Last week, the Christian band for King and Country released a new rendition of their song ‘God Only Knows’ featuring renowned country singer Dolly Parton.
Released in January, the original song has seen incredible successes, recently winning “Song of the Year” at the K-LOVE Awards, and gaining over 202 million radio impressions, as well as 25 million digital streams. The song saw so much success that secular artist and producer Timbaland remixed the song in July.
Before collaborating, Joel and Luke Smallbone, for King and Country band members and brothers, shared that Dolly Parton told them via telephone that ‘God Only Knows’ was one of her favorite songs ever.
“When we originally spoke to @dollyparton on the phone, her words were, ‘When I first heard ‘God Only Knows’ I thought it was one of the best songs I’d ever heard. I feel that this is a good song for right now. I know that it touched me at a time when I needed to be lifted up,’” the band wrote on Instagram.
“The word ‘honored’ doesn’t quite say it when it comes to her collaborating with us,” they added.
For King and Country members were not the only ones excited about the collaboration, as Parton shared with ET online how special the song was to her.
“This song was Heaven-sent,” Parton told ET online. “I wanted to be a part of it because it just speaks to so many people out there that are having a hard time going through rough times.”
“It’s a beautiful song and I love singin’ it with them,” Parton added. “I think we need this song this day and time.”
The music video for the song, which premiered on August 29, tells the story of three different people and their ‘guardian angels.’ Parton plays a prostitute, Luke plays a person who is in a hospital, and Joel plays a man struggling with addiction, three different people who are in need of hope.
“God only knows what you’ve been through / God only knows what they say about you / God only knows how it’s killing you / But there’s a kind of love that God only knows,” the three sing.
In an interview with The Tennessean, for King and Country members shared that they reached out to Parton about collaborating after seeing her performance in the movie ‘Dumplin.’ The invite came shortly after Parton expressed a desire to be involved in more faith-based projects.
“It was like God spoke. I thought so many people with all their problems … I just felt like this song touched everything people struggle with,” Parton said. “There’s just such a peace and love and sweetness about it, and I really think this song says what we need to be hearing right now.”
“When you hear her sing the song, there’s a weight to the way she sings it that few people could actually do,” Luke Smallbone said.