Kacey Musgraves paid tribute to Dolly Parton again at her Madison Square Garden show in New York on Monday night (Aug. 31) by getting spacey, as she does. The singer discussed how hard it is for her to believe that Parton, who died last week at age 80 following a brief battle with cancer, is not part of our universe anymore.

Musgraves told the crowd that Parton was a “supernova of a person,” according to Rolling Stone, sharing with the crowd that the thing that gives her solace is that Parton’s “soul and her bones are literally part of this galaxy, this universe, the fabric of space and time. I definitely, for sure, I would not be able to stand up here and do what I do if I hadn’t been for Dolly Parton.”

A few days earlier, the singer switched up the run order at TD Garden show in Boston on Friday (Aug. 28) to pay homage to Parton just days after the “I Will Always Love You” star’s death by bringing back her Golden Hour ballad “Rainbow” back into the set. After dedicating it to Dolly, she then dove into Parton’s 1977 Billboard Hot 100 No. 3 hit “Here You Come Again.”

On Monday, Musgraves was at it again treating the MSG audience to a kicky cover of Parton’s 1981 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash “9 to 5,” after confessing, “I’m not over it. And I’m never gonna be over it.” With photos of Parton playing on the big screen behind her, Musgraves added, “The world definitely lost a light, and it’s hard for me to talk about. And I know how much Dolly meant to everybody also in this room. I think why it feels so dark is it’s already hard to navigate these times right now, and then we lose a matriarch like that. It’s the closest thing we’ve ever had to royalty.”

Musgraves is one of dozens of artists who’ve taken time out of their shows over the past week to pay tribute to the towering Parton, who is being remembered not just for her epic run on the Billboard charts over more than six decades, but also for her kindness, compassion, good humor and charitable works.

Parton was buried in a private family funeral in Nashville on Friday (Aug. 28).

Tim McGraw is laughing off a tumble he took onstage during his Pawn Shop Guitar Tour.

In fan-captured footage from his concert at Cincinnati’s Riverbend Music Center on Thursday (Aug. 27), the 59-year-old country star took a spill while belting out his 1995 hit “I Like It, I Love It.”

In the clip, McGraw’s cowboy boot appears to get caught in a crevice onstage, sending him to the ground. But the “Humble and Kind” singer quickly got back on his feet and continued singing without missing a beat.

McGraw later poked fun at the onstage mishap in a social media post.

“Cincinnati, you started our weekend off on the right foot even if I couldn’t stay on mine,” he captioned a photo gallery from the show on Instagram. “We appreciate you coming out and singing along! Detroit, you’re up!”

Fans quickly took to the comments section to playfully react to the fall.

“I bet your daughters blew up the family group chat,” one person wrote. Another joked, “bubble wrap him for tonight.” A third commended the singer for his professionalism, writing, “SO GLAD YOU DIDN’T HURT YOURSELF! YOU ARE A REAL PRO YOU JUMPED RIGHT UP AND DIDN’T EVEN MISS A BEAT.”

The Grammy-winning superstar launched his Pawn Shop Guitar Tour in mid-July. The North American trek — featuring support from The Chicks, Lady A, 49 Winchester and Timothy Wayne on select dates — is scheduled to wrap Sept. 29 in West Palm Beach, Florida. From there, he’ll head to Las Vegas in October for a five-night residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

McGraw did not address the death of iconic country singer Dolly Parton during Thursday’s Cincinnati concert, but he paid tribute to her earlier in the week on social media.

“She was an icon and showed us all what was possible, not only as a human but as an entertainer,” McGraw wrote on Instagram. “She was the blueprint, head and shoulders above anyone that came before her and all those of us that have come after.”

Parton died on Aug. 25 following a “brief battle with cancer,” according to her team.

Dolly Parton had it all. Talent, humor, an entrepreneurial spirit. A great, pounding heart. And she represented her homeland quite like no one else.

For his second night hosting ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, Jelly Roll had the difficult task of paying tribute to the legendary singer, songwriter and entertainer. He did it from the top, during the monologue, staring down the barrel of the camera and saluting the all-time great of country music.

“We lost a legend today, the great Dolly Parton. She was such an inspiration to so many, myself included. We’re both from Tennessee and she meant a lot to my family, y’all,” he remarked.

Parton’s influence on a young Jelly Roll (real name: Jason DeFord) was profound. “We used to sit around the kitchen table and listen to her music together as a family. I’ll never forget it,” he recalled. “I learned so much from Dolly over the years, about songwriting, how to handle this crazy business, and how to support your community.”

Dolly was a one-off, and someone we could all be proud of. “She was infinitely talented. She was relentlessly funny and adored by all. She might be the last American that everyone liked,” he recalled. “We will miss her dearly. Rest in peace, Dolly. We will always love you.”

Parton died Tuesday at age 80 following “a brief battle with cancer,” according to a statement released by her team. Parton died at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville.

With a career spanning more than 60 years, Parton has been one of country music’s leading lights, one of the genre’s most revered and prolific songwriters. She’s a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, she wrote more than 3,000 and placed 113 tunes on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart starting in 1967. Cumulatively, those hits spent more than 28 years on the chart.

Watch Jelly Roll’s tribute to Dolly Parton below.

Dolly Parton isn’t a national icon. She’s an international icon.

As fans from the music and entertainment communities share their memories of the late country music superstar, Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to the “Jolene” singer and songwriter.  

“Dolly Parton made our world a better place in so many ways, it’s hard to imagine the world without her. A singer and songwriter of rare power and talent, she also shone brightly as an actor, author and philanthropist,” he writes in a social post, which is accompanied by a picture of the pair enjoying a laugh.

“And the big, radiant heart of the Dolly universe was a personality as strong as it was compassionate, a vivacious woman of great humour and a sense of humanity sustained in no small part by the humble strength of her roots.”

Parton made a rare trip to Australia for her Better Day tour of 2011. Michael Chugg was the promoter of that trek, her first of these parts in decades.

Red tape, however, threatened to unravel the 12-show national trek, as Parton’s tour bus was found to flout the regulations. The vehicle was deemed to be too long, too wide for Australian roads.

With the intervention of Albanese, who was federal transport minister at the time, in the Julia Gillard government, the shows went ahead.

“One of the joys of my time in Government was when I was able to help Dolly overcome a bit of red tape and get her tour bus on to Australian roads in 2011. It was a magical experience meeting her, but what was even better was seeing her among her legions of local fans,” Albanese recounts.

“There are a lot of broken hearts in Australia and across the world today. Wherever you are, turn your stereo or your phone to Dolly then turn the volume up. And may the great Dolly Parton rest in peace.”

Parton returned to Australia in 2014 for six dates, part of her Blue Smoke World Tour.

The “Islands In The Stream” artist had a special connection with Australia, and, particularly, the city of Melbourne, for which she was handed the keys to the city in 1987.

The symbolic gesture “was the least we could do,” reads a social post from the City of Melbourne. “Dolly’s values of creativity and community are ones Melbourne shares. We are a city known for our love of music, and we embrace the songwriting legacy she leaves behind.

As a UNESCO City of Literature, we’ll keep spreading the joy and importance of reading to the next generation. And as the inventors of the 8-hour day, we’ll be Workin’ 9 to 5 in your honor,” a nod to the 1980 comedy film, in which she starred, and its hit title track, which she performed.

The state of Victoria’s peak body representing trade unions and hundreds of thousands of workers, the Victorian Trades Hall Council, also saluted Parton for her integrity and the choices she made to help countless others.

“Dolly Parton could have been a billionaire. But instead, she chose to lift the rest of the world up,” reads a statement from the organization. “She created thousands of good jobs in the community she grew up in. She made sure that millions of children around the world have access to books in those vital early years. She donated millions to medical research. And she was a proud union member for over 50 years. Vale comrade Dolly.”

Parton died in Nashville on Tuesday (Aug. 25) at the age of 80, leaving a legacy that will be cherished for as long as people listen to music. Named Billboard’s top country artist of all time in 2024, Dolly was a cultural and commercial force. She landed 49 albums in the top 10 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, the most of any woman, and she landed more No. 1s on the Hot Country Songs chart for a woman artist, with 25. In 1999, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and in 2022, elevated into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.

Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift never recorded a song together, but openly shared a mutual admiration. Now, Swift is sharing her heartfelt appreciation for Parton, who died Tuesday (Aug. 25) at age 80, thanking her for “the melodies and lyrics she wrote that thawed even the coldest hearts.”

Swift praised Parton for her songwriting and also for her philanthropy and just general Dolly-ness.

“A world without Dolly doesn’t feel possible, real, or right,” Swift wrote in a statement provided to Billboard. “But because of the eternally generous way she spent her time on this earth and the countless lives she changed for the better, her legacy will be an everlasting one.”

She lauded Parton for knowing her own value as a creator, something the two artists shared: “She possessed the softest heart when it came to the struggles of others, and a backbone of steel to defend her own self worth as an artist,” Swift said.

Just last month, Parton took to social media to thank Swift and her then-fiancé Travis Kelce for their $2 million donation to Parton’s Imagination Library as part of their $26 million in charitable giving prior to the pair’s July 3 wedding. Parton even jokingly asked, “Hey, when you have your first born can I have it? Because that is going to be one special baby.”

Parton often praised Swift, telling E! News last year, “I’m just crazy about Taylor. I just admire her so much for what she’s done with her life. Her career. Such a great artist and songwriter.”

Swift’s statement in full is below. Like so many tributes to the icon, Swift even managed to fit in a reference to Parton’s most famous and enduring song, “I Will Always Love You”:

“A world without Dolly doesn’t feel possible, real, or right. But because of the eternally generous way she spent her time on this earth and the countless lives she changed for the better, her legacy will be an everlasting one.

She was truly the gift that kept on giving. Dolly gave us someone to look up to while encouraging us to be who we are as individuals. Somehow, she was able to give us her lessons about the world gently and honestly, simultaneously, and oftentimes hilariously. She managed to give the world the ultimate mystery and fantasy in some corners of her life, but to give full transparency in the ways that counted. Somehow, she was true grace and true grit, all in one dazzling person. She possessed the softest heart when it came to the struggles of others, and a backbone of steel to defend her own self worth as an artist.

Along with her other fans, I am so grateful for all of it. For the melodies and lyrics she wrote that thawed even the coldest hearts. For the millions of books she provided children all over the world so that they might fall in love with stories the way she did. For the tightropes she walked so that young girls like me could grow up dreaming of joining the circus too.

Dolly, I’ll think of you each step of the way.”

Dolly Parton spent her life turning her own experiences, memories and emotions into music. Even after death, her songs will continue to tell her story — including two that show just how thoughtfully she considered her musical legacy.

The country music icon, who died Tuesday (Aug. 25) at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer, had already decided what song she wanted played at her funeral more than a decade before her death. And, in true Dolly fashion, she also left behind another song that she specifically instructed would not be heard until her 100th birthday in 2046.

In a 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Parton was asked what song she would want played at her funeral. While many might have expected “I Will Always Love You” — the song she famously wrote and recorded and then later watched become an even bigger hit through Whitney Houston‘s rendition — Parton had something more personal in mind.

“I’m sure they’ll be playing ‘I Will Always Love You’ when I die, just like they did with Whitney Houston,” she told the outlet at the time. But when it came to the song she actually wanted for her own funeral, she chose “If We Never Meet Again,” an old country-gospel hymn with a particularly meaningful connection to her family.

The song had been her father’s favorite, and it was performed at his funeral. Parton said she hoped the same song would one day be sung at hers.

The choice is fitting, given the song’s message about separation and the hope of being reunited in the afterlife.

Her funeral plans were indeed something Parton had considered in advance. Her representatives confirmed Tuesday that she requested a small, private service for immediate family. Her nephew and head of security, Bryan Seaver, also shared that Parton wanted to be laid to rest in a “beautiful bed of plush cotton.”

