Dolly Parton delivered a final message to the music world Wednesday night through a prerecorded video shown weeks after her death, accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association.
The country music legend, who died Aug. 25 at age 80 following a brief battle with cancer, appeared on screen during the 2026 Americana Honors & Awards at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
“Well, hey, it’s Dolly,” Parton said as she began the acceptance message.
The video had been recorded before her death as part of plans for Parton to accept the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award remotely. The organization announced in August that Parton would receive the honor in recognition of her songwriting, recording career and influence on American roots music.
Parton used the message to reflect on growing up in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains and the traditional music that surrounded her during childhood.
She described roots music, now commonly associated with the Americana genre, as the music she grew up playing.
Parton also looked back on her 1997 return to East Tennessee to write and record “Hungry Again,” saying the project opened the door to a series of acoustic and bluegrass records that changed the direction of her career.
Those releases helped Parton reach new audiences while reconnecting her with musical styles that had influenced her from an early age.
Looking back, Parton described that period as a “musical renaissance” in her career.
She thanked the Americana Music Association for recognizing her work before concluding with a reference to one of her most famous songs.
“Just know that I will always love you,” Parton said.
The line echoed the title of her 1974 hit “I Will Always Love You,” which later became one of her best-known compositions.
Singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris introduced the tribute and reflected on Parton’s rise from East Tennessee to international fame.
Harris recalled Parton joining Porter Wagoner’s television program in 1967, a move that helped introduce her to a national audience. She said Parton quickly demonstrated that she intended to build a career beyond being Wagoner’s singing partner.
Parton eventually launched a hugely successful solo career that expanded beyond country music into pop, film, television and business.
Harris praised Parton as both a songwriter and performer, highlighting the combination of her distinctive mountain-influenced voice and humor, per Trending Politics.
The tribute concluded with Brandi Carlile and I’m With Her performing Parton’s autobiographical song “Coat of Many Colors.”
Parton was one of several artists recognized during the ceremony. Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant was also among the Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, while Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers received a posthumous honor that included a reunion performance by surviving members of the band.
Parton’s prerecorded appearance marked one of the first new public messages from the singer to be released following her death.
Her final words to the Americana audience provided a fitting callback to the song that became one of the defining works of her career: “I Will Always Love You.”
