Ryman Audience Moved By Pre-Recorded Video Of Late Dolly Parton Accepting Lifetime Achievement Honor
on
Over the years, if Dolly Parton couldn’t be somewhere in-person, she became known for her joyful pre-recorded video statements.
On Wednesday, Sept. 16, the 25th Americana Music Honors & Awards were held at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, and the late Dolly was posthumously awarded the lifetime achievement award.
When a video of Dolly accepting the award began playing, Variety reported that “a gasp” could be heard from many attendees of the ceremony who did not expect to hear from the country icon herself, who passed away on Aug. 25 at the age of 80.
In the pre-recorded video, Dolly graciously accepted the award, giving insight on a facet of her career that has sometimes been taken for granted amid the more grand moments of spectacle in her incredible life.
Further, the video captured Dolly’s heart and humility in a way that seems even more special in light of her passing.
RELATED: Woman Shares Convincing Story Of Realizing Dolly Parton’s Song “Jolene” Is Named After Her
Watch Dolly Parton Accept A Lifetime Achievement Award Weeks After Her Death
Presenting the lifetime achievement award posthumously to Dolly Parton was an icon of country and Americana music, Emmylou Harris.
Of course, Emmylou collaborated with Dolly in the past, and with great success on the 1987 album Trio, which also includes Linda Ronstadt, and went on to win a Grammy for Best Country Music Performance by a Group and the CMA Award for Album of the Year.
Speaking on the evening’s late honoree, Dolly, Emmylou said, “Just a few weeks ago, something utterly unthinkable happened: Dolly Parton left our world. But over her time here, this tiny, extraordinary woman made it a better, brighter, and kinder place.”
Continuing, Emmylou shared four “rhinestones of wisdom” that made up Dolly’s life motto: dream more, learn more, care more, and be more.
“Dolly was more from the very start. More than the odds anyone gave her growing up in poverty in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, the fourth of 12 children. More than the precocious 10-year-old who sang on a local TV show. More than just another pretty woman moving to Nashville with her guitar, and, certainly, more than the ‘dumb blonde’ she sang about, but never was.”
Looking back at Dolly’s career, from her start on The Porter Wagoner Show in 1967 to the present, Emmylou said, “We all know what happened when Dolly set her sights on something. She didn’t just succeed, she expanded the borders of what a musician could be. She was a country star, then a pop star, then a global icon.”
Further, Emmylou said Dolly was “one of our all-time greatest songwriters.”
Noting Dolly’s work to establish Dollywood, providing her home community with jobs; her effort to start the Imagination Library, giving out over 300 million free books to children; and more, Emmylou said, “There was nothing Dolly couldn’t do, and so she did it.”
From there, a pre-recorded video of Dolly accepting the lifetime achievement award from the Americana Music Honors & Awards began playing.
The audience could be heard gasping and cheering upon seeing Dolly, who began her remarks in her signature manner, saying, “Well, hey, it’s Dolly.”
She went on to express her gratitude to the Americana Music Association for recognizing her with a lifetime achievement award, saying, “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 back in 1997 to write and record my album ‘Hungry Again.’”
Expounding on her album Hungry Again, Dolly then said:
“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. 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.”
She concluded her remarks, saying, “I want to thank everybody at the AMA for recognizing me with this award. It’s a great honor, truly, and just know that I will always love you.”
After the video ended, there was a standing ovation honoring the late Dolly.
Hear the audience gasp and cheer as the video of Dolly Parton accepting the lifetime achievement award begins, and see her accept the honor, here:
RELATED: Dolly Parton’s First Gospel Album, ‘The Golden Streets Of Glory,’ Was Released 55 Years Ago
