Nearly a month after her death, Dolly Parton has posthumously accepted a major honor in a touching new video message.
The country music icon, who died last month at 80, received a lifetime achievement award at the Americana Music Honors & Awards on Wednesday, Sept. 16, in Nashville, Tennessee. It was announced in August that Parton would receive the award, so before her death, she recorded a video acceptance speech that played at the ceremony.
“Well, hey, it’s Dolly, and I am so honored to receive the lifetime achievement award from the Americana Music Association,” Parton says in the video.
Parton went on to reflect on how she “grew up playing” Americana music and recalled how her 1998 album, “Hungry Again,” “really opened the door to a series of bluegrass and acoustic albums that changed the course of my career in so many ways,” as they were embraced by new fans of Americana music.
“Now, looking back at it all, I see this era of my career as a musical renaissance of sorts,” Parton said. “And I want to thank everybody at the AMA for recognizing me with this award.”
Parton ended her message with a reference to one of her most iconic songs: “It’s a great honor, truly, and just know that I will always love you.”
Before the message played, Emmylou Harris paid tribute to Parton on stage, saying she made the world a “better, brighter and kinder place.” Harris also noted that in “true Dolly fashion, when she learned she would be receiving this honor, she didn’t wait for the spotlight to find her: She stepped right into it, recording this message with the same warmth, joy and sparkle she so generously shared with us throughout her life.”
Parton died on Aug. 25 at age 80 after “bravely facing a brief battle with cancer,” her family said. The music icon’s cancer diagnosis was not publicly known prior to her death, though she had been facing various health challenges in the last year of her life that caused her to cancel performances.
In August, Parton was unable to make a planned in-person appearance at Dollywood, though she sent a video message saying she was feeling “dizzy” and “dehydrated” and that her doctor advised her against traveling.
Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, announced Parton’s death in a video message. Seaver said his aunt had tasked him with announcing her death “years” earlier. On Aug. 26, Parton’s team shared that a number of projects were in the works prior to the singer’s death that will go forward, including a biopic, docuseries and scripted series.
“Dolly worked up until the day she died,” Parton’s manager Danny Nozell said in a statement. “She loved seeing her dreams come to life, and loved knowing her work brought people joy. Ever the planner, Dolly worked with the team that she handpicked, for the past several years to build a project roadmap that will guide us for decades to come.”