Dolly Parton Beams In Pre-Recorded Message That Includes Nod To Her Final Resting Place

Dolly Parton has won her first posthumous lifetime achievement award thanks to the Americana Music Association, and luckily for fans, she recorded an acceptance message before passing away. The touching video sees a glowing Parton gushing over her love of the Smoky Mountains, where she grew up and which also happens to be her final resting place — you're going to want to grab a box of tissues for this one. The legendary country star began her acceptance video by pointing out that Americana music, which was once also known as Roots music, was the first genre she'd loved as a child. Americana, Parton shared, "Is what I grew up playing in the Smoky Mountains." 

Dolly Parton posthumously accepts award in pre-recorded Lifetime Achievement speech 🤍 pic.twitter.com/dRzCHuzc0Q

— TMZ (@TMZ) September 17, 2026

Her love of the genre never waned, and in the '90s, she embraced that fully with her hit album "Hungry Again," which Parton wrote and recorded in East Tennessee. As a very touching aside, the title track of the album has several notable similarities to "If We Never Meet Again This Side of Heaven," the song Parton specifically requested be played at her funeral, and which her dad had often sung while she was growing up. As if the video wouldn't have had fans far and wide welling up as is, she also looked positively ethereal in it. 

The Grammy winner, as always, took a moment to thank her supporters too. "She made sure to thank everyone even after she was gone. That is so Dolly," wrote one on X. "Dolly speaking to us from beyond like that [...] The way she held herself together to give us one last moment? She knew exactly what she was doing and I'm not okay," confessed another. Others were more moved by the line Parton signed off with: "Just know that I will always love you."

The fact that Dolly Parton was so proud of her lifelong ties to the region she grew up in, right up to the very end of her life, is heartwarming, but not surprising. After all, even before the posthumous message was shown, Parton and her soulmate Carl Dean were buried there together. The longtime couple's shared tomb includes a beautiful homage to their respective upbringings in Appalachia, alongside images of their humble childhood homes with the mountains visible in the background. Notably, there aren't any allusions to the glamor that came with Parton's celebrated career, which calls to mind something her nephew mentioned in his announcement of her death on Instagram. 

Bryan Seaver shared that she had requested to be laid to rest in: "Beautiful plush cotton, because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable." Of course, outside of her tomb and her video message to the Americana Music Association, the "Jolene" hitmaker's presence will continue to be felt in the Smoky Mountains thanks to her theme park, Dollywood. In addition to creating employment opportunities for countless residents in the surrounding area, the park is a love letter to her upbringing, and is modeled on the region and its culture. 

In the wake of the country icon's death, local fans have spoken out about what Dollywood meant to them, with one writing on Facebook, "Thank you, Dolly, for never forgetting where you came from and for giving the people of Appalachia a place where our heritage was celebrated." Parton may have been a world-renowned star, but she remained a proud country girl at heart.