Vince Gill And Dolly Parton Sing “I Will Always Love You” At 1995 Event

Dolly Parton and Vince Gill sings “I Will Always Love You” at 29th annual CMA Awards in 1995.

What’s better than a legendary country artist singing one of the world’s greatest country songs? TWO legendary country artists singing one of the world’s greatest country songs.

Two iconic country singers joined forces to deliver a dynamite performance of Dolly’s hit song, “I Will Always Love You.”
“I Will Always Love You” was originally released by Dolly Parton in 1974 as the second single from her 13th album, Jolene.

Did you know this emotional song wasn’t written about two lovers parting ways? It was actually written when Dolly had to part ways with her mentor and friend, Porter Wagoner. Porter helped Dolly make her way in the music industry and some even say she owes all of her early success to him as he cast the young no-name on his show, The Porter Wagoner Show, in 1966.

After Dolly released “I Will Always Love You,” it gained attention from many big-name artists including Elvis.

Not only did the song get his attention, but Elvis loved the song so much he wanted to do a cover of it. Dolly was thrilled, but Elvis’ manager told her that she would have to sign over 50% of the publishing rights to him in order for him to cover it. That was a big “nope” from Dolly, and it was obviously very successful without The King doing a cover. But according to Dolly, it was a difficult decision to make.

“That broke my heart, because I loved Elvis. I cried all night. Other people were saying, ‘You’re nuts. It’s Elvis Presley. I mean, hell, I’d give him all of it.’ I said, ‘I can’t do that. Something in my heart says don’t do that.’ And I just didn’t do it, and they didn’t do it.”

The song proved to be very successful earning the No.1 spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs list not once, but twice. It rose to the top of the list in 1974 when it was originally released and again in 1982 after Dolly re-recorded it as a movie soundtrack.

In 1995, Vince Gill joined Dolly Parton for a memorable live performance of “I Will Always Love You” at the CMA Awards.

The video of the performance shows a young Vince Gill beautifully performing the first verse and chorus when Dolly enters the stage to take the next verse. From there, they split off into gorgeous harmony delivering a powerful rendition of the timeless hit.
Watch the beautiful performance in the video below!