At 74, Dolly Parton Earned Her First Christian No. 1 — And Her Final Grammy
Dolly Parton spent more than six decades making music, breaking records and collecting awards. But one of her most meaningful achievements came late in her career, when she finally reached No. 1 on the Christian charts.
In 2020, at the age of 74, Dolly joined Zach Williams on “There Was Jesus,” a faith-filled song about finding Jesus through life’s difficult moments.
The song became a major success.
It reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Airplay and Christian AC charts, giving Dolly her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian charts. It also reached No. 2 on the Hot Christian Songs chart.
For an artist with an extraordinary catalog of hits, the achievement was remarkable.
Dolly had already earned numerous No. 1 records in country music. Yet she had never reached the top of Billboard’s Christian charts before “There Was Jesus.”
The song was written by Zach Williams, Casey Beathard and Jonathan Smith. Dolly did not write it, but her voice became an important part of the recording.
Williams and Dolly later performed the song together at the 2019 CMA Awards, bringing the powerful collaboration to a much larger country music audience.
Then came an even bigger honor.
At the 63rd Grammy Awards in 2021, “There Was Jesus” won Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song. The Grammy was shared by Zach Williams and Dolly Parton, along with songwriters Casey Beathard and Jonathan Smith.
For Dolly, the moment carried special meaning.
Faith had been part of her life long before the fame. She grew up in East Tennessee and sang gospel music from a young age. Her connection to Christian music was not something she discovered late in life. It had been there from the beginning.
That makes the story of “There Was Jesus” especially fitting.
After decades of recording country, pop and gospel music, one of Dolly’s final major Grammy-winning moments came from a song about Jesus.
And there is something beautifully full-circle about that.
She began singing in church as a child.
Decades later, one of her final Grammy victories came from singing about the same faith that had been part of her life since childhood.
For Dolly Parton, it was more than another award.
It was a remarkable final chapter in a musical journey that began in a small Tennessee community and eventually reached the entire world.
