The Country Music Association’s farewell to Dolly Parton did not open with a song. It opened with Oprah Winfrey on a screen, one Tennessean talking about another, and it closed with a whole room singing “I Will Always Love You”, the song she wrote. In between, Katy Perry gave the night its label from the stage: the Great Unifier.

Most of the coverage has repeated that phrase as a compliment. Look at who was booked, and it reads more like the evening’s thesis. Hollywood, pop and talk-show royalty sent their tributes on tape; Nashville, bluegrass and gospel held the stage in person. The CMA did not just say Parton could bring people together. It put the proof on one bill, and it was a bill no one else in music could have filled.

Oprah Winfrey, Julia Roberts and Sabrina Carpenter on video

Winfrey’s message, recorded for the top of the broadcast, set the tone. “We’re both Tennessee girls, and she represented to me the essence of being 100% who you see yourself to be. Authentic all the time, and I just loved her for it,” she said. She praised Parton’s “grace” and “tenacity”, adding: “If she put her mind to something, that was it.”

Julia Roberts, Parton’s co-star in Steel Magnolias, remembered meeting her in her early twenties: “It was magical to see someone so alive, so present.” Sabrina Carpenter, who had worked with Parton on a remix of “Please Please Please”, delivered the line that best explained the room. “I think Dolly was one of the only people on planet Earth that everyone could universally agree on,” she said in her recorded message. Carol Burnett told the story of Parton knocking on her hotel door with a meal she had cooked herself. Bono and Goldie Hawn also paid tribute, according to Variety.

Perry spelled out what that agreement crossed. Parton, she said, could “bring people together from all walks of life, political perspectives and sexual orientations. She saw beyond those labels because she saw the humanity in everyone. For me, Dolly is the blueprint.”

Reba McEntire, Zac Brown and the Nashville stage

The live half of the show belonged to the people who worked alongside her. Reba McEntire, a friend of decades who had shared the stage with her, chose “He’s Alive”, a Don Francisco song Parton recorded on White Limozeen. In a separate interview with Extra, McEntire praised a different Dolly from the one Perry described: “She was also honest about her beliefs. She wasn’t ashamed, embarrassed to talk about her faith, and she sang about it.” A pop star celebrating her reach across orientations and a country queen celebrating her faith, in the same week, and both right.

Zac Brown sang “Butterfly” with Parton’s own vocal from the original recording playing through the hall, as American Songwriter reported. Brad Paisley and Sierra Hull paired up on “When I Get Where I’m Going”. The bluegrass bench was deep, with Béla Fleck, Molly Tuttle and Hull, which Saving Country Music called a fitting nod to a sound that was elemental to Parton. The same site wished there had been room for Sierra Ferrell and for younger singers who carry her influence.

Carrie Underwood took the finale, fighting tears through “I Will Always Love You” until the full cast joined her. Parton wrote it as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, thanking him on her way out to a solo career.

Why the CMA gave Dolly Parton her own special

The format was a decision in itself. The CMA could have folded Parton into a segment of its awards show next month. Instead it built a dedicated two-hour broadcast, a choice Saving Country Music welcomed, arguing that the awards telecast has largely skipped In Memoriam segments over the last decade and could not have done her justice in a few minutes.

Parton died on August 25 at 80, after what was described as a brief battle with cancer. CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton aired live on Wednesday, October 21, from Belmont University’s Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Nashville, on ABC and Disney+, and streams on Hulu the following day. The performers included Ashley McBryde, Brad Paisley, Carly Pearce, Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker, Ella Langley, Kelsea Ballerini, Kristin Chenoweth, Lady A, Lainey Wilson, Little Big Town, Lukas Nelson, Reba McEntire, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill and Zac Brown, with special appearances by Amy Grant and Kimberly Williams-Paisley. The CMA and Belmont are donating part of the proceeds to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which sends free books to children every month, and Disney is also backing the program.

The song Parton wrote to leave a mentor with grace became the one a whole genre used to let her go. It took more than 20 voices to carry what she once sang alone.

Tags: Sabrina Carpenter, Oprah Winfrey, Dolly Parton, Country Music Association, tribute concerts