Their collaboration on “God Only Knows” earned Dolly Parton and for King & Country the 2020 GMA Dove Award for Short Form Video Of The Year. This powerful music video features Dolly as she and the duo of for KING & COUNTRY struggle to find themselves before turning to faith and belief. They shot the full-length video in Nashville, produced by Patrick Tohill and directed by Benjamin Smallbone.
Following its release, “God Only Knows” has won “Song of the Year” honors at the K-LOVE awards, received a GMA Dove Award for Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year (2019), and the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song. Additionally, the impactful video for “God Only Knows” has amassed over 9.3 million views on YouTube. For KING & COUNTRY also took home Artist of the Year.
Since 1969 the GMA Dove Awards has honored outstanding achievements and excellence in Christian and Gospel Music. The show celebrates rich musical diversity. Awards are presented to individuals representing modern various genres including Rock, Bluegrass, Country, and more! See a full list of 2020 award winners.
Their collaboration on "God Only Knows" earned Dolly Parton & for King & Country the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song on Sunday, January 26, 2020. This marks Dolly's 10th Grammy win including her Lifetime Achievement Award and MusiCares Person of the Year Award. This is the fourth Grammy win for the Australian duo comprised of Joel and Luke Smallbone. While not present at the awards, Dolly expressed her excitement and gratitude. She said,
"I am so excited that for King and Country and I won a Grammy for 'God Only Knows!' Thank God and thank all of you!"
Joel and Luke accepted the award during the Grammy's Premiere Ceremony. They later shared this message with their fans on social media.
"We’re floored.. and dedicate these to anyone needing a new beginning, a fresh start, and a new dawn. These awards for us represent redemption for our family. If you’re wondering if your story can be used for good, it can be.." -- for King & Country
In addition to the Grammy win, “God Only Knows” also won “Song of the Year” honors at the K-LOVE awards and received a Dove Award for Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year. See a full list of winners from the 62nd Grammy Awards highlights and more at Grammy.com.
This powerful music video for “God Only Knows” features Dolly as she and the Smallbone brothers struggle to find themselves before resigning to faith and belief. They shot the full-length video in Nashville, produced by Patrick Tohill and directed by Benjamin Smallbone.
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Photo Credit: Curtis Hilbun
Photo Credit: Curtis Hilbun
“Celebrating legendary women in country music” - the resinating theme of "The 53rd Annual CMA Awards" did not disappoint. The opening number of the show could have very easily been mistaken for the finale as it featured one female country legend after another singing some of the genre’s most moving songs.
Dolly, Reba and Carrie brought the crowd to their feet with harmonies as smooth as a new hairdo, when they kicked the show off with “Those Memories.” Of course, Reba and Carrie were channeling their inner Emmylou and Linda as this song was recorded by Dolly, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris in 1987 on their first Trio album. Jennifer Nettles, Kimberly Schlapman and Karen Fairchild held the momentum with Loretta Lynn’s “You’re Lookin’ at Country” with Jennifer fittingly recognizing the first woman to win the Entertainer of the Year award sitting on the front row.
The veil lifted on a second section of the stage revealing Dolly and the Highwomen (Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile and Amanda Shires) with Tammy Wynette’s “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad.” From then the hits just kept coming with Tanya Tucker singing her own “Delta Dawn,” Gretchen Wilson with “Redneck Woman” and Crystal Gale and her classic “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue.” With her guitar, Terri Clark burst into “Better Things To Do” and Sara Evans rose up with “Born to Fly.” The closer, enter Martina McBride, with the consequential women’s empowerment anthem, “Independence Day.”
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Reba, enchanted the crowd with her wardrobe changes while performing her 1991 hit, “Fancy” which didn’t let anybody down. Carrie delivered her jazzy new single, “Drinking Alone.” And Dolly graced the stage with a spiritual number which included her recent collaborations with Zach Williams and for King & Country. She ended with a breath-taking “Have a Little Faith in Me,” her most recent collaboration (with Galantis & Mr. Probz) that landed Dolly her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales Chart.
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At the end of his performance of "God's Country," Blake Shelton hugged fiddle player, Jenee Fleenor, congratulating her on her big win. Earlier in the day, she won Musician of the Year. Jenee was not only the first woman to win this award but also the first woman to receive a nomination in the category in the 53-year history of the CMA Awards.
If you missed the awards, visit cmaawards.com for On-Demand viewing options.
In a USA Today/Tennessean exclusive, for KING & COUNTRY’s Joel Smallbone explained how the collaboration came to be. After watching Dolly’s Netflix movie, “Dumplin,” Joel fell in love with the film’s plot and soundtrack, leading him to reach out to Dolly.
“When I first heard ‘God Only Knows’ I thought it was one of the best songs I’d ever heard,” Dolly said. “I came from a very spiritual background, and I love anything to do with inspirational songs that lift people up. I feel that this is a good song for right now, and it’s so well written. I know that it touched me at a time when I needed to be lifted up.”
Dolly Parton has joined two-time GRAMMYⓇ award-winning duo for KING & COUNTRY for a brand-new version of the group’s award-winning single “God Only Knows,” as well as a powerful music video. Dolly’s presence on the track takes the song to new heights, with shimmering acoustic guitars complementing the song’s message of hope.
For KING & COUNTRY’s Joel Smallbone reflected,
“Hearing Dolly sing that chorus and those words was an out of body experience for us as writers and artists. As soon as we heard her vocals on the track, we immediately realized that this song was meant for her voice.”
Additionally, Dolly is featured in a powerful new music video for “God Only Knows,” as she and the Smallbone brothers struggle to find themselves before resigning to faith and belief. The full-length video was shot in Nashville, produced by Patrick Tohill and directed by Benjamin Smallbone.
“God Only Knows” recently won “Song of the Year” honors at the K-LOVE awards, received a Dove Award nomination for Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year, and held the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Top Christian Songs chart for 11 weeks. Additionally, the song hit Top 30 on Mediabase and Billboard’s Hot AC charts while garnering 330 million radio impressions and over 65 million streams across all digital platforms.
