Beyoncé lauds Parton's profound impact and artistic brilliance in a heartfelt tribute.
Parton wished for Beyoncé to cover her hit 'Jolene', which Beyoncé later fulfilled on 'Cowboy Carter'.
Parton and Beyoncé bonded over the album, exchanging flowers and love notes.
Beyoncé has spoken out for the first time following the death of Dolly Parton, who passed away on August 25 at the age of 80.
Source: Edward Berthelot / Tim Mosenfelder
The singer took to her website to honor the country music legend, thanking her for her contributions to music and the world.
She wrote: “Dolly, You were the barometer. The North Star. Bold and brilliant. Talented and tenacious. You taught so many lessons on how to be uniquely oneself. I am grateful for your art, your heart, your generosity, your humor, your entrepreneurship. I’m honored that I had the privilege to work with you.
I will treasure that forever. Thank you for your profound impact on the world,” her post continued. “You are an angel who has made this world a happier place because of your joyful art.”
Beyoncé concluded, “You are truly one of one. Rest peacefully.”
Beyoncé and Parton supported one another publicly, over the years, especially when Bey’s country album, Cowboy Carter, dropped.
Even before that, though, Parton wished for the Houston native to cover her smash hit, “Jolene,” which she admitted to Trevor Noah on The Daily Show in 2022.
“I think she’s fantastic and beautiful, and I love her music,” Parton told Noah at the time. “I would just love to hear ‘Jolene’ done in just a big way, kind of like how Whitney (Houston) did my ‘I Will Always Love You,’ just someone that can take my little songs and make them like powerhouses. That would be a marvelous day in my life if she ever does do ‘Jolene.’”
Just a couple years later, Beyoncé released Cowboy Carter, which featured a cover of Dolly’s 1973 classic, just as she hoped. But, instead of the pleading tone of the original, Beyturned the track into an assertive warning to the song’s namesake.
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Parton was an active participant in the project, appearing on the interlude track “Dolly P” (where she jokingly compares Jolene to “Becky with the good hair”) and makes a brief cameo on the track “Tyrant”
Following the Cécred founder’s cover, Parton publicly praised her reinterpretation, calling it “really, really good.”
“She wasn’t gonna go beg some other woman like I did,” she told E! News at the time. “‘Don’t steal my man.’ ‘S**t, get out here, b***h. You ain’t stealin’ mine.'”
She also defended Beyoncé’s entry into country music, reminding critics that Beyoncé is a proud “country girl” from Texas.
Parton went on to reveal in the same interview that the two icons bonded after the album’s release, communicating and exchanging flowers and love notes.
“We communicated when the album came out, when I was doing some of the little things to put on the album,” Dolly said. “And we were sending each other flowers and little love notes and all that. So, yeah, it’s all good.”
She even said she’d be up for performing “Jolene” with Beyoncé at the 2025 Grammys if Cowboy Carter got nominated.
“Why of course I would—if I’m available, if I’m not caught up in something I cannot get out of, yeah, that’d be wonderful,” Dolly noted. “I mean, who wouldn’t wanna sing ‘Jolene’ with Beyoncé?”
Sadly, we never got that performance, but their work together on Cowboy Carter lives on.
