Brandi Carlile Pays Tribute to Dolly Parton, Remembering Acceptance and a Private Prayer

Brandi Carlile added a personal note to the public remembrance of Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday at 80 after a brief battle with cancer. In an Instagram post, Carlile credited Parton with a deliberate, early acceptance of gay artists when silence would have been easier. “She took a risk and accepted me (and all of us) for being gay in a time where she didn’t need to say anything,” Carlile wrote.

Carlile’s memory drew on specific public and private moments. The two shared a stage with the Highwomen at the 2019 Newport Folk Festival, where Carlile performed “I Will Always Love You” with Parton. But Carlile also returned to Parton’s 2014 Glastonbury set, recalling the image of a largely secular British crowd answering Parton’s call for an “amen” with two hundred thousand voices. That story, Carlile wrote, still makes her laugh.

She described a quieter exchange as well: Parton once took Carlile’s face in her hands and prayed over her. “I’ve never been the same since,” Carlile wrote. The tribute joined remembrances from Shania Twain, Eminem, Jack White, Kacey Musgraves, and Carlile’s Highwomen bandmates Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby.