Dolly Parton laid to rest in private Nashville ceremony
Country music icon Dolly Parton, who died on 25 August aged 80 following a brief illness with cancer, was buried on Saturday beside her husband in Nashville. Tributes continued with a concert performance and plans for future projects bearing her name.
Dolly Parton was buried on Saturday in a small, family-only ceremony at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville. The country music star died on 25 August at the age of 80 after a brief battle with cancer. She was laid to rest beside her husband of 60 years, Carl Thomas. Before her death, Parton had arranged for her name to be engraved on the cemetery's large mausoleum plaque, along with an image of the cabin in Sevier County, Tennessee, where she grew up.
Only close family attended the ceremony. Parton's great-niece, Lainey Parton, shared a tribute on Instagram, recalling how her grandmother always made her feel capable and supported her dreams. Since Parton herself had no biological children, she treated her relatives as her own, Lainey wrote.
Tributes continue
On Saturday, a tribute concert was held at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, where Parton's niece, Jada Star, performed "The Orchard," a song the two had recorded together for the 2024 album Smoky Mountain DNA: Family, Faith and Fables. Ahead of her performance, Star said she was moving through a fog of sadness but considered it an honour to perform on the stage her aunt loved so much.
On Monday, representatives of Parton's estate announced DollyFest, a festival planned for next year across two weekends in Nashville and London. The concept had been developed by Parton herself before her death as an alternative to a traditional memorial, though health issues had forced a postponement from its originally planned January 2026 date.
Parton's team confirmed that other projects she had been developing will move forward, including a coffee line, a home decor collection, and a Broadway musical set to debut later this year. Next month, a hotel called the SongTeller Hotel and a museum, Life of Many Colors, are due to open in Nashville, with a doll line and dog treats following in the coming months. The family has requested that donations in Parton's memory go to Imagination Library, the literacy organisation she founded.
