Dolly Parton and Zach Williams earned a No. 1 hit with “There Was Jesus” from his 2019 Rescue Story album. The song was written by Zach, along with Casey Beathard and Jonathan Smith, and Zach knew as soon as he heard the demo that he wanted to ask Dolly to join him on the song, never imagining she would say yes. But after the Grand Ole Opry member heard “There Was Jesus,” she immediately agreed to add her voice to the uplifting track

“I grew up in the church,” Dolly told K-Love. “This particular song, it was just like a Godsend. When I first heard it, I thought, ‘What a well-written song’ … Such wonderful writing. I just loved all the lines on the song. I just felt it. I felt like Jesus was in the room. I’d been actually thinking about doing more faith-based music, and I’d been kind of waiting, and writing some things on my own. But when this came, I felt like it was really a gift from God.”

Zach was, of course, very familiar with Dolly, but she quickly became a fan of the gospel singer as well.

“I love his voice, and just hearing him through the headphones, being that close to him, it was really a very spiritual thing, for both of us I think,” Dolly gushed. “Just that wonderful song, what it was saying and what it was about. And our voices sounded so good — we felt like we were really praising God in our own special way.”

Dolly knew right away that “There Was Jesus” would connect with people all over the globe.

“I think this song is so well-written and so well-felt,” boasted the 74-year-old. “When he wrote this song, I knew he knew what he was singing about. But that fits so many people out there. I love how our voices do blend. I was so happy. I was honored to sing on this song. It wasn’t like I was doing him any favors. I think God was doing us both a favor, by giving him that wonderful song, and allowing us to have voices that blended so well, so we could bless so many people with this song.

“Certainly in this day and time, it’s really needed, and these types of songs are really I think helping people through a real hard time,” she continued. “It keeps people close in their faith, and gives them a little bit of extra strength. I just love working with Zach. I love his voice, and I just thank God that I got a chance to be on this wonderful record.”