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Dolly Partonposthumously received the Americana Lifetime Achievement Award nearly one month after her death at age 80.
“Well, hey, it’s Dolly. I’m honored to be receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association,” Parton said in a prerecorded video message shared during the ceremony on Wednesday, September 16. “I mean, roots music, or what is now called Americana music, is what I grew up playing back in the Smoky Mountains. It’s that same music that drew me back to East Tennessee in 1997 to write and record my albumHungry Again, and that project really opened the door to a series of bluegrass and acoustic albums that changed the course of my career in so many ways.”
She continued, “Now, new fans discovered these albums, new Americana music communities embraced them, and now looking back at it all, I see this era of my career as a musical renaissance of sorts. I want to thank everyone at the AMA for recognizing me with this award. It’s a great honor truly, and just know that I will always love you.”
It’s not known exactly when Parton, who died on August 25 after battling an undisclosed form of cancer, recorded the video message. Prior to her death, the Imagination Library founder kept her diagnosis private.
“She never wanted to worry anybody,” Parton’s nieceJada Startold Extra earlier this month. “ I think it was just a shock. It’s been really difficult and very surreal. It’s also been really bittersweet because of this beautiful opportunity we’ve had to see how much the whole world loves her. All of these tributes have helped so much.”
Parton’s family gathered for an intimate memorial weeks after her death.
“She wanted to keep it very quiet, and the word keeps getting brought up, ‘a funeral.’ I don’t believe that is really the case in the situation,” her cousin Richie Owenssaid on the September 3 broadcast of Today. “It was a burial to be buried beside her husband, and she wanted it very small.”
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Parton was laid to rest inside Nashville’s Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum beside her husband, Carl Dean, who died in 2025.
“A few family members were there,” Owens continued. “Other people, I’m sure, would have liked to [have] been there, were either out doing other things and stuff. It was very quiet, very quickly done and not for any bad reasons whatsoever. It’s just what she wanted. She wanted to keep it very, very private.”
Days before Wednesday’s awards ceremony, Parton was also honored during the 2026 Emmys with an emotional tribute performance from Reba McEntire.