But Parton’s planning for the music that would remain until after her death went beyond her funeral. At Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, sits a locked chestnut box containing a recording of an unreleased Parton song called “My Place in History.” The song was written in 2015, the same year the resort opened, and Parton specifically arranged for it to be unveiled on what would have been her 100th birthday: Jan. 19, 2046.

Inside the box is a CD containing the recording, along with a CD player so that future generations will be able to hear it, outwardly a Dolly time capsule. The country legend even acknowledged the uncertainty of leaving technology from 2015 to be opened decades later.

“There’s no telling what music is going to be by then,” she wrote in her 2020 book, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics. “Hopefully, it will play and the whole thing ain’t rotted.”

Parton also joked that she hoped she would live long enough to hear the song herself when the box eventually opened. She was 69 when she wrote and recorded “My Place In History.”

When the news broke today that Dolly Parton had died, everyone in the Billboard newsroom from the most seasoned veteran to the college intern shed a tear — because it felt like, as one person said, “an angel had just died.” The world already feels like a colder place without her in it. Everyone loved Dolly Parton because Dolly Parton honestly loved everyone. (Which is very different from liking everyone.)

Parton felt like the one person on earth that everyone could agree was nothing but a universal good. Groups who were famously at odds, such as conservative Christians and the LGBTQIA community, agreed on their love for Dolly. Today she’s even being mourned by The Muppets.

Parton generally declined to talk politics or politically charged issues, but she very clearly made her strong opinions known, and the thread always led back to treating people with love and kindness. She constantly stressed that she wasn’t here to judge; she’d leave that up to God.

But that doesn’t mean she played it safe. Not in her words or in her music. People weren’t writing songs about dying by suicide because they were pregnant in 1968 (or really now, 60 years later), but Parton was. In “The Bridge,” a women jumped off a bridge where she and her lover had first kissed after he abandoned her when she became pregnant. Even more heartbreaking is 1969’s “Down From Dover,” about a pregnant teen whose parents send her away and her baby dies while being born — because, the protagonist reckons, the baby knew the father was never coming back. That one got banned from the radio. (By the today’s far right definition, she was “woke” — but not even the far right was ever going to cancel Dolly.)

She had a unique blend of savvy and sensitivity, knowing when the right thing for her business was also just the right thing in general. In 2018, she renamed her Dixie Stampede dinner attraction Dolly Parton’s Stampede because she became aware the word “Dixie” and its associations with the Confederacy could be hurtful to some.

“When they said ‘Dixie’ was an offensive word, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to offend anybody,” she told Billboard in a 2020 cover interview. “This is a business. We’ll just call it The Stampede.’ As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumbass. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.”

In that same interview, she was ready when asked about the Black Lives Matter movement and was unequivocal in her support of peaceful protests: “I understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen,” she said. “And of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!”

In my more than 30 years as a journalist, I have never had a line from a story picked up as much as her “little white asses” comment, though Billboard deliberately didn’t lead with it or put it in the headline. Other artists may have backed down or said they were misquoted, but not Dolly.

So many artists, especially young ones, could learn from Parton about professionalism. Parton’s publicists never asked for questions in advance or said any topics were off limits — because Parton knew how to handle herself, and though petite, was hardly delicate.

She was also freakishly punctual. One time I had a 6:00 a.m. interview with Parton. I commented about it being so early, and she chided me for thinking that 6:00 a.m. was early, since she normally got up by 4:00 a.m. We had exactly 10 minutes. She was still answering a question when we rounded the 10-minute mark. She finished around 10 minutes and 15 seconds in, and immediately told me we had run over and she had to go. I still got enough from that 10-minute interview to write two pieces with no overlap at all.

Parton leaves behind more than 3,000 songs — one of which, “Jolene,” Billboard editors picked as the Best Country Song of All Time. (Which was just one year after the editors chose Parton as the Greatest Country Artist of All Time.) But her legacy is so much more than even that. Her Imagination Library provided free monthly books to children from birth to age five for more than 30 years, serving more than 3 million kids.  She gave $1 million to Vanderbilt University to help develop the COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s how trusted she was to do the right thing: In 2022, Jeff Bezos and his wife, through their Bezos Courage and Civility Award, gave Dolly Parton $100 million to donate to the non-profits and charities she chose.

In my office, I have a painting of Dolly with the initials WWDD, short for What Would Dolly Do? Now that she’s gone, those are words to live by now more than ever.

On a list of accolades that includes 10 Grammys, 22 Billboard Hot 100 hits and inductions into both the Country Music and Rock & Roll Halls of Fame, Dolly Parton was also a Billboard cover star.

The legendary musician and cultural icon — whose death at age 80 on Tuesday (Aug. 25) has made for an indescribable loss — was on the cover of Billboard in 2020, a historically difficult year for many during which Parton’s infallible optimism and kindness were needed more than ever. She spoke to executive editor Melinda Newman about keeping her groundbreaking Dollywood enterprise on its feet in the face of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic at the time, as well as her industry savvy and endurance over the course of her six-decade career. Above everything, though, she emphasized her commitment to generosity.

“As the scripture says, ‘To whom much is given, much is required,’” Parton said in the piece, which also served as 2020’s Billboard Country Power Players issue. “So I look at my life with that every day and think that God expects it of me. I expect it of myself, and I think people expect it of me. If I can be an inspiration, then I want to be that. That makes me feel good.”

Parton was also featured six years prior in a 2014 issue of Billboard, answering questions about everything from her long marriage to late husband Carl Dean to her love for her LGBTQ fanbase and position as a role model with her signature sparkling wit. “I’ve lived a lot and I’ve done a lot,” she said at the time. “I’ve been around so long that I think people just kind of feel like I’m a member of their family — like a favorite aunt or an older sister. People relate to me because I grew up poor and in a big family. They know I understand all the hardships.”

In honor of the irreplaceable superstar, take a look at the photos from Parton’s unforgettable shoots with Billboard in 2020 and 2014 below.

As the world mourns the death of Dolly Parton, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday (Aug. 25) that flags around the country will be lowered to half-staff beginning at 6 p.m. in honor of the late country icon.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Very sad to report that Dolly Parton, one of the greatest country singers, and far beyond, ever, has just passed away. This is a true loss for millions of people. There has never been anyone like her, and never will. In her honor, I am lowering the American flag throughout the United States for a one week period beginning tonight at 6 p.m. Rest in peace, Dolly! The world loves you. President Donald J. Trump.”

Tennessee native Parton died Tuesday in Nashville, at age 80. Parton’s nephew and head of security Bryan Seaver announced Parton’s death in a video on social media.

During her career, Parton often avoided delving into politics. She previously revealed during a Today show interview in 2021 that she was twice offered the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the Trump administration, and turned it down both times.

“I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the COVID,” Parton told Today at the time, and noting she had heard from President Joe Biden at the time about accepting the honor as well. “Now I feel like if I take it, I’ll be doing politics, so I’m not sure.”

Parton dedicated her life and career to bettering the world in so many ways, from her Dollywood theme park to her Imagination Library, which has promoted childhood literacy through delivering millions of books to children. She launched the Dollywood Foundation in 1988, and in 2000, she launched the Dolly Parton Scholarship to help college-bound students in her home area of Sevier County, Tennessee. She made donations to help people in East Tennessee following devastating wildfires, and donated $1 million to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2017.

As a singer, artist, songwriter, entertainer, author, businesswoman and philanthropist, Parton built a multifaceted career that included multitudes of accolades. She was a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and earned 25 No. 1 hits on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart. She also earned 10 Grammy wins from 55 nominations.

An official statement regarding Parton’s death on Aug. 25 reads: “A rhinestone life that shone bright enough for the world to see, Dolly will forever stand as an inspiration not only through her timeless music and prolific songwriting, but also her wit, warmth, and kindness that made us all feel like family. Dolly Parton’s legacy is one of love, compassion, and resilience. With a seven-decade career, she inspired multiple generations of artists and fans with her music and an unwavering commitment to making the world a better place. Her songs will continue to resonate with people of all ages, and her philanthropic work will have a lasting impact.”