This isn’t going to be a five-minute awards-show tribute.
Country music is giving Dolly Parton the entire night.
The Country Music Association announced Wednesday morning that it will produce CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton, a two-hour live television special honoring Dolly’s life and career.
The special will air Wednesday, October 21, from Nashville on ABC and Disney+, with next-day streaming on Hulu.
And they’re putting it in a pretty appropriate room.
The show will originate from the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Belmont University.
The night will include live musical performances, archival footage and personal stories covering Dolly’s music, movies, songwriting, business career and philanthropy.
The performers haven’t been announced yet.
But considering the number of artists whose careers somehow connect back to Dolly, the potential guest list is ridiculous.
Reba McEntire.
Carrie Underwood.
Lainey Wilson.
Chris Stapleton.
Miley Cyrus.
Kelsea Ballerini.
Keith Urban.
And that’s before you get anywhere near the artists who have recorded Dolly’s songs.
The title of the special is obviously taken from “I Will Always Love You,” which may be the perfect song to build the night around.
Dolly wrote it in 1973 as a farewell to Porter Wagoner when she decided to leave his television show and pursue her own career.
It became a No. 1 country song for Dolly.
Then she recorded it again and took it to No. 1 again.
Then Whitney Houston turned it into one of the biggest pop records ever made.
One song.
Three completely different chapters of music history.
That’s Dolly.
CMA CEO Sarah Trahern said Wednesday that honoring Dolly isn’t simply an opportunity for the country music industry.
It’s a responsibility.
She described Dolly as somebody who belonged to the entire world but was “born of this industry,” adding that country music owes her a debt that can’t really be repaid with words.
That’s probably why a two-hour show feels appropriate.
Dolly died August 25 at age 80 after a brief private battle with cancer.
Since then, Nashville has been trying to figure out how you appropriately honor somebody whose fingerprints are basically everywhere.
The airport is being renamed for her.
Reba McEntire performed an emotional tribute at the Emmy Awards Monday night.
And now the CMA is creating a full television event before the 60th CMA Awards even arrive in November.
There’s also a very Dolly detail attached to the evening.
Proceeds connected to the event will benefit Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the literacy program she started in Tennessee that grew into an international effort providing free books to children.
Even her memorial helps give kids books.
That feels right.
The show airs October 21 at 9 p.m. Eastern on ABC and Disney+, with Hulu carrying it the following day.
The performers will be announced later.
But country music has already decided what the night is really about.
Not goodbye.
Thank you.
