CMA to honour Dolly Parton with live two-hour TV tribute
CMA will honour Dolly Parton with a live two-hour television tribute on 21 October.
The special is titled CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton