Nashville airport will be renamed for the country singer Dolly Parton

Nashville International Airport is to be renamed after Dolly Parton, five days after the singer died at 80 following what her family called a brief battle with cancer. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced the plan on August 28, and by that point the Change.org petition that started it had passed 160,000 signatures. It has since gone past 168,000.

Lee said Parton's life is woven into the fabric of Tennessee and called it fitting that the state's main international gateway should carry the name of what he described as its favourite daughter. Her team, he added, are touched by the idea and open to continuing the conversation, having thanked the public for the response.

Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell backed the renaming in a post of his own, and pointed to a project she had left unfinished. Parton had been working with the city on a hotel and museum called SongTeller, which he said she described as her love letter to Nashville. Renaming the airport, he wrote, is the city's letter back.

The proposal goes to a meeting on September 17, with further details expected in the following weeks. Nothing is settled until that process runs, but the political backing is unusually broad for a renaming of this size.

Parton died on Tuesday, August 25, with her family saying she was surrounded by loved ones. They later said she had worked up until the day she died, on an avatar show, a Broadway musical and several Tennessee projects. She had given fans a health update the week before, saying she had let things go while caring for her husband of 58 years, Carl Dean, before his death last year, and she cancelled a Las Vegas residency in May after postponing it in October 2025. MusicSuey reported her death and the reaction to it.

Tributes have run through every stage since. Kacey Musgraves covered Here You Come Again in Boston, Maisie Peters sang the same song at Reading Festival, Jack White played Jolene in London, Orville Peck covered I Will Always Love You, and The King's Guard played 9 To 5 outside Buckingham Palace. Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, Eminem and Elton John all posted, and President Donald Trump ordered flags lowered for a week.

The honours had been arriving before she died, including the Americana Music Association's lifetime achievement award. Where the rest of the year's country honours and ceremonies land is tracked on award watch.