"You Can't Make Old Friends" is a song by

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...

in duet with

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

from Roger's 2013 album of the same name. It was written by Ryan Hanna King,

Don Schlitz Donald Allen Schlitz Jr. (born August 29, 1952) is an American songwriter who has written more than twenty number one hits on the country music charts. He is best known for his song " The Gambler" (Kenny Rogers), and as the co-writer of " For ...

Caitlyn Smith Caitlyn Elizabeth Smith (born June 13, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She was raised in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Smith's debut album '' Starfire'' was released on Monument Records on January 19, 2018. Her second studio alb ...

. The song was released as a digital download on September 3, 2013. Its music video premiered on ABC's ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

'' on September 16. The song was subsequently sent to country radio on November 4. It debuted on the ''Billboard''

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...

chart in December 2013, eventually peaking at number 57. For their performance, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton were nominated in 2014 at the

56th Annual Grammy Awards The 56th Annual Grammy Awards presentation was held on January 26, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT and was hosted for the third time by LL Cool J. The show was moved to January to avoid co ...

for

Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance The Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. It was first awarded in 2012, after a major overhaul of Gram ...

. "You Can't Make Old Friends" was later included on Parton's 2014 album, '' Blue Smoke''.

Personnel

– guest vocals * J. T. Corenflos – electric guitar *

Eric Darken Eric A. Darken is an American percussionist, composer, and programmer. Biography Drawing inspiration from his grandfather, a band leader. Darken began playing drums at age 12, and played timpani and mallets in high school. Darken attended ...

– percussion * Paul Franklin – steel guitar *

Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer, studio guitarist, and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004 ...

– electric guitar *

Ilya Toshinsky Bering Strait was a Russian country music band, whose style was sometimes called "redgrass". In 2003, the band was nominated for a Grammy Award and appeared on the TV show ''60 Minutes''. The group disbanded in 2006. The lineup on their first al ...

– acoustic guitar * Charlie Judge – acoustic piano *

Greg Morrow Greg Morrow is an American drummer, percussionist, session musician, mixing engineer, and vocalist. Biography Morrow was born in Ripley, Tennessee and raised in Memphis. At age 11, Morrow and his band performed on a local TV show, and he par ...

– drums *

Jimmie Lee Sloas Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass. History Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the popular ...

– bass

Production

* Producer – Dann Huff * Engineer – Todd Tidwell * Additional Engineer – Russell Terrell * Assistant Engineers – Shawn Daugherty, Mike Lancaster and Seth Morton. * Recorded at Starstruck Studios (Nashville, TN). * Additional Engineering at RTBGV (Nashville, TN). * Kenny Rogers' vocals recorded by Steve Marcantonio at Starstruck Studios, Blackbird Studio (Nashville, TN) and Doppler Studios (Atlanta, GA). * Mixed by Steve Marcantonio at Blackbird Studio * Digital Editing by Sean Neff

Charts

Cover versions

A cover version of "You Can't Make Old Friends", a duet between

Nathan Carter Nathan Kane Tyrone Carter (born 28 May 1990) is a British-born Irish country music singer based in the UK and Ireland. He Nathan Carter discography, has released thirteen studio albums and six live albums as of December 2022, five of which pea ...

and

Lisa McHugh Lisa McHugh (born 16 August 1988) is a Scottish-Irish pop and country singer. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to Irish people, Irish parents. Her father is from Castlederg in County Tyrone and her mother is from Falcarragh in Cloughaneely, a ...

, appeared on McHugh's 2015 album ''Wildfire''. The Petersens released a Bluegrass version on May 20, 2020, on their Youtube Channel as a tribute to then recently deceased Kenny Rogers.

References

{{Dolly Parton songs 2013 songs 2013 singles Kenny Rogers songs Dolly Parton songs Warner Records Nashville singles Male–female vocal duets Songs written by Don Schlitz Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Song recordings produced by Kyle Lehning Music videos directed by Trey Fanjoy Songs written by Caitlyn Smith