More Than 30 Grand Ole Opry Members Gather for Emotional Dolly Parton Farewell — Ending the Night Together With ‘9 to 5’
The Grand Ole Opry stage that helped introduce Dolly Parton to country music audiences nearly seven decades ago became the setting for an emotional celebration of her life on Saturday night.
More than 30 Opry members and performers came together to remember the country music icon following her death earlier in the week, filling the sold-out evening with songs that helped define her extraordinary career.
Carly Pearce opened the tribute with “Those Memories of You,” Kathy Mattea delivered her interpretation of “Jolene,” and Dolly’s niece Jada Star honored her aunt from the same legendary stage.
But the evening’s biggest collective moment came near the end.
The performers gathered together for “9 to 5,” with Jelly Roll making a surprise appearance, before the night closed in a far quieter and more poignant way: everyone onstage turned toward the screen and watched Dolly herself sing “I Will Always Love You.”
Carly Pearce opens the night for the woman who welcomed her into the Opry
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Carly Pearce was a fitting choice to begin the celebration.
Long before establishing her own country music career, Pearce worked as a performer at Dollywood. Years later, Dolly would play another special role in her journey when she personally invited Pearce to become a Grand Ole Opry member in 2021.
Pearce acknowledged that connection before beginning her performance.
“It only feels right that I get to honor the queen tonight,” she told the audience. “Dolly, we love you.”
She then performed “Those Memories of You,” beginning an evening devoted to songs from across Dolly’s remarkable catalog.
Dolly’s songs fill the Grand Ole Opry once again
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The tribute continued with a succession of performers putting their own voices to music associated with Dolly.
Kathy Mattea took on one of the singer-songwriter’s most recognizable songs, “Jolene.”
Ketch Secor and Molly Tuttle teamed up for “Just Someone I Used to Know,” while Channing Wilson performed “My Tennessee Mountain Home,” a song deeply connected to Dolly’s East Tennessee upbringing.
The family connection became especially personal when Dolly’s niece, Jada Star, stepped onto the stage.
She honored her aunt by performing “The Orchard.”
Throughout the night, the music was accompanied by reminders of Dolly’s long relationship with the Opry. Clips from some of her memorable appearances at the historic venue were shown on the video screen, allowing Dolly’s own voice and presence to remain part of the celebration.
Jelly Roll joins the huge ‘9 to 5’ finale
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The evening eventually brought the Opry family together for one of its biggest performances.
More than 30 members and performers assembled onstage for a collective rendition of “9 to 5,” the enduring Dolly anthem that became one of the signature songs of her career.
Then came an unexpected addition.
Jelly Roll appeared as a surprise guest, joining the performers for the celebratory finale.
With so many artists sharing one stage, the performance demonstrated the extraordinary reach Dolly had across different generations of country music.
Yet the Opry did not allow the night to end with the large ensemble number.
Instead, the final moment belonged entirely to Dolly.
Everyone fell silent to watch Dolly sing
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After performing her songs throughout the evening, the artists gathered together onstage and turned their attention toward the venue’s screen.
There, Dolly appeared performing “I Will Always Love You.”
Rather than having another singer deliver the final song, the Opry allowed Dolly’s own voice to close the tribute.
The choice carried particular significance.
The performers who had spent the night celebrating her music now simply stood together and watched the woman they had come to honor.
It provided a fitting conclusion to an evening that was as much about Dolly’s relationship with the Grand Ole Opry as it was about the songs themselves.
Dolly’s Opry story began when she was only 13
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Dolly’s history with the Grand Ole Opry stretched back long before she became one of country music’s most recognizable figures.
According to the Opry, she was introduced to its audience in 1959.
She was only 13 years old.
Johnny Cash welcomed her to the stage as “a little girl from East Tennessee,” and the young Dolly performed George Jones’ “You Gotta Be My Baby.”
The audience responded so enthusiastically that she received three encores.
“The crowds loved her from the first note,” the Opry recalled in its remembrance of Dolly. “And they never stopped.”
A decade after that remarkable teenage appearance, Dolly officially became part of the institution.
She was inducted as a Grand Ole Opry member on January 4, 1969, at just 23 years old, after being invited to join by country music legend Gene Autry.
A relationship that lasted nearly seven decades
From her teenage debut through her induction and the many performances that followed, the Opry remained an important part of Dolly’s country music story.
That history made Saturday’s gathering particularly meaningful.
Some of the performers had personal relationships with Dolly. Others belonged to generations of artists shaped by the songs and career she left behind.
Pearce’s connection was especially symbolic.
She once performed at Dollywood before Dolly personally surprised her with an invitation to join the Opry. Now, she stood on that same Opry stage helping lead the first major gathering there following Dolly’s death.
It was one example of the influence Dolly continued to have on artists who came decades after her own arrival in Nashville.
Saturday’s tribute will not be the final celebration
The emotional evening was part of the Grand Ole Opry’s tradition of honoring a member on the first Saturday following their death.
It is not expected to be the institution’s final tribute to Dolly.
A larger and more formal celebration dedicated to her life and career is expected to follow.
Saturday’s gathering instead served as an immediate farewell from the Opry family — a chance for artists to return to the stage, sing Dolly’s songs and remember one of the institution’s most beloved members.
The sold-out event also supported one of the causes closest to Dolly’s heart.
Proceeds from the evening were donated to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the literacy initiative that became an important part of her philanthropic legacy.
From three encores at 13 to one final standing tribute
There was something especially poignant about where Dolly’s Opry story began and where Saturday’s remembrance ended.
In 1959, a 13-year-old girl from East Tennessee walked onto the stage after an introduction from Johnny Cash and sang for an audience that reportedly called her back for three encores.
Sixty-seven years later, some of country music’s biggest names stood together on that stage celebrating the songs she went on to give the world.
They sang “Jolene.”
They sang “My Tennessee Mountain Home.”
More than 30 performers came together for “9 to 5.”
But when it was finally time to say goodbye, nobody needed to sing for Dolly.
They simply stood together and listened as Dolly Parton sang “I Will Always Love You” one more time.
