In her first #1 hit on the Country chart, Dolly Parton's curiosity is piqued by a mysterious mountain man named Joshua, who has a reputation for being mean and vicious. She sets out on a trek to his little shack to find out if the rumors are true, only to discover he's a lonesome recluse with a kind heart. They fall in love and make the little shack their home. "I love the story of this song," Dolly wrote in her 2020 book, Songteller. "But I also love its little musical arrangement. The record sounded really good. I based the character on two or three mountain men I knew as a kid, reclusive people who lived alone way back in the mountains. I just kind of built the story around them."
This is the title track and sole single from Dolly's seventh studio album, released in 1971. Two months earlier, she also released the gospel album The Golden Streets Of Glory, which earned a Grammy nomination for its title song.
This was nominated for Best Female Country Vocal Performance at the 1972 Grammy Awards but lost to "Help Me Make It Through The Night" by Sammi Smith.
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