One of the most iconic and influential entertainment figures in the world is a Tennessean we all know and love. While Dolly Parton is currently recovering from ongoing health issues, she is still launching highly anticipated business, music, and theatrical projects. Despite stepping away from the concert stage, the 80-year-old country music legend remains incredibly active and, recently, on June 24, made her first major public appearance in months to cut the ribbon on her brand-new, upscale truck stop and restaurant in Cornersville, Tennessee, featuring barbecue, live music, a dog park, and plenty of Dolly flair.
Her Symphony Tour of multimedia concert series, “Threads: My Songs in Symphony,” is in a seven-week residency in Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center through July 31. This 90-minute multimedia event brings Dolly’s songs and the stories behind them to life with guest vocalists, new orchestrations, and narration from Dolly herself on the big screen, featuring favorites like “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “I Will Always Love You,” and more. While Dolly does not appear live, the show brings her music to life via full orchestras and features exclusive memorabilia; I saw the show opening night, and it is a knockout! She continues to write and develop her upcoming Broadway musical behind the scenes; I saw previews last year in Belmont’s Fisher Center, and it will also be spectacular. “Dolly: A True Original” Musical will begin previews at Broadway‘s St. James Theatre on Monday, December 7, with an official opening on January 19, 2027, Parton’s 81st birthday.
Dolly Parton’s charitable ventures span childhood literacy, disaster relief, healthcare, and education. The Dollywood Foundation funds major programs, employee support, and community initiatives. Dolly’s Imagination Library, founded in 1995, mails free, high-quality, age-appropriate books to children from birth until they turn five, globally, and has gifted over 200 million books. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce quietly donated $26 million to more than 20 charities across the country this summer, and one gift stands out above the rest: the couple gave $2 million to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The donation comes just weeks after Republican lawmakers in Missouri slashed the program’s funding from $6 million to $2 million, forcing it to freeze enrollment and shut out new kids starting July 1. More than 170,000 Missouri children were signed up when politicians pulled the plug.
She donated $1 million to COVID-19 research, helping Vanderbilt University Medical Center develop the Moderna vaccine, and gave $1 million to support pediatric infectious disease research. Parton backed the creation of the LeConte Medical Center in Sevier County, Tennessee, including the Dolly Parton Center for Women’s Services and the Dolly Parton Birthing Unit. Following the 2016 wildfires in East Tennessee, she created the My People Fund and hosted a telethon that raised millions to provide $1,000 monthly stipends for six months to families who lost their homes. She provided over $700,000 to local communities hit by severe flooding in Middle Tennessee. The Dollywood Foundation offers multi-year scholarships to high school seniors in Sevier County and across the U.S. The Dollywood Company covers 100% of tuition, fees, and books for any of its 11,000 theme park employees who choose to advance their education. Parton has supported many organizations, including a bald eagle sanctuary at Dollywood, the Save the Music Foundation, The Boot Campaign for military veterans, and Make-A-Wish.
Dolly Parton’s hotel project in Nashville is the SongTeller Hotel, a 12-story luxury property at 211 Commerce Street in the heart of downtown, her “love letter to the city,” already taking reservations for stays starting on September 15, 2026. She bought the building for $75 million and invested tens of millions to transform the interior into a pink, glittering hospitality experience with Southern charm and musical inspiration, featuring 245 custom-designed rooms and suites, including Acoustic Suites crafted to inspire musicians, and the Six Sisters Suite, which honors Dolly’s five sisters and serves as a premier hotspot for bachelorette trips. Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum, the entire third floor (over 20,000 square feet), is the largest exhibition of “Dollybilia” in the world, an extensive collection of fashion pieces, instruments, and career artifacts. Parton’s Live offers a ticketed, cabaret-style dining and show experience, with songwriter sessions, and Jolene’s, an 11th-floor penthouse venue and speakeasy, providing handcrafted cocktails, small plates, and panoramic views of the downtown skyline. Cup of Ambition is a signature breakfast café and coffee shop named after her famous lyric from the hit song “9 to 5.” The building’s exterior includes a massive, 46-foot-tall metal art installation of Dolly singing, set against a backlit “shimmer wall” made of vibrant, iridescent materials.
She partnered with Community Coffee to release her new signature coffee line, Cup of Ambition; she released a star-studded new recording of “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” featuring Lainey Wilson, Miley Cyrus, Queen Latifah, and Reba McEntire, whose proceeds directly benefit pediatric cancer research.
Dolly Parton maintains a deeply respectful and mutually supportive relationship with African Americans, anchored by shared musical history, public advocacy, and deliberate community investment. While country music has historically wrestled with racial exclusion, Parton has actively built bridges through her actions and words. During a landmark 2020 interview with Billboard magazine, Parton explicitly voiced her solidarity with racial justice protests. When asked about the movement, she famously stated, “Of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!” Her straightforward, empathetic response was widely praised across Black media and pop culture platforms.
Parton has demonstrated a willingness to unlearn harmful traditions to avoid alienating Black fans. In 2018, she proactively removed the word “Dixie” from her Civil War-themed dinner theater attraction, changing it to Dolly Parton’s Stampede. She later addressed the decision by explaining she was guilty of “innocent ignorance” and immediately changed the branding once she realized the term caused pain and carried ties to the Confederacy.
One of Parton’s most significant ties to Black culture involves her hit song, “I Will Always Love You.” After Whitney Houston recorded her legendary 1992 cover for The Bodyguard, the track generated millions of dollars in royalties for Parton. Rather than keeping all the profits, Parton intentionally used the money to purchase a commercial strip mall complex in a historically Black neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee. She publicly refers to the property as “the house that Whitney built,” viewing the investment as a way to honor Houston and support the local Black community. That neighborhood is now thriving and is known today as 12 South.
Parton’s boundary-crossing catalog includes celebrated work with prominent African American and Black international artists. Over her multi-decade career, she has performed or recorded with icons like Patti LaBelle, Queen Latifah, and the legendary South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. If you really want to go deep on the topic, check out Lindsey L Hammers’ 132-page 2017 Georgia Southern University graduate school master’s thesis, “The Parton Paradox: A History of Race and Gender in the Career of Dolly Parton,” available free online at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2645&context=etd
Learn more about Dolly and African Americans in this recent article on The Root:
https://www.theroot.com/13-reasons-dolly-parton-has-always-gotten-love-from-bla-2000066885
All hail “Saint Dolly” and we wish her well.
