Contemporary Christian artist Zach Williams’ duet with acclaimed singer Dolly Parton, “There Was Jesus,” features a personal proclamation of faith, and hope. Driven by Parton’s timeless vocal tone paired with Williams’ soulful performance, the anthem crossed the country and faith-based genres and landed as a number one hit for multiple weeks in a row.
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Williams told American Songwriter getting to work with Parton was an enormous privilege, as the renowned artist receives a large volume of requests constantly.
According to Williams, Parton was looking for more faith-based projects when his team reached out regarding the song.
“We all knew it was a big ask and we were shooting for the moon to try to get her on the song,” Williams explained. “We originally heard that 90% of the stuff that comes her way, she turns down just because she has so many people asking to do songs with her.”
Williams recounted Parton telling him, the day she received the song, that she didn’t even make it through the first chorus, before she knew it was a special song and a “God-send.”
“She said ‘I wake up and I pray every day that God just gives me the opportunity that I need for that day…I felt like that was the one that He wanted me to do,’,” Williams noted Parton said, when in the process of creating the track.
The pair spent approximately four hours cutting Parton’s vocals in a studio in Nashville, Williams said. “She could have easily come in and mailed it in and just sang a couple lines and I would have been completely happy with whatever she wanted to do on it, I was just thrilled to have her. But instead, she wanted to serve the song as best it could be served.”
Following the release of the track as a part of Williams’ album Rescue Story Parton invited the artist to perform the song with her at the Country Music Awards and in recent weeks the song has seen another spike in interest, sitting at a number one spot for five weeks in a row.
Speaking to the story behind “There Was Jesus,” Williams said the central message is a call to remember where Jesus has been, in every moment, retrospectively.
“I was just a reckless guy for 13 years of my life. Living from one day to the next,” Williams said. “I grew up with this knowledge of who God was, but I only had head knowledge, I didn’t have God living in my heart at the time. But, I look back on all those years of my life and go ‘man, God was in that moment right there, I can remember that night when I should have went to jail, or I can remember this moment when I probably shouldn’t have made it out alive,’ and I go ‘man, He was in every one of those moments even though I was running from Him, He was chasing after me,’.”
Williams said although when thinking back through his life although there were times when he missed God, he can now recognize and say “there was Jesus.”
The entire album was written from a place of reflection, Williams noted. “That’s my favorite part about being a songwriter – just writing through the seasons of life that you’re in.”
The song, according to Williams, also had a far greater impact and reach because of the connection with Parton.
“It was pretty unreal to me, when it really sunk in just how many people know who Dolly Parton is,” Williams said. “Everyone knows that name. The song just blew up. It was doing stuff that we hadn’t seen songs do and I know it was because of the association that she had with the song.”
“The message of what the song is about and who God is has reached an audience that I could have never probably reached, because of her association,” Williams continued. “There are people who have heard that song now because Dolly’s on it that never would have heard it had it just been me, releasing it out to my fan base.”
Williams emphasized he would love to work with Parton again, and the two did discuss getting together again for projects to songwrite as Parton’s interest in faith-based and gospel music remains.
“I just have a lot of respect for her, who she is, and how she’s stayed grounded for all of these years,” Williams noted. “She’s exactly who you hoped she’d be when you meet her. You realize real quickly why she’s had a career as long as she has. It’s because she’s so down to earth and she just loves on everybody.”
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