Kacey Musgraves Pays Heartfelt Tribute to Dolly Parton With ‘I Will Always Love You’ Performance at MTV Video Music Awards

At the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards, Kacey Musgraves delivered a heartfelt homage to Dolly Parton, roughly a month after the country music titan's death, performing "I Will Always Love You." The segment, which had been recorded in advance, opened with archival clips of Parton presenting the composition she penned in 1974. In that footage, Parton joked, "I'd like to leave you fellas with a little bit of advice: Don't criticize your wife's judgment. You just remember who she married. Just kidding you. There's a lot of truth in that, and I would also like to say about life, I hope it treats you real kind and I hope that you have all that you ever dreamed of." When Parton's recorded vocals reached the chorus, Musgraves took over, backed solely by a piano. Throughout much of the number, Musgraves sang with her eyes shut, and the crowd responded with roaring applause.

This VMAs appearance was far from Musgraves' only tribute to Parton that month. Following Parton's August death, Musgraves devoted "Rainbow" to the late legend at a Boston TD Garden show, then performed Parton's 1977 smash "Here You Come Again." A few days afterward, at her "Middle of Nowhere" tour date at New York's Madison Square Garden, she covered "9 to 5," a track she had included in her concerts for years. "I'm not over it, and I'm never gonna be over it," Musgraves told the MSG crowd, referring to Parton's passing. "The world definitely lost a light, and it's hard for me to talk about. And I know how much Dolly meant to everybody also in this room. I think why it feels so dark is it's already hard to navigate these times right now, and then we lose a matriarch like that. It's the closest thing we've ever had to royalty."

The pair had previously shared a stage at the 2019 MusiCares Person of the Year gala, where Musgraves joined Katy Perry to sing "Here You Come Again" as part of a Parton tribute. Parton then appeared in a white gown with flowing sleeves and sang alongside them. Musgraves has frequently expressed her deep regard for Parton, describing her to Rolling Stone in 2021 as both a "style icon" and a "businesswoman." "First and foremost she's a songwriter," Musgraves said. "But she wasn't afraid to be a beautiful, sexy woman, proud of her femininity, proud of her body. It just seems like she didn't ever need to shrink her flamboyant nature to fit among the men that she worked with."

Parton, who passed away in August 2026 at age 80, left behind a catalog that reshaped country music and reached far into mainstream culture. Born in Tennessee, she built a career spanning over six decades, producing 25 No. 1 country singles and lasting standards such as "Jolene," "Coat of Many Colors," and "I Will Always Love You," which Whitney Houston later transformed into a worldwide hit for the 1992 film The Bodyguard. The song's second life became one of the best-selling singles ever by a female artist, illustrating how Parton's songwriting crossed generational and genre boundaries. Apart from music, Parton was a celebrated philanthropist, above all through her Imagination Library, a initiative that has sent millions of free books to children around the globe. Her death prompted tributes from performers of all genres, underscoring the remarkably broad scope of her impact.