Dolly Parton’s final recorded vocal performance will appear on U2’s upcoming album.
The country legend, who died in August at 80, recorded the duet “Torn” with Bono before her death. The track will close out U2’s 12-track album “Carnaval De Luz,” due November 13, marking her first posthumous release.
Bono revealed that Parton got off bed rest to complete the recording. “You can hear that,” he said, describing the circumstances of her final studio session. The collaboration was co-written by U2, Parton, and Snow Patrol guitarist Johnny McDaid, with lyrics exploring broken family ties.
The U2 frontman offered a theatrical preview of the full album. “Roll up, roll up, roll up! Bring your purple socks, your broken hearts, your rose-tinted naivety… Oh be amazed in the hall of mirrors,” he said.
“There will be loud guitars, deep bass, some ecstatic rhythms and, yes, some silver tears will make an appearance!”
He continued, “We make the melodies sweeter and the songs, they better shine, because if the world is in darkness we better not be.”
Bono also warned that the band’s creative process could produce “monsters,” adding that U2 would respond by making its music louder and its stories “wilder and funnier.”
The Edge highlighted one technical detail about the sessions, noting the album features the first-ever use of flat-wound strings on a U2 recording. The album represents the band’s first collection of new material since 2017’s “Songs Of Surrender.”
U2 and Parton had previously shared a stage in 2015, when she joined the band for “The Wild Rover” during their Innocence + Experience Tour. The new album arrives as the group marks 50 years since forming in Dublin.
Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. Posted a handwritten note on the noticeboard at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in September 1976 seeking musicians, leading to the band’s creation. The current lineup remains Mullen Jr., Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton.
The band previewed the record in July with lead single “Street Of Dreams.” “Carnaval De Luz” is U2’s 16th studio album and reportedly explores themes of spirituality, friendship, freedom, and endurance against “dark, encroaching forces.”
U2’s “Carnaval De Luz” arrives November 13.