Dolly Parton accepts Lifetime Achievement Award from beyond the grave in video
Dolly Parton accepts Lifetime Achievement Award from beyond the grave in video
Niti MajethiaThu, September 17, 2026 at 6:10 PM UTC
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Dolly thanked the AMA in a pre-recorded video -Credit:Americana Honors & Awards
Dolly Parton accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously at the Americana Honors & Awards 2026 in a video she recorded before her passing. The 9 to 5 singer passed away on August 25 at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
In the video, she stated that she was "so honored" to receive the coveted award. “Roots music, or what is now called Americana music, is what I grew up playing back in the Smoky Mountains,” the late icon said in the video.
“It’s that same music that drew me back to East Tennessee back in 1997 to write and record my album ‘Hungry Again.’ And that project really opened the door to a series of bluegrass and acoustic albums that changed the course of my career in so many ways,” Dolly recalled. This comes after Dolly Parton's sister made a moving confession about the country icon's marriage to Carl Dean.
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The singer added that now that "new fans" have discovered her music and "embraced" her albums, she believes that era of her career is a "musical renaissance."
“I want to thank everyone at the AMA for recognizing me with this award,” she continued. “It’s a great honor, truly, and just know that I will always love you."
Before the video was played, Dolly's friend Emmylou Harris, 79, delivered a speech about the icon's impact.
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“She was one of our all-time greatest songwriters, but she shined just as brightly on stage,” she said. “She lit up the TV screen and then she, she lit up the movie screen.”
Dolly's friend Emmylou Harris, 79, delivered a speech about the icon's impact -Credit:Getty Images for Americana Music Association
She added that Dolly's “stunningly beautiful, pure mountain voice could make us cry and then crack us up with a well-aimed, sometimes body joke.”
“There was nothing Dolly couldn’t do, and so she did it,” she said.
The beloved singer died at the age of 80 on August 25 after a brief battle with cancer, though the exact type of cancer she had has not been confirmed.
Stella Parton, Dolly's sister, said in a recent interview with CBS Mornings with Gayle King that "she did not want people sad," explaining that the singer didn't want anyone to worry about her.
"She'd be really happy and delighted that people have shown her so much love," Stella said, also revealing that even members of their extended family were left in the dark about the devastating diagnosis. "Some of us knew, the ones of us that were close."
Dolly Parton recorded a video before her death -Credit:Americana Honors & Awards
"Dolly could not bear negative things," Stella said. "And she would not have wanted her fans worried about it."
Her passing was announced in a prerecorded message from her nephew Bryan Seaver, shared on her social media accounts, as thousands of fans and celebrities alike paid tribute to the beloved hitmaker.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
