The Queen of Country, Dolly Parton, Has Passed Away

Known as "The Queen of Country", Dolly Parton, has passed away at the age of eighty. In a video announcing her passing today August 25th, 2026, her nephew, stated that, "She never saw a door she couldn't open." And that his aunt informed him that she wanted to rest on a "beautiful bed of plush cotton" because after wearing rhinestones all of her life, she wanted to finally be comfortable. Echoing the words of one of her famous songs, her nephew ended his video with the comments that "God Bless Dolly, God Bless you all, she will always love you."

A native of Tennessee, Dolly Rebecca Parton, was born on January 19th, 1946 in a one-bedroom wooden cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River. During her early childhood, her family didn't have electricity with Dolly Parton stating that they used to catch fireflies in mason jars and keep them in their rooms for light. The only running water that they had was when they were willing to run and get the water, according to Dolly Parton. The fourth of twelve children, Dolly's childhood cabin that they later moved into is still standing on Locust Ridge Road in Sevierville, Tennessee.

According to accounts, Dolly Parton loved to read when she was little and would read everything from seed packets to the Farmer's Almanac to The Bible. She started playing the guitar and making up songs by the age of 8. With Dolly being featured on the Knoxville radio airwaves at the age of 13. She graduated from Sevier County High School in 1964 and headed over to Nashville. Where she met her lifelong husband, Carl Dean, on her first day in the music city at a laundromat. They married in 1966 and Dolly Parton's rise to country music fame was set when she was asked to join the Porter Wagoner television show as the new female singer. Dolly Parton later joined the Grand Ole' Opry in 1969.

Dolly Parton's father, Robert Lee Parton Sr., was a sharecropper and construction worker while her mother, Avie Lee Caroline Owens Parton, was a homemaker. She learned the church songs and traditional folk ballads from her mother as a child, with Dolly Parton stating that, "All my mother's people were very musical, so I was always around people playing instruments and singing, and my mom singing the old songs." With Dolly's mother being of Welsh ancestry, her mother taught her many of the old ballads from the British Isles that were brought to Southern Appalachia in the 18th and 19th centuries while she was growing up.

Dolly Parton performed a number of times throughout her career in Alabama. With Dolly Parton, capitalizing on an image featuring her towering bouffant hairstyle, very busty physique, and rhinestone covered dresses. With regards to her appearance, she was known for saying, "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap!" Some of Dolly Parton's appearances in Alabama included appearing as a special guest star for the June Jam on June 09th, 1990 in Fort Payne with the famous country music group, "Alabama." Her charity program, "Dolly Parton's Imagination Library", which donates one free, age-appropriate book each month for children from birth until they turn five years of age, has donated over two million books throughout the State of Alabama since it was rolled out statewide in 2023.

Throughout her country music and pop crossover career, Dolly Parton received 11 Grammy Awards, and three Emmy Awards. Venturing over into the field of acting, she was also nominated for two Academy Awards. Some of her famous songs include, "I Will Always Love You", which was also a hit for Whitney Houston, "Jolene", "Coat of Many Colors", "Love Is Like A Butterfly", and "9 to 5". She was a lead actress in "9 to 5" and "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", "Rhinestone", "Steel Magnolias", "Straight Talk", and "Joyful Noise".

Luisa Reyes is a Tuscaloosa attorney, piano instructor, vocalist, poet, reporter, and columnist who writes on politics, current affairs, and the arts.