The one and only Dolly Parton: A tribute

August 30, 2026 / 10:11 AM EDT / CBS News

Perhaps only Dolly Parton could dress like a flag – and still be taken seriously by a ship full of sailors. Only Dolly.

Tributes poured in from everywhere this past week for the singer-songwriter, hailed as the queen of country music, who died Tuesday at the age of 80. Jane Fonda called her "the voluptuous embodiment of empathy." Taylor Swift said she was "true grace and true grit, all in one dazzling person."

Everyone has a Dolly story – and her story was everyone's in return.

"I got to be pretty famous pretty quick," she told "Sunday Morning" in 2022. "And I was very excited about that. Before I got that job, though, I had no car, no phone, no nothing. I've known the pain of that, and the joy of that."

In her nearly 70 years of entertaining, she managed to bridge just about every gap. A poll taken five months before her death revealed 70% percent of Americans had a favorable view of Dolly Parton — that was the highest approval rating for any other luminary on the list by far.

Her warmth and wit, her unshakable honesty…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/moneywatch/