Dolly Parton’s Final Recorded Performance Arrives on U2’s “Torn”

Dolly Parton’s final recorded vocal performance has been released on “Torn”, a duet with U2 that closes their new album, *Carnaval De Luz*. The song matters as the last vocal recording of Parton’s career, made shortly before her death, and as a collaboration she described as potentially “something really special”.

Parton recorded her vocals in Nashville in June, while ill; Bono said she had got out of bed to sing. Co-written by U2, Parton and Johnny McDaid, “Torn” is about fractured family ties, with Daniel Lanois playing pedal steel. A separate country mix by longtime Parton collaborator Kent Wells also premiered, and the release was accompanied by a handwritten note Parton sent Bono.