For those unaware, Matt White’s Dolly is the forthcoming album from South Carolina-based trumpeter, composer, and arranger Matt White, to be released May 15th, 2026.

The self-produced recording reimagines songs written, recorded, and interpreted by Dolly Parton while connecting White’s ongoing work in Southern musical history with one of the most widely recognized bodies of songwriting in American culture.

By approaching Parton’s early catalog through an ensemble grounded in jazz, gospel, country, and regional folk practice, Matt White’s Dolly traces a direct line between cultural memory and contemporary improvisation while marking a personal rediscovery within White’s work.

White describes the project simply as a reimagining of Parton’s songs within a contemporary musical framework that seeks above all to honor the originals.

The result is a spacious, song-forward ensemble sound that balances Southern sacred tradition, chamber-like arranging, and open improvisation. Matt White’s Dolly will available in digital and CD configurations.

1. Down from Dover
2. My Blue Tears
3. 9 to 5 (1)
4. The Bridge
5. 9 to 5 (2)
6. The Carroll County Accident
7. 9 to 5 (3)
8. Jolene
9. Little Bird

Bringing years of cultural research, regional collaboration, and compositional inquiry into a single, deeply personal statement, White opens his new recording on the dutifully crafted swing lite vibe of Down from Dover and the sumptuous My Blue Tears, and then we get the organ-hued, at first, trumpet motivated latterly first version of 9 to 5 and a luxuriant The Bridge.

Along next are his free flowing musical majesties of his second version of 9 to 5 which is itself backed seamlessly by the rhythmic storytelling that drives The Carroll County Accident, the melodically-fueled organ work of the third, and final version of 9 to 5, the new set rounding out on a resplendent rendition of Jolene, coming to a close on a highly emotive Little Bird.

For more than half a century, Dolly Parton has shaped American music and culture. While White was familiar with Parton’s music, he encountered her early songs later and interprets those early works as records of American life shaped by poverty, faith, gender, and endurance - realities that remain present decades after the songs were written. She’s the greatest living American, White says, because she embodies the things we hope this country can be - kindness, welcome, independence, and taking care of people.

www.mattwhitejazz.com

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