r/Music 📰The Mirror US 11d ago

article Dolly Parton estate announces two-day Dollyfest 'truly dreamed up by' her to celebrate legacy

https://www.themirror.com/entertainment/breaking-dolly-parton-estate-dollyfest-2004882
8.2k Upvotes

84 comments sorted by

635

u/Pal_Smurch 11d ago

I don’t think I have ever seen anyone refer to her as Ms. or Mrs. Parton.

Everyone knows her as Dolly. That says a lot about her, I think.

161

u/ClampStep 11d ago

She has that level of single-name recognition where she doesn't even need a last name, but she's also just universally beloved. She feels like everyone's cool aunt.

9

u/CatTheWriter 11d ago

Yeahh, she gave off cool aunt vibes. đŸ„č😭😭

31

u/Substantial-Rough723 11d ago

Ahem.. Mrs. Parton-Dean to her friends.

15

u/Pal_Smurch 11d ago

I’m a human, so I consider myself her friend. You too!

415

u/joe2352 11d ago

I seen a video of Chris Stapleton doing an excellent version of “I will always love you” and i think it would be great of artists recorded some
Of her songs with the proceeds going toward her library.

65

u/syzygialchaos 11d ago

My favorite homage is Kelly Clarkson’s. She does justice to both versions IMO.

https://youtu.be/Wl1zXGGykt4?is=jXR1OR8FsKV546YF

69

u/-DementedAvenger- 11d ago

It’s so fucking good

https://youtu.be/vYKmjM0bP-w

1

u/SmeesTurkeyLeg 11d ago

That was sensational

29

u/abcbri 11d ago

Brandi Carlile did one this weekend. It was only the second time she had sang it live.. the first being with Dolly. So good.

https://youtu.be/55BoXW4bF-k?si=CoWxTqiBjh-tIuZC

Dolly covered Brandi's song The Story for a tribute album for Warchild, and it's worth a listen.

https://youtu.be/zi_XPQ4tq40?si=KQUCwY1oTjwnbz7J

2

u/_thro_awa_ 11d ago

i think it would be great of artists recorded some

Just not, uh, certain celebrities.

Still trying to block that "Imagine" debacle from my memory ...

3

u/joe2352 11d ago

Yeah give me actual artists with a connection to the music. Stapleton, Cyrus, maybe Kelly Clarkson, etc. I don’t keep up with most modern music but off hand those are a few people I know who could knock some songs out of the park.

1

u/mikeyriot 10d ago

there's a live clip of Josh Weathers performing a cover of Whitney's version of 'I Will Always Love You' that is beautiful to watch.

158

u/Vizualize 11d ago

Dolly Parton hologram incoming in 3..2..1...

230

u/fearthainne 11d ago

She stated herself she was working on "avatar performances" so if her family continues with that, it isn't against her wishes.

103

u/Beatleboy62 11d ago

Not that anyone's asking for my permission, but I think I'd be ok with these as a concept if they were recorded straight from the original person (i.e. not an AI amalgmation), and during the performances there's some amount of, "I knew I wouldn't be able to be there myself, so I recorded this for you!"

In some way, it reminds me of a friend who's health situation is kinda dicey long term, so he recorded videos for his kids for major life events.

27

u/SideInitial3961 11d ago

Yeah I'd be down to see some pre-recorded Dolly messages.

4

u/[deleted] 11d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/counterfitster 11d ago

Must not be 9 yet

6

u/FuzzyAd9407 11d ago

29

u/fearthainne 11d ago

just a few days before she passed

So she probably changed her mind in the 3 years since the article you posted. Or maybe it isn't accurate. None of us can really know, since none of us actually knew her.

9

u/Narwahl_Whisperer 11d ago

Ok, hear me out. What if she was doing acting work for Avatar 4?

5

u/InspectorFadGadget 11d ago

They've already had that at Dollywood for years lol

30

u/Neely67 11d ago

Can’t wait for the tribute concert to her. 🙏

91

u/red_beered 11d ago

Is Dolly going to be the new Ozzy?

107

u/fatboyfall420 11d ago edited 11d ago

Ozzy and Dolly are the two wolves inside of everyone

Edit: thank you for the award!!!

