Nobody was more surprised to find out that Dolly Parton had covered Collective Soul's anthemic breakout 1994 single "Shine" than the Atlanta band's frontman Ed Roland. "My phone rang early one morning and one of my friends said, 'Dolly Parton just sang your song on TV!'" he recalls fondly. "Apparently she told the TV host that she was doing it as a gift for her husband Carl Dean, who really loved the song." Parton backs up the theory. "My husband had that record in the house and it was a favorite of mine," she says. "I kept thinking that's a great message song. I didn't know if I could do it, because it sounded so rock. Then one day I thought that's so pretty, if I just took that guitar off and put some mandolin on . . . add some bluegrass harmonies, it would be great."

Roland says that the band was stupefied when they found out, arguing that their version of the song was never even meant for public consumption. "In all honesty, the first CD, which has 'Shine' on it, basically was a songwriter's demo, trying to get a publishing deal and try to showcase songs. It's the first time ever we've had one of those songs covered, and it's an honor, and really cool . . . especially coming from someone who's a great songwriter. It's not necessary for her to use anyone's songs except her own."

To show their appreciation, Collective Soul quickly dispatched a huge bouquet of flowers to Parton's dressing room at Late Show With David Letterman, where she was performing on January 31st. "To be honest, I don't know what we sent." Roland says ruefully. "You just call up a florist and say, 'Make sure that it's nice. It has to be nice. I don't care what it is, just make sure it's nice.'"

As for the card, Roland wrote, "It's an honor for you to do our song. You humble us by your kind words." So far the band hasn't met Parton, but they hope too, especially guitarist Dean Roland, Ed's brother. "Dean called me after we found out about the song and said, 'Can you believe this? It's so great. I've always had such a crush on her.'"

Collective Soul are no strangers to celebrity -- on the band's last album, Blender, they enlisted Elton John to sing on "Perfect Day." "Elton is a part-time Atlanta resident, so we've gotten to know him over the past five or six years, and he's always been very supportive of our band. And he knew all along that he was my introduction into rock & roll and my musical hero," says Ed. "We always talked about singing on each other's albums, so we called his bluff one night, and he called ours right back and showed up at the studio."

And they didn't even have to send him flowers.