Country singer Brad Paisley honored his late musical collaborator Dolly Parton with a teary-eyed solo performance of the song they once sang together. Days after Parton died at age 80, Paisley surprised fans at his concert in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with an acoustic performance of “When I Get Where I’m Going,” the 2005 ballad he recorded with the late Queen of Country. When Paisley performed the song Thursday, 27 August, he was moved to tears as he told the crowd: “When I recorded that song and sent it to Dolly, I said, ‘A couple of people in my life I’ve lost, and I didn’t know if this would relate to you.’” “She immediately said, ‘Yes, let me sing on that.’ And [she] did,” he said, according to a Facebook video posted by the venue, Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater.
The song explores the concept of the afterlife and reuniting with loved ones in heaven. Paisley went on to say that since Parton’s death, the song’s meaning has changed. After Parton’s death was announced Tuesday by her nephew Bryan Seaver, tributes flooded in from across the country music industry.
Singer Garth Brooks, who runs Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk in Nashville with his wife, the country singer Trisha Yearwood, announced that the bar will honor Parton on September 25 by declaring the date “Dolly Day.” The date was chosen in a nod to her timeless hit “9 to 5.” Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. The couple said on their website that they plan to make “Dolly Day” an annual event at the honky tonk, with the bar’s earnings from the day going to Parton’s Imagination Library, her non-profit dedicated to children’s education and literacy.
Singer Miley Cyrus, Parton’s goddaughter, remembered her “Aunt Dolly” as an “angel,” saying, “I will always love her and want to make her proud.” Cyrus’s dad, country star Billy Ray, who toured with Parton in 1992, said: “Dolly recently sent me a beautiful message, telling me she loved me with her whole heart. I will always love her in the same way ….. with my whole heart … and I always will.” On Sunday, 30 August, Parton’s family announced that the late singer had been laid to rest at a private funeral. She was buried next to Carl Dean, her husband of 60 years, who died in March 2025.
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