Keith Urban and Dolly Parton go way back. Long before they ever met, Urban was playing Parton’s music growing up in Australia. And the country superstar wanted to send love and thanks to the iconic Parton on her 80th birthday on Monday (Jan. 19).
Urban released a video Monday morning that starts with him playing a sweet audio recording of his 10-year-old self playing banjo and singing “Applejack,” a traditional country tune Parton wrote and recorded in 1977 for New Harvest…First Gathering.
Laughing at his younger self, Urban adds, “I’m just here to say you’ve been a massive inspiration to me for a long time, Dolly, and God, thank you. Thank you for everything you’ve ever done.”
He goes on to thank her for the inspiration she’s provided as a songwriter, artist and humanitarian. “Just the goodness that you’re brought into the world with your heart and your curiosity and your passion and your insane musical gift,” the singer say
“Here to many, many, many, many, many years ahead,” Urban says in conclusion. “I love you, Dolly.”
Urban and Parton have long had a sweet mutual admiration society that sometimes even turned saucy. In 2010, she, Urban and Vince Gill performed George Jones’ classic, “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” with Parton introducing Urban by saying: “I know his momma used to spend a lot of time over here and I felt like he was kind of lonesome all that way from home. And I wrote him a note one time and said ‘Well, I can be your other mother, your other lover or the sister you never wanted.’ I never heard back from him on that.”
A few years later, Parton was asked who she’d like to duet with, and she quickly answered Urban, adding, “I’ve always thought he was one of the most talented and cutest guys in the world… I love his writing and I just think he’s dear and he reminds me so much of my brothers and my own family.” Urban responded with a video, that included him singing a fragment of “Applejack,” and thanking Parton for what she said. “I would love to do a song with you sometime,” he said.
The pair finally recorded together in 2005 on Parton’s Those Were a Days album, a duets project covering songs primarily from the 1960s and 1970s. Parton and Urban collaborated on a bluegrass-tinged version of “The Twelfth of Never.”
Urban is clearly and understandably a favorite among country’s legendary ladies: In 2019, for Loretta Lynn’s 87th birthday tribute at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena featuring Garth Brooks, Miranda Lambert, Trisha Yearwood and others, he jumped out of a birthday cake per Lynn’s request.
