As Dolly Parton axes Vegas shows due to health challenges, what are her best songs aside from 9-5 and Jolene?

Dolly Parton will not attend the 16th Governors Awards in Hollywood later this month, where she is set to receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

The 79-year-old country icon, who recently postponed her Las Vegas residency over health concerns, will instead accept the honorary award remotely from Nashville.

Her absence from the awards ceremony, however, is not due to a medical issue. A spokesperson said: “We told Governors Awards/Academy in June she could not attend when they first approached us.”

Speaking a few days ago about her Las Vegas u-turn, Parton said: “I want the fans and public to hear directly from me that, unfortunately, I will need to postpone my upcoming Las Vegas concerts.

“As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures.”

When you ask people to name some of Dolly Parton’s best songs, the first two that are often listed are 9-5 and Jolene - both excellent records in their own right.

But with 49 studio albums to her name, there is so much more to her library than those two tracks. Here are some of the best Dolly Parton songs that you might not have listened to before.

1. My Tennessee Mountain Home (1972)

A song about Parton’s childhood, she sings about her rural upbrining in the centerpiece of her eponymous album, released the following year. It reached number 15 on the US Country singles chart.

Parton later re-recorded the song for her 1994 album, Heartsongs.

2. Here You Come Again (1977)

One of Dolly Parton’s most iconic tracks, this song was initially written for Brenda Lee, who turned it down. With a more pop sound, it helped propel Parton into the mainstream, sitting top of the US Country singles chart for five weeks and leading to a Grammy nomination in 1978 for best female pop vocal performance.

According to producer Gary Klein, Parton “begged” him to have a steel guitar added to preserve her country roots.

3. Coat of Many Colors (1971)

Written on a tour bus in 1969, Dolly Parton first drew up this song on the back of a dry cleaning receipt. The song is about Parton’s mother making her a coat out of family rags, similar to the biblical story of Joseph.

So influential was this song that an entire movie was written around it in 2015, with Alyvia Alyn Lind playing a young Parton.

4. The Bargain Store (1975)

Considered to be one of her last ‘true country’ tracks, Dolly Parton here compares her life to a bargain store, singing that “she may have just what you're looking for”.

The song reached number one on the US Country singles chart for one week before being pulled from radio stations across the USA - with programmers mistaking the line “you can easily afford the price” as a prostitution reference.

5. Seven Bridges Road

A cover on her 2001 studio album Little Sparrow, Seven Bridges Road is an iconic country track that has been covered by just about every artist in the genre you can think of.

My personal favourite version still comes from The Wilder Blue and Luke Combs, but Dolly Parton’s rendition of Steve Young’s 1969 song still resonates to this day.