BAD WOLVES Release Cover Of DOLLY PARTON's 'Jolene'

BAD WOLVES have released their cover of Dolly Parton's smash hit "Jolene". Check it out below.

Parton had been expected to add vocals to the band's heavy reimagining of her 1973 hit, but the collaboration didn't materialize before the country music icon died on August 25 after a brief battle with cancer.

BAD WOLVES' record label, Better Noise Music, released the song earlier today, without Parton's vocals, with proceeds benefiting her Imagination Library, which provides free books to children from birth to age 5.

Three days ago, BAD WOLVES guitarist AJ Rebollo quit the band, saying the decision to release "Jolene" was the "final nail in the coffin."

Rebollo announced on Friday (August 28) via social media that he had left the group after two years, and accused Better Noise Music of "ill intent" by releasing the Parton cover just days after her death.

"I am making the decision to step away as a member of BAD WOLVES," Rebollo wrote in a statement.

"In short, I can no longer in good faith remain a member and co-sign the decisions constantly being made FOR this band by the label, among other issues I have with the inner workings of the business."

Rebollo claimed that BAD WOLVES informed the label that they had "no interest" in releasing "Jolene" after Parton's passing.

"We, as an entity, told the label we had no interest in releasing the cover after learning of Dolly's unfortunate passing as her collaboration on the song was no longer a possibility, and we felt it would (understandably) be interpreted as somewhat of a capitalization on her passing from an outside perspective," he wrote. "They went ahead and posted that we were releasing it anyway, despite efforts from more than one member, myself included, to oppose it.

"While the donation to her Imagination Library is an incredible choice to do something good with the profits, I can't help but feel there is ill intent behind the decision to release the song," he added.

Rebollo went on to say that the dispute over "Jolene" was indicative of how the band's business affairs were being handled.

"With the label completely disregarding numerous decisions we make out of passion, and ultimately just unknowingly exhausting the band's attempts to fully enjoy being here, I am no longer happy here," Rebollo wrote.

"The amount of hate, negativity, and harassment we receive on a daily basis due to decisions made outside of our control has taken a massive toll on our sanity."

Original BAD WOLVES singer Tommy Vext left the band in 2021 and was replaced by Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz. Daniel later exited BAD WOLVES to join FALLING IN REVERSE as the latter act's bassist, and BAD WOLVES recruited Sara "Killboy" Skinner as their new singer earlier this year.

Last week, Skinner shared a video message in which she claimed that BAD WOLVES were dropped from Christian rock group SKILLET's upcoming tour after that band's fans falsely claimed Skinner was a "trans OnlyFans bitch." She clarified in her video message that "only one of those things is true. Have fun finding out, and we will see you on the next tour."

When BAD WOLVES' cover of "Jolene" was first announced last week, the band's founder, drummer and songwriter John Boecklin stated: "Our singer is a big fan of Dolly and had posted a bunch of videos of her covering 'Jolene'. So, we decided to make a heavy metal cover version for our next album. On hearing our version, our label CEO Dan Waite sent the finished demo to Dolly's manager, Danny Nozell, with a request for Dolly to guest feature on our version. We heard back that Danny had played the track to Dolly, and that Dolly loved our version, and that Dolly was going to go into the studio and add her vocals very soon. We then sent over the stems for Dolly's studio engineers to work with. Like everyone, we were devastated of this week's news of Dolly's passing. We will honor Dolly's incredible legacy by donating proceeds from 'Jolene' to the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library."

Eight and a half years ago, BAD WOLVES released their cover of THE CRANBERRIES' "Zombie" only four days after the January 2018 passing of the latter band's frontwoman Dolores O'Riordan, with all proceeds from track donated to her three children. THE CRANBERRIES' singer was set to record her vocals on the song the day of her tragic death.

The surviving members of THE CRANBERRIES — whose 2019 album "In The End" featured posthumous vocals from O'Riordan — told ABC New Radio that they didn't care for BAD WOLVES' version of "Zombie".

"[I] didn't really like it," drummer Fergal Lawler said. "It wasn't my cup of tea."

Compounding matters, guitarist Noel Hogan said that he felt BAD WOLVES' cover was released "a bit too soon. For my liking, anyway," he explained.

"The whole thing seemed insensitive or something," Lawler added.

Photo credit: Evan Aparicio