During a Jan. 3 appearance on the Tamron Hall Show, music legend and Twitter icon Dionne Warwick revealed that she's been working on a gospel duet with Dolly Parton.
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"Well, she sent me a song that she wanted me to record," Warwick said. "And I said, 'Okay, that sounds like a deal.' She's such a sweetheart. I know her. And she sent me another song, the one that we're going to be doing as a duet. It's a gospel song called 'Peace Like a River.' She wrote it. And I'm very excited about this. I really am. I've done so many duets over the years, but this one's going to be very special."
Warwick appeared on the TV talk show to promote the CNN documentary on her life, Don't Make Me Over, which premiered on New Year's Day.
More details were unveiled on Feb. 7. Warwick's Kind Music Group record label will release the Parton-penned song on Feb. 24. It was produced by Warwick's son and manager, Damon Elliott.
"I knew from the moment that Dolly sent me [her song] that mom not only must sing it, but Dolly must sing it with her!," Elliott shared in a press release. "The magic is in the dynamic of the duo, and let me say with all the chaos in this world we all need peace and cleansing."
"I was honored to get to sing with one of my idols, Dionne Warwick," Parton added in the same press release. "I have loved her since we were younger and getting to sing with her was one of the highlights of my career. I loved that she loved my song, and I loved singing it with her."
Elliott co-directed the song's forthcoming music video.
The degrees of pop culture separation between Parton and Warwick shrink when you consider this: the late Whitney Houston was Warwick's cousin. Famously, Houston's version of the Parton-penned "I Will Always Love You" for the 1992 film The Bodyguard transformed a former No. 1 country song into a pillar of modern popular music. Warwick told Hall that Houston's exalting of a Parton original proved that "God's got a purpose."
Parton deserves a share of the credit for keeping the song in the public consciousness. Recently, she rang in the New Year with goddaughter Miley Cyrus on the NBC special Miley's New Year's Eve Party. The pair segued a duet of Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" into "I Will Always Love You."
Warwick began her career as a gospel singer. In 1969, she became the first Black solo female artist to win a Grammy award (Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Do You Know the Way to San Jose").
