Tennessee moves to name Nashville's airport for the country singer Dolly Parton

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority have said they want Nashville International Airport, known by the code BNA, renamed for Dolly Parton. The announcement came days after the singer died at 80, and Lee spoke to Parton's team before making it public.

Nothing is settled yet. The airport authority's existing naming policy and Lee's proposal both go before an authority meeting on Thursday, September 17, with more detail promised in the weeks after that.

Lee framed the idea around the state rather than the industry, saying in a statement that "it is fitting that Nashville International Airport would bear the name of our state's favorite daughter." He described her carrying what he called the Volunteer Spirit from a rural East Tennessee home to stages around the world.

Doug Kreulen, president and chief executive of the airport authority, called BNA the front door to Music City. He said Parton understood that dignity and opportunity should never depend on where a traveler comes from, and that the airport tries to treat a first-time flyer and a private aircraft passenger the same way.

If the change goes through, Parton would be the second American musician with a US airport named after her, following Louis Armstrong in New Orleans, and the first woman. Liverpool's airport carries John Lennon's name, while Budapest, Salzburg and Warsaw are named for Liszt, Mozart and Chopin. Whether the BNA code itself would change, a nod to the field's original name, has not been decided.

Her record in country runs to 44 top 10 albums, 11 Grammy Awards and 10 CMA Awards, alongside the Dollywood Foundation and the Imagination Library, which has put hundreds of millions of free books in children's hands. MusicSuey covered her death earlier this week and, before that, the Americana Music Association's lifetime achievement award.