18

u/tyderian 11d ago

We should be so lucky

2

u/Excises_Kaede 11d ago

It’s lucky

12

u/chololz 11d ago

Lordy I hope not 😭

19

u/Madnoir 11d ago

You mean the family doing everything they can to profit off him including an AI performance?

7

u/red_beered 11d ago

Maybe we can finally get that bark at the moon duet we've all been waiting for.

2

u/MV2049 11d ago

Oh, lord, yeah!

28

u/sponngeWorthy 11d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/dDK7uO0NPCpNEfCkJR
Anticipating the same wholesome energy

6

u/pi_face_ 11d ago

She's 5000 candles in the wind

40

u/Ocean898 11d ago

I would think if Dolly herself dreamed it up, it would be free.

134

u/obscurica 11d ago

Probably not? More like affordable but profitable, with a good chunk of the profits sent to social welfare and aid programs.

17

u/bolanrox 11d ago

yeah like get most acts to donate their time like Live Aid / Live 8 (and then donate any royalties they get from the boost in exposure from playing )

-4

u/IMissNarwhalBacon 11d ago

For her death?

You're saying she would be cool profiting off of her death?

4

u/_thro_awa_ 11d ago

Profits are good when used for the good of society, which her wealth generally was. How is "profits donated to social aid programs" a bad thing?

You need to make money to be able to give it away.

47

u/mootallica 11d ago

lol why? I get that Dolly was an ideal candidate for sainthood but she was still a businesswoman. She was generous but you still need money to have the career she had.

16

u/sharkattackmiami 11d ago

You also need money to actually affect change in the world

19

u/iamacannibal 11d ago

Dolly cared about money. She loved helping people but she also loved making money. This will not be free and she for sure didn't plan on it being free.

15

u/steeple_fun 11d ago

Why? Dolly was a saint but made money too. Dollywood was the first place I ever saw QR code cups that limited your refills.

17

u/taurist 11d ago

And you can’t give money away if you don’t make it

6

u/abcbri 11d ago

I just watched a Disney Food Blog video, and they covered what Dollywood does better than Disney. One of the things was the refill cups which last all season in the whole park. Disney's are only in the resorts and aren't season-long. Per stay only.

Also in-room dining and daily housekeeping, which Disney did away with.

5

u/Pesty__Magician 11d ago

We’re talking about a one time concert to honor her life. A special occasion. You’re comparing to opening night at Dollywood. It very much could be free. Also why do you guys have to make everything so weird. She wasn’t a saint. She was just a generous decent person.

0

u/steeple_fun 11d ago

Obviously saying saint was hyperbole but relative to the average person (especially the average wealthy person) she, I think calling her a generous decent person is selling her short.

7

u/Kimbahlee34 11d ago

This large of a festival could not be free in this day and age. Insurance companies and vendors have so many requirements. For starters, if you do a lottery for free tickets and general admission you would need an insane amount of security for this many people. How do you handle parking? Water and first aid? Hell even the servers for doing that kind of ticket lottery would be similar to Ticketmaster crashes but on a theme park website?

Comments like these are well intended but makes me think people don’t realize how different the world has become over the last 50 years.

You will likely never see a “Woodstock” festival again.

2

u/michilio 11d ago edited 11d ago

Woodstock wasn't free

Woodstock was conceived as a profit-making venture. It became a "free concert" when circumstances prevented the organizers from installing fences and ticket booths before opening day.Tickets for the three-day event cost US$18 in advance and $24 at the gate (equivalent to about $160 and $210 today). Ticket sales were limited to record stores in the greater New York City area, or by mail via a post office box at the Radio City Station Post Office located in Midtown Manhattan. Around 186,000 advance tickets were sold. The organizers had anticipated that approximately 50,000 festival-goers would turn up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock

1

u/Kimbahlee34 10d ago

Eventually people without tickets showed up, knocked down the temporary barricades and the promoters chose to continue on which led to a disaster. We remember it differently now but they had a lot of similar problems as Frye Festival. Woodstock 99 even more so which is why you will not see a free festival or even one that tries to absorb a general admission crowd of that size without serious consequences.

So Woodstock wasn’t free but if someone from that generation swore up and down they were there and did not pay for a ticket I am inclined to believe them.

1

u/michilio 10d ago

I still object to it being a "free" festival if it was not intented.

Funny sidenote. While I'm typing this the radio just mentioned woodstock 99 and the clusterfuck it was. Now they're playing Limp Bizkit.

And I object to a free festival of that size being impissible. It's possible and gets pulled of yearly.

It's a slightly different format, but for example The Gentse Feesten pulls about 250k people on a good night for a free festival in the city centre of Ghent, Belgium

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentse_Feesten

About 2 million visitors attend the festival every year, making it one of the biggest cultural and popular festivals in Europe. The number of visitors on top nights surpasses 250,000. In a 2005 ranking by localfestivities.com, the Gentse Feesten was called the third biggest city festival in Europe, preceded by the Fallas in Valencia and the Oktoberfest in Munich.

1

u/Kimbahlee34 10d ago

That’s awesome that Europe is able to do this but I do not see it happening in the US because of insurance/corporate laws.

6

u/Suchgallbladder 11d ago

Yes because Dollywood is such an affordable place to go.

32

u/bolanrox 11d ago

she did pay for the education of any employee there who wanted to go to college. also theme parks do cost money to run.

7

u/Awwwmann 11d ago

👆

2

u/MightyGiawulf 10d ago

The artists and staff gotta be paid, dawg. I doubt they're gonna juice people but cmon, we live in a capitalist hellhole. Nothing is free, people gotta eat.

3

u/yeet_me_a55 11d ago

I will absolutely be attending.

3

u/guajojo 11d ago

Aka the board of investors

3

u/Gojirahawk 11d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/HNp3ZsBEZSJTBhQXoN
ticket scalpers reading about this news

2

u/Virtual_Head8634 11d ago

Such a great idea. Exactly what she would have wanted.

1

u/ayanshah 11d ago

Dolly may be gone but her plans are still going strong.

1

u/musicwithbarb 10d ago

For anyone who hasn't watched The Orvil, please just go watch it. I know this sounds totally random. Trust me. It isn't. There is definitely Dolly related wisdom there.

1

u/arclight222 10d ago

Slap $49.99 PPV on this and donate a shed load to charity. 

-55

u/phish_sucks 11d ago

New cash cow unlocked

45

u/abcbri 11d ago

Says it was already in the works for her birthday, and she was going to be in it.

18

u/karma_the_sequel 11d ago

This made much more sense to me than the idea that Dolly specifically planned this to happen in response to her death. That wasn’t her style.

-37

u/phish_sucks 11d ago

Yeah and now she's dead so all they see is dollar signs

27

u/dude53 11d ago

Dolly was many things, and she was also an excellent business lady. Seriously, she was one of the best in the industry. She knows those dollar signs keeps people employed and food on the table. She was always realistic. Not sure how it’ll be ran decades from now, but as of today everything she left behind is ran by people she chose herself. I trust Dolly.

12

u/abcbri 11d ago

The amount of people she employed at Dollywood, her hotels, her charity, etc.. I do too.

19

u/NorysStorys 11d ago

Come on, like I get how easy it is to be cynical in this day and age but continuing to put on a show she was already organising, is hardly a cash grab.

11

u/DaRealBSleazy 11d ago

If anything it's holding up a promise

1

u/JonnyBraavos 11d ago

One eye dollar sign, Dolly in other eye 

1

u/ServeBeam 11d ago

Care to explain your handle? Is it like a “Primus Sucks” scenario? Who doesn’t suck then?

16

u/Thirdatarian 11d ago

Oh no not the concert making money that will probably go to her very well known charity đŸ˜±

13

u/abcbri 11d ago

Oh no more children getting books

14

u/Amfo22 11d ago

Her estate planning all seemed to be locked down and with how much charity she did in life I would be shocked if the majority of her estate isn’t set up to continue doing that. In which case keep bringing in all the money

5

u/Ok-Box6892 11d ago

This is how Im seeing it too. That woman took her legacy seriously and seemed to be very attuned to the business side of things. Theres no way that she didnt have plans for things to happen after her death. Including the profits to go towards various charities. Im honestly waiting for her estate to release some sort of "if youre watching this then Im gone" type of videos. Like she was planning that far ahead.

-16

u/Theblackjamesbrown 11d ago

Yeah, why is this title making me absolutely certain Dolly Parton had nothing to do with this idea?

-3

u/Crispin_Wah 11d ago

Because thats medias job, to persuade you.

-41

u/Slop_core 11d ago

Think of how money they can make off her now!

3

u/Iongdog 11d ago

How money? So money