For KING & COUNTRY, the Christian duo made up of siblings Joel and Luke Smallbone, had a platinum-selling, No. 1 hit in 2019 with “God Only Knows,” a collaboration with Dolly Parton. The brothers still vividly recall how they got Parton to sing on the song with them, and how gracious she was throughout the entire process.
Joel called some people on Parton’s team with what felt, at the time at least, like a far-reaching request to have the Country Music Hall of Fame member join them on “God Only Knows.”
“I remember where I was,” Joel recalls on Apple Music Country’s Country Faith Radio with Hillary Scott. “It was one of those phone calls that was like, ‘This is ridiculous, but I’m just going to call.’ I said, ‘Hey, we’ve just got this song done.’ And it had already been released at the time or a version of it had. And then within two or three days, it had been played for Dolly. And within two or three days after that, the legend herself was on this sort of outrageous phone call that I will, again, never forget.
Joel and Luke hoped to get Parton to sing on “God Only Knows” with them, never imagining that it would be her idea to make the song what it became.
“I remember where I was standing,” Joel shares. “And she just, she said, ‘Y’all, like I’ve got to tell you. This is one of the greatest songs I’ve ever heard. I’d love to sing on it. And we should do a music video, and we should perform it on television.’ Look, as an immigrant, as a writer, as someone who lives in Nashville, as someone who’s been to Dollywood, played Dollywood, it was kind of the most profound moment, I think, for Luke and me as artists and as writers.”
Parton continued to show the Smallbones how gracious and kind she was, even while filming the video for “God Only Knows.”
“So we did a music video together, and obviously when Dolly Parton’s showing up on set, it’s one of those, ‘Honey, you want to come to the music video today? Dolly Parton’s going to be there,'” Joel says, adding that his wife, Courtney, and his three children (at the time) all joined him on the set for the video shoot.
“We take a little break and I went up and said, ‘Hey, Dolly, I wanted to just introduce you to my family,'” Joel remembers. “And there was the, ‘Oh, hello,’ and all the wonderful things that you would expect. And then she just said this. She said, ‘Hey, I got an idea. Would you mind if you get a picture with me?’ And she’s looking at Courtney and the kids. And I just was like… I mean, do you get any greater in than that moment? And you know what’s funny is being on the artist side, I knew what she was doing.
“She knew that they were there to come and get a picture,” he adds. “She preempted it with her great kindness to say, ‘Would you come and get a picture?’ Like, ‘I want to get a picture with you.'”
For KING & COUNTRY will embark on their A Drummer Boy Christmas Tour on November 26. Find For KING & COUNTRY’s music and tour dates by visiting their website.