written by her mother Pebe Sebert.
“I just want to say thank you for bringing me so much joy today, because earlier today, I’m sure many of y’all know that we lost Ms. Dolly Parton,” Kesha told the crowd, according to social media footage. “We literally lost an angel. But through her art and through her kindness and through her love, she will live forever.
“For those of you who don’t know, I come from a long lineage of songwriters and before I was born, my mom actually wrote a song for Dolly Parton. And that song bought us a house, like a roof. That song put me through school.”
Kesha then reflected on recording a duet of Old Flames (Can’t Hold a Candle to You) with Parton for her 2017 album Rainbow, telling her fans that she felt like “God was on (her) side” standing next to “such a legendary woman”.
“That’s how it feels working with Dolly Parton. So in honour of her incredible legacy and her beautiful life, I’d like to sing the song that my mom wrote for her,” she added, before launching into her rendition of the song.
On the other side of the Atlantic, The White Stripes star White performed a radically different cover of Parton’s 1973 hit Jolene during his show at London’s Eventim Apollo.
According to footage posted on his Instagram, he concluded his partial cover by putting his hands in prayer, making the sign of the cross and pointing to the sky.
The White Stripes used to perform the cover at concerts often and released it as a B-side in 2000. Parton was a big fan of their cover, calling it “one of the greatest versions ever of Jolene” in a 2016 interview with The Guardian.
