Christmas Hymn: “We Three Kings” – Dolly Parton

December 25, 2022249 views0

Christmas Hymn: “We Three Kings” – Dolly Parton

2022-12-25T09:05:45+01:00

By Church News

Dolly Parton gives us a timeless version of the classic American Christmas hymn written by John H. Hopkins Jr. circa 1857.Dolly’s clear and crisp voice sweetly tells the story of the three wise men who travelled to visit the newborn baby Jesus as they long for the star to “guide us to Thy perfect light.”Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music.After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album debut in 1967 with Hello, I’m Dolly, which led to success during the remainder of the 1960s (both as a solo artist and with a series of duet albums with Porter Wagoner), before her sales and chart peak came during the 1970s and continued into the 1980s.Parton’s albums in the 1990s did not sell as well, but she achieved commercial success again in the new millennium and has released albums on various independent labels since 2000, including her own label, Dolly Records. She has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.Outside of her work in the music industry, she also co-owns The Dollywood Company, which manages a number of entertainment venues, including the Dollywood theme park, the Splash Country water park, and a number of dinner theatre venues including The Dolly Parton Stampede and Pirates Voyage.She has founded a number of charitable and philanthropic organizations, chief among which is the Dollywood Foundation, which manages a number of projects to bring education and poverty relief to East Tennessee where she grew up.Parton, though influenced by big name stars, often credits much of her inspiration to her family and community.On her own mother Parton, in her 2020 book Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, wrote “So it was just natural for my mom to always be singing. My mother had that old-timey voice, and she used to sing all these songs that were brought over from the Old World. They were English, Irish, Welsh, folk songs where people tell stories.” Parton calls her mother’s voice “haunting”. “Lord you would feel it”, she wrote.Her biggest influence however was her Aunt Dorothy Jo, “People often ask me who my influences were, they think I’m going to say some big names, and there were a few ‘stars’ I was impressed with. But my hero was my aunt Dorothy Jo. Mama’s baby sister. She was not only an evangelist, she played banjo, she played guitar, and she wrote some great songs.”ALSO READ “God is good and God is love” – Dolly Parton