New Art Project: Jolene
The first song that I ever learned on the acoustic guitar was Johnny Cash’s version of “Hurt”. The second song was “Jolene”. Dolly Parton’s plead to the “other woman” has been with me for a long time. Even though it’s traditionally performed by a woman, I think it equally fits to a male singer as Jack White has successfully shown with his own cover version 14 years ago.
Yoyo Mtt.
The very intimate nature of this song is in my opinion best represented by a minimalistic arrangement, so I chose to record it as part of the “Living Room Sessions”. It’s a very emotional song representing a potential conversation between the singer and “the other woman” and I find Dolly Parton’s simple choice of words is really fitting.
Once there is no more room for bargaining or threats, the only thing that is left to do is to plead, a very intimate and somewhat violent act by nature as one must lay his soul bare for the other to see. A kind of inherent beauty lies in the act of doing so, and Dolly Parton somehow was able to capture this simple yet difficult moment with a few lines of uncomplicated yet beautiful lyrics.
Yoyo Mtt.