Dolly Parton’s Last Duet With Bono Will Close U2’s New Album, and He Says He Can’t Listen to It Now

In early June, an ailing Dolly Parton made her way to a microphone and sang what became the final vocal performance of her seven-decade career. She did it for a duet with Bono, and the recording now waits at the very end of U2’s next album. Bono has said plenty about how the song feels to him. Getting Parton into that room took months of persistence.

U2’s “Carnaval de Luz” Arrives Nov. 13 as the Band’s First New Album in Nine Years

U2 announced Carnaval de Luz on Sept. 24. The 12-track record is the band’s 16th studio album and its first album of new material in nine years, following Songs of Experience in December 2017. The timing carries weight, since the group first played together in Larry Mullen Jr.’s kitchen on Sept. 25, 1976, which makes this its 50th year. Producer Garret “Jacknife” Lee has worked with U2 since 2004, and the closing track has already drawn the most attention.

Bono Courted Dolly Parton for Months and Once Sent Her Bagpipes for Her Birthday

Bono spent months courting Parton before she agreed to anything. According to Rolling Stone’s cover story on the band, he wanted her for an unreleased side project inspired by Irish folk music, and he even sent her bagpipes as a birthday present. He also played her early sketches of the project over the phone. Parton listened to the material, and then she told him what she thought.

Parton Passed on Bono’s Irish Folk Project and Pitched Him a Song Called “Torn” Instead

Parton felt the Irish-flavored material sat too far from her own sound, and she turned it down. She had another idea ready. She told Bono about a song she already had, called “Torn,” and asked whether he wanted to take it somewhere new. He did. Parton shares the writing credit on the finished track with U2 and Johnny McDaid of Snow Patrol, so the song was hers before it was theirs. Bono and McDaid then sat down with the lyrics.

Bono and Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid Rewrote “Torn” Around a Mother Watching Her Family Splinter

Bono and McDaid reworked the lyrics so the song follows a mother as her family comes apart. The band’s release describes it as a country song about broken family ties, and longtime U2 collaborator Daniel Lanois plays pedal steel on it. Bono briefly considered retitling the track “Civil War,” and he has said it can be heard as a comment on division in Ireland or in other troubled places. Parton approved the new version. The next step was getting her voice on tape.

Parton Recorded “Torn” in Early June, Less Than Three Months Before Her Death

The session took place in early June, less than three months before Parton’s death. Bono says that after she fell ill, she left her bed to sing the song, and he says the effort can be heard in the performance. A Rolling Stone writer noted a slight waver in her voice that made it sound even more commanding. It was the last vocal of a career that stretched across seven decades. Bono still had to find his own place beside it.

Bono Held Back His Own Vocal to Give Parton Room, and Told Her So

Finding his own place next to her performance was hard for Bono, so he chose restraint and kept his vocal understated. He wrote to Parton that he had simply stayed out of her way. He has also said he cannot get over the strength of a performance from an 80-year-old woman who was unwell. The team behind the record was anxious about one thing above all: whether Parton would approve of what they had built around her.

Producer Jacknife Lee Says Parton Approved the Final Mix and Loved the Result

Lee says Parton signed off on the final mix and took pride in her vocal and in the recording as a whole. According to him, she loved it. The approval brought real relief to a band that had worried she might be uncomfortable with the result. Her sign-off left “Torn” finished and in its place at the end of the tracklist.

Dolly Parton Died in Nashville on Aug. 25 at Age 80, a Month Before the Album Was Announced

Parton died peacefully in Nashville on Aug. 25, 2026, according to a family statement reported by NPR. She was 80. U2 announced its album a month later, and the band’s release describes “Torn” as her last recorded vocal performance. Another posthumous track, a Stanley Brothers tribute called “Bound to Ride,” came out just before the announcement, but she recorded it around 2022. Bono has been open about how the finished duet affects him.

Bono Says He Can’t Listen to the Parton Duet, and It Closes “Carnaval de Luz”

Speaking to Rolling Stone about the recording, Bono said, “I can’t even listen to it now.” The song sits last among the album’s 12 tracks, so Carnaval de Luz ends with a country songwriter’s final vocal and the singer who shared the microphone with her, unable to revisit it. When the album arrives on Nov. 13, its closing minutes will hold the last recorded vocal of Dolly Parton’s career.