Perhaps one of the fondest friendships one can think of among all celebrities – not just within country music – was that of Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. Recorded eight years ago, the pair expressed that decades long friendship through lyrics and a touching video for their duet “You Can’t Make Old Friends,” – even reminiscing about their hit “Islands in the Stream” 30 years prior. When the world lost Kenny last year, Dolly’s tears again brought her love for her beloved friend out for all to see.
That infinite friendship carries on to the new generation of country music artists. Karissa Ella and Johnny Gates recently teamed up to give their version of this classic, releasing the acoustic video for “You Can’t Make Old Friends” yesterday (3/31).
“When I first heard this song, it almost brought me to tears. The heartfelt message this song sends really hits home especially with the recent passing of Kenny Rogers. I am honored to cover this Kenny and Dolly Parton duet and to sing with my talented friend, Johnny Gates!,” said Karissa in a recent press release.
“It’s really cool to be a part of this song, not only because Dolly and Kenny are legends, but also because I’ve known one of the writers, Caitlyn Smith, for a while now and we’ve written one of my favorite songs, ‘break’ together. Karissa sounds incredible and was such a blast to work with and we’ve become ‘new friends’ really quickly,” added Johnny.
Watch the acoustic performance video for “You Can’t Make Old Friends” here:
This cover is part of Karissa’s The Acoustic Sessions project, featuring four covers that have influenced Karissa musically. The other three covers in the project are “Who I Am,” “Maybe It Was Memphis,” and the final release “Blame It On Your Heart” coming out mid-April with new original music to follow. Playing fiddle and mandolin and lending background vocals on each track is 2x CMA Musician of the Year & ACM Musician Of The Year.
Download/Stream “You Can’t Make Old Friends” here.
For more information on Karissa Ella, visit her website at www.karissaella.com
For more information on Johnny Gates, visit his website at www.thejohnnygates.com