Test your knowledge of Dolly Parton's biggest hits, deep cuts and iconic moments.
Some of these you know cold; others you know in another singer's voice. The real win is naming the track and, better still, naming Dolly as the one who wrote it first.
Her songwriting hides the surprises, from two standards written in a single day to a chart-topper the world remembers as Whitney Houston's. The credits are where fans come undone.
Dolly's catalog swings from mountain bluegrass to polished pop and back. Start with the songs she owns, then test yourself on the covers and the era shifts that trip players up.
Start with the Dolly Parton trap: the hits most people credit to someone else. 'I Will Always Love You' was hers in 1974, eighteen years before Whitney Houston's version, and 'Jolene' has been remade by everyone from rock bands to pop stars. In a guess-the-song round, the skill is hearing the melody and naming Dolly as the source, not the cover artist who made it a bigger radio hit.
These are the near-automatic answers, the songs Dolly owns outright. '9 to 5' topped the pop chart and earned an Oscar nomination, 'Coat of Many Colors' tells her childhood in a single verse, and the Kenny Rogers duet 'Islands in the Stream' is a sing-along from its first note. Expect a Dolly Parton quiz to start here before the catalog turns tricky.
Dolly rarely stays in one lane, which trips players expecting pure country. 'Here You Come Again' and '9 to 5' are polished pop crossovers, while the 'Trio' album with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris leans into close mountain harmony. Placing a song by its production, twangy or slick, is a real test of how well you know her range.
Late in her career Dolly went back to the mountains. Albums like 'The Grass Is Blue' and 'Little Sparrow' strip the sound to banjo and fiddle, and 'Travelin' Thru' earned her a second Oscar nomination. Catch these from a few bars, add the trivia about her one-room Tennessee childhood and her 1999 Country Music Hall of Fame induction, and few Dolly questions will surprise you.
Play the free Dolly Parton quiz on Songtrivia to find out. You will guess songs from a short clip, from 'Jolene' to '9 to 5', and answer trivia about the classics she wrote for herself and for others. Even lifelong fans slip on the deep cuts.
Expect the signatures: 'Jolene', '9 to 5', 'Coat of Many Colors' and 'I Will Always Love You', plus bluegrass-era deep cuts like 'Little Sparrow' that sort the superfans from the rest.
Yes. Dolly wrote and first recorded 'I Will Always Love You' in 1974; Whitney Houston's 1992 version made it a worldwide No. 1. Spotting the original behind the famous cover is the trickiest round in the Dolly Parton quiz.
Her signature hits are easy points, but many of her songs are better known in someone else's voice, and her sound shifts from country to pop to bluegrass, so the writer and the era are where scores fall.
Her full name is Dolly Rebecca Parton. She was born on January 19, 1946, in a one-room cabin in Sevier County, in the mountains of East Tennessee.
Yes. The Dolly Parton quiz is completely free and needs no signup. Just open the page and start playing. From there you can guess the song with friends in a multiplayer music quiz.
Wikipedia · AllMusic · Pitchfork · Billboard · Songtrivia editorial team.
Each topic is curated by a Quiz Master with category expertise. Selection crosses cultural impact, chart performance, recognition potential and era variety.