Dolly Parton was honored at Monday night’s Emmy Awards with an emotional tribute from her former Steel Magnolias co-star Sally Field and a performance by Reba McEntire.
Field took the stage to remember Parton, who died August 25 at age 80, reflecting on the friendship they formed while making the 1989 film.
“If there are truly angels on Earth, then we just lost one: Dolly Parton,” Field said. “Over the years, I never stopped loving her, though we lived very far apart. I adored her from day one, how could you not? She was genuine and humble, supportive and blisteringly funny, with a bawdy sense of humor that would send any rude guy looking for a place to hide.”
Field said she did not fully appreciate at the time what Parton would come to mean to so many people.
“I couldn’t see then what a real giant Dolly was — not just as an artist, but as a human,” she continued. “She was a humanitarian whose contributions have made a profound difference in the lives of so many in her home state of Tennessee, and across our country. God bless you, Dolly Parton, my friend. I am not the only one on Earth that will love you forever and ever.”
The tribute then shifted to an archival clip of Parton introducing her 1983 song “Appalachian Memories.” Speaking about the song, Parton recalled her upbringing in the Smoky Mountains and explained why the subject was so personal to her.
“I have written a song that touches me very deep, and I’m sure that in your own way you certainly will relate to this,” Parton said. “This song, like I say, is very important to me, and I hope you like it. And if you don’t like it, well, if you don’t mind, I would rather not hear about it later, okay?”
McEntire followed by performing “Appalachian Memories,” bringing Parton’s own words about her Appalachian roots into the tribute.
Parton’s musical journey began with a little Martin acoustic guitar she received as a teen, leading her to become one of the biggest performers in country music and a beloved icon. Her death rocked the music world last month. The “9 to 5” singer died following a brief battle with cancer, after revealing just a week earlier that she had been dealing with health problems she had neglected while caring for her late husband, Carl Dean, who died in 2025. Parton’s younger sister Stella later said Dolly had kept her cancer private because “she did not want people sad.”
The Emmys tribute was the latest in a series of musical tributes to Parton. Jack White recently performed “Jolene” at a show in London, Kacey Musgraves sang “Here You Come Again” in Boston, and Olivia Rodrigo dedicated her duet with Sarah McLachlan at Daisy Chain Fields to Parton.
