Review: Country legend Dolly Parton goes arena-rock goth on her new single

POP/ROCK

Dolly Parton, "World on Fire"

Parton has announced an album due Nov. 17, "Rockstar," that will be full of remakes of hits, often joined by the original performers. But she also brought some songs of her own including this one, her worried, indignant assessment of a "World on Fire" that's full of lies and conflict. It's Dolly gone arena-rock goth, with power-chord blasts and martial drums. A gospelly bridge asks, "Can't we rise above/Can't we show some love?," but then it's back to minor chords as Parton belts her best intentions — "Let's heal the hurt/let kindness work" — against a grim, stomping, "We Will Rock You"-style chant: "Whatcha gonna do when it all burns down?" Parton concludes by posing that same question.

JON PARELES, New York Times

Rhiannon Giddens, "You're the One"

Fresh off winning the Pulitzer Prize for music for her opera, "Omar," Giddens releases the title song of her first full album of her own songs (though she has written, adapted and collaborated widely). As she sings about finding a love that turns "shades of gray" into "a new Technicolor world," the song explodes out of her string-band foundations — banjo and fiddle — into full-tilt rock choruses, bursting with euphoria.

JON PARELES, New York Times

Moose's violin mirrors Bridgers' nocturnal anxiety on this song from Moose's upcoming EP, "Inflorescence." Plucked notes echo her tense nerves while a groaning bed of strings brings an added pathos to the lyrics, which were written by Bridgers' collaborator Marshall Vore. "I used to have the energy to get mad, used to know how to say sorry," Bridgers sings with wry self-judgment and an escalating intensity. "But now I'm back with none of that."

LINDSAY ZOLADZ, New York Times

New releases