John Mayer honours Dolly Parton with instrumental I Will Always Love You cover
John Mayer has paid tribute to Dolly Parton with an emotional instrumental rendition of I Will Always Love You.
The guitarist performed the country classic during his SiriusXM concert at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, New York, on 26 August, a day after news broke of Parton’s death.
READ MORE: “Instant sainthood”: Tributes pour in from the music world and beyond as country icon Dolly Parton dies at 80
Mayer worked the song into the intro of Gravity, playing Parton’s familiar melody on his PRS Dead Spec Silver Sky and giving it a bluesy spin of his own before moving into his own song.
Before the show, Mayer also reflected on Parton’s death and the extraordinary reaction to her passing, particularly the way her music brought people together.
Credit: Rick Diamond/ Getty Images
“I think Dolly would be really happy to see that on the day of her passing, the world came together in a way that it hadn’t in a very long time to celebrate someone,” he says.
“I don’t know that there are many people in this world [that are] left that can galvanise a very fractured world to come together and share love for one person. When everyone’s loving one person at the same time, it is everybody loving at the same time, which has this sort of side effect of feeling each other’s love when that happens.”
“This is what a life well-lived looks like, feels like, and sounds like,” Mayer continues, describing her career as a “brilliant, classy, talented, full artistic rendering”.
“This is how you give your life to the thing you love.”
Parton, who died aged 80, was one of the most celebrated songwriters and performers of her generation. I Will Always Love You was written and recorded by Parton in 1973, becoming one of her signature songs before taking on an entirely new life through Whitney Houston’s hugely successful 1992 cover for The Bodyguard.
Watch Mayer’s tribute below.
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