The queen has spoken, and she's calling the performance "a fun new take on my song."
Dolly Parton approves! The country music icon has nothing but praise for a new rendition of her 1974 hit, "Jolene," which went viral on a recent episode of America's Got Talent.
Chapel Hart, a trio of talented songstresses from Mississippi, came out and immediately won over the AGT judges with their enthusiasm, energy and a creative new spin on the classic. The ladies explained that their original song, a tune called "You Can Have Him, Jolene," is inspired by and an ode to Parton.
"We were so inspired by the song 'Jolene,' and we just love the storyline. And we figured, though, from 1973 to 2022, we could not still be fighting over the same man," singer Danica Hart explained. "So we decided to tell her, 'You can just have him, Jolene.'"
Parton took to Twitter to sing the group's praises and offer a cheeky response to the concept. The songstress has long said that it was her husband, Carl Dean, who served as the original song's inspiration and that she based the character of Jolene off a flirtatious redhead who stepped out of line.
"What a fun new take on my song!" she wrote, adding with a wink, "Carl's birthday is today so I think I'll hang on to him, and I'm not notifying Jolene that today is his birthday."
Despite each of the AGT judges, and host Terry Crews, having already given out their Golden Buzzers throughout the course of the audition rounds, the judges did something special and very rare to honor the trio's incredible performance -- a collective Golden Buzzer!
"I mean, that was fantastic!" Simon Cowell marveled in a stunned tone. "I love you. And I loved the choreography going on around you. I mean, it was just brilliant."
When asked about their efforts to get a record deal, Danica -- who was overcome with emotion at the reaction to their performance, explained, "We've been trying to break into Nashville for the last couple years, but it's been kind of hard, when, I think, country music doesn't always look like us."
"You know what you've gotta do sometimes? You've just got to break down that door. And you may have just broken down the door with that performance, trust me," Cowell replied.
Parton continues to roll in the accolades, as the 76-year-old music legend was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year. The singer initially asked to be nixed from the voting ballot, but ultimately came around to gracefully accept the honor.
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