Dolly Parton appeared on a large screen at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville to accept the Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the room gasped. The clip had been taped weeks earlier to be shown in absentia; by the night of the ceremony, which NME dates to 12 September, it was posthumous. She won the honour before she died.
What she says in it is mostly about where the music came from. Roots music, or what is now called Americana, is what she grew up playing in the Smoky Mountains, she said, and it is what drew her back to East Tennessee in 1997 to write and record Hungry Again. That album opened the door to the run of bluegrass and acoustic records that she described as a musical renaissance of sorts in her career, picked up by audiences and communities that had not followed her before.
She finished by thanking everybody at the association for the award and adding a line the room already knew. "Just know that I will always love you."
Emmylou Harris introduced the segment. Earlier in the evening Brandi Carlile and I'm With Her led a performance of Coat of Many Colors, which is about as direct a way as country music has of honouring her. The ceremony sits on award watch with the rest of this season's honours.
Parton died last month at 80. She had told fans she was dealing with health issues she had not paid attention to while looking after her late husband Carl Dean, but the cancer diagnosis was not public; her sister later said that was because she did not want people to be sad. The funeral was held privately at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville, where Porter Wagoner, George Jones and Tammy Wynette are also buried.
Tributes have kept coming from every direction. Kacey Musgraves played Here You Come Again in Boston and Maisie Peters covered the same song at Reading; Jack White brought Jolene back into his set at a London show; Orville Peck sang I Will Always Love You; Olivia Rodrigo dedicated a duet with Sarah McLachlan at Daisy Chain Fields to her. The board of Nashville International Airport voted to rename it in her honour. Her estate has confirmed the first DollyFest, running across Nashville and London, which was meant to happen this January before her health stopped it and is now standing in for a traditional public memorial.
The facts
- A pre-recorded Dolly Parton acceptance video was played at the Americana Honors and Awards.
- The award was the Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.
- NME dates the ceremony to 12 September at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
- The video was taped to be shown in absentia and became posthumous instead.
- She talks about returning to East Tennessee in 1997 to record Hungry Again.
- Emmylou Harris introduced the segment.
- Brandi Carlile and I'm With Her led a performance of Coat of Many Colors.
- Her funeral was held privately at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville.
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