EXCLUSIVE: Country singer Belles has opened up about the one last thing Dolly Parton said to her when they worked together on her final collaboration before her death
Dolly Parton had one last thing to say to rising country star Belles before leaving the room. The pair had spent the day laughing and joking while working on what would become the country legend’s final collaboration.
But as Dolly got up to go, she looked at her fellow singer and said: “Now I have a new dream. I have you.” It was an extraordinary compliment from the woman Belles had idolised since childhood.
“I was trying to keep my cool and not get too emotional,” Belles says. “But then she left, and I was just in tears. I just couldn’t believe that she said that. That is something that will stick with me for the rest of my life.”
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Her parting words took on an extra special meaning as, just months later, Dolly died from cancer, aged 80. Throughout their time together, Dolly showed no sign of battling ill health.
Dolly’s family have since said the 9-to-5 star threw herself into work because she didn’t want to let anyone down. “I had no idea – in fact, she had more energy than me,” Belles says.
“She looked beautiful, and she sounded amazing, and I honestly had no clue she had any health issues at all after meeting her. It just shows what a strong person she was.”
Now the artist, whose real name is Kelli Rachel Jones, will pay a moving tribute to the country legend tonight on Strictly Come Dancing by singing Jolene.
The appearance is particularly poignant because Dolly herself performed on Strictly in September 2011. Speaking to us on the way to the airport to fly to London, Belles admits: “I’m so honoured to get to do this song… I’ve been singing it in bars since I was 13 years old.”
Despite growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, Belles fully understands how much of an institution Strictly is in the UK. “I honestly never dreamed that I would get to do something like this… I’m just so excited to watch the incredible dancers dance, although I feel like I’m going to have a hard time not getting distracted,” she jokes.
Her and Dolly’s collaboration began with a conversation in a tour van in 2024, when Belles discovered that the mother of one of her opening acts was called Jolene, like Dolly’s song.
She immediately wondered whether there might be another story to tell about the woman whose auburn hair, ivory skin and emerald eyes inspired one of country music’s best-known songs. “I had never met someone actually named Jolene before,” she says. “I just asked him, ‘What if you wrote a song about being the son of Jolene?’
“He was like, ‘I don’t really know if I would write that.’ And I was like, ‘That’s totally fair, but I might try to write that idea if that’s okay with you.’”
The song, called Son of Jolene, took just 45 minutes to write, and eventually found its way to Dolly through her long-time producer, Kent Wells. Dolly had never heard of Belles, but loved the idea of imagining what might happen if Jolene’s son inherited some of his mother’s flirtatious ways.
When the women finally met to film the video, Dolly greeted her with the words: “Well, it’s about time I met you.” Belles laughs as she remembers the moment. “I just gave her a hug, and I told her how much of an honour it was to get to meet her. She kept saying it was such a clever song, and that she knew she had to sing it with me.” She says it was surreal hearing that familiar voice beside her.
She says: “I was just like, ‘I am really sitting next to Dolly Parton? This is so crazy.’ It’s a voice I grew up hearing and heard a thousand times.”
However, the part of the day Belles treasures most happened when Dolly began quizzing her about her life. “She was asking me about my family and how I grew up and where I’m from and how I came from a very musical family,” she says.
“She was like, ‘That’s just like me.’ And we just really kind of connected. She was just as wonderful off camera as she was on camera.” Their conversation also turned to something Dolly understood better than almost anyone in country music: the business itself.
The singer, who famously refused to surrender part of the publishing rights to I Will Always Love You when Elvis Presley wanted to record it, was keen for Belles to understand the value of owning the work she created.
She says: “That was one of the pieces of advice that she gave me, to really care about who owns your publishing and stuff like that. She really had such an amazing understanding of the business and how to work around it and work through it.”
The young singer could never have imagined how precious those memories would become. She says: “We will all miss her so much because there’s really no one like Dolly and I don’t think there will ever be another person like Dolly on this Earth.”
- Belles’ debut album Midwestern is out now. Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC1 tonight at 7.10pm.
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