Country music came dressed to sparkle and prepared to cry, but amid the loving goodbyes, one cherished song became the evening’s most fiercely debated performance.
Dolly Parton’s family, friends and fans gathered at Belmont University’s Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, for “CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton.”
One musician, whose song has broken all kinds of records in the past year, joined the stars honoring the country legend, and the song entrusted to her carried the kind of emotional history that makes fans protective of every last note.
Netizens began criticizing this star’s performance of one of Dolly Parton’s most iconic songs. | Source: Instagram/tmztv
Nashville Brought Its Biggest Voices and Its Tenderest Memories
There are country stars you admire, and then there is Dolly, whose music can make a roomful of strangers feel like family. This gathering came with the terrible ache of knowing the woman behind those songs could no longer step out and sing them herself.
