What’s old is new again when it comes to Barry Gibb.
The last living member of legendary pop music group, the Bee Gees, is gearing up for next week’s release of his new album — and he recruited more music royalty to help him revive some classics.
On Thursday, Gibb released a collaboration with Dolly Parton on “Words,” which was originally released as a single by the Bee Gees in 1968.
Written by Gibb with his late brothers Robin and Maurice, “Words” has been covered by a number of artists, including Elvis Presley, Glen Campbell, Roy Orbison, and Rita Coolidge through the years.
Parton, the iconic country music singer/songwriter, kicks off the new version of “Words,” with the first verse about starting “a brand new story.”
“Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1,” which will be released Jan. 8, also features interpretations of other Bee Gees classics like “Jive Talkin'” with Miranda Lambert, “Words of a Fool” with Jason Isbell, and “Butterfly” with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.
The seminal group, who became a global sensation during the 1970s, is the subject of an acclaimed HBO Max documentary, “The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” which premiered Dec. 12.
Formed as vocal trio, the British siblings became a hitmaking machine in the 1960s and had an extraordinary second act as an iconic disco group in the 1970s, with smashes such as “Stayin’ Alive” and “Night Fever.”
After enduring a career debilitating disco backlash in the early 1980s, the group bounced back as a songwriting force (for the likes of Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick and Kenny Rogers and Parton— to name a few) until the death of Maurice, in January 2003 at 53, and Robin who died in May 2012, at 62.