Dolly Parton is still in the thoughts of many in the music world, and in the last 48 hours, a number of artists have been paying tribute to her in the live arena.
During John Mayer’s concert at Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, New York, the guitarist played I Will Always Love You as the intro to his 2006 hit Gravity, which was his final song of the night. As you can see below, it’s a particularly tender and soulful version of the song that Parton released back in 1974 and which later became a blockbuster hit for Whitney Houston.
Prior to the gig, Mayer reflected on Parton’s death with SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen, calling it a “huge loss”, but also took the positives from the collective outpouring of warmth since her passing.
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“While the world is paying tribute to one person and one soul, which feels good on its own, we’re all connected while that’s happening and I haven’t felt connected like that for a long time.”
Mayer went on to say: “This is one human being who’s left this incredible testament to love throughout their whole life and you can feel it. This is what a life well-lived looks like, feels like, sounds like, and you take apart every layer of herself and career, and it’s a brilliant, classy, talented, fully artistic rendering. That is how you give your life to the thing you love.”
Elsewhere in New York, Harry Styles was playing the first night of his residency at Madison Square Garden and took time to share his thoughts about the singer: “I just wanna give a proper thank you to all the musicians who have inspired me over the years. Dolly, we love you. Thank you so much.” Later, her original version of I Will Always Love You was played over the venue’s speakers as the sold-out audience sang along.
Meanwhile at a concert in Pittsburgh, the singer Kesha covered a slightly more obscure Dolly hit Old Flames (Can’t Hold A Candle To You). The song was originally released by Joe Sun in 1978 with Parton’s version coming two years later. Kesha revealed to the audience that the song has a family connection to her – her mom was one of its co-writers.
Kesha pays an emotional tribute to Dolly Parton at her Pittsburgh, PA show tonight by singing ‘Old Flames (Can’t Hold A Candle To You)’ – written by Kesha’s mom Pebe Sebert for Dolly Parton. 🩷✨ #DollyParton #Kesha @KeshaRose @grannywrapper @DollyParton pic.twitter.com/tQ0nfHbdOZAugust 26, 2026
“I’m sure many of you all know that we lost Ms Dolly Parton,” Kesha told the crowd. “We literally lost an angel. But through her art and through her kindness and through her love, she will live forever. And I want to talk about her a little bit. For those of you who don’t know, I come from a long lineage of songwriters and before I was born, my mom wrote a song for Dolly Parton. And that song bought us a house. That song put me through school.”
In 2017 Kesha recorded a cover of Old Flames with Dolly herself while she was embroiled in a legal battle with her ex producer Dr Luke. “I was making that album in the middle of a very scary litigation,” she explained to the audience, “and I was in the MeToo movement, and having such a legendary woman do this song with me and stand beside me, it made me feel like God was on my side.”
Over the next few days there will doubtless be more tributes to an artist who drew admiration and warmth from across every music genre.
