The passing of Dolly Parton earlier this week has impacted many people across the music world, but for Bad Wolves guitarist AJ Rebollo, the situation became the turning point in his decision to leave the band.
On Friday, August 28, Rebollo announced on Instagram that he had chosen to “step away” from Bad Wolves for several reasons, with the release of the group’s cover of Parton’s “Jolene” becoming the “final nail in the coffin.” The band had originally planned to record the song as a duet with Parton, but Rebollo said the label moved forward with releasing the cover against the band’s wishes.
“In short, I can no longer in good faith remain a member and co-sign the decisions constantly being made FOR this band by the label, among other issues I have with the inner workings of the business,” he wrote.
“I have been at odds with one too many decisions being made for the band for quite some time, but the final nail in the coffin was the label’s decision to move forward with the upcoming Dolly Parton cover, after we blatantly expressed our opposition,” Rebollo continued. “We, as an entity, told the label we had no interest in releasing the cover after learning of Dolly’s unfortunate passing as her collaboration on the song was no longer a possibility, and we felt it would (understandably) be interpreted as somewhat of a capitalization on her passing from an outside perspective.”
Despite the band’s concerns that releasing the cover could be viewed as an attempt to profit from Parton’s passing, their label moved ahead with plans to release the track. Rebollo accused Better Noise Music of acting with “ill intent” by continuing with the release despite him and other members of Bad Wolves making their objections clear.
Better Noise Music later confirmed that the cover would arrive on Monday, August 31, with proceeds from the song benefiting Parton’s Imagination Library initiative.
The internal conflict within Bad Wolves comes shortly after Parton died at the age of 80 following a battle with cancer.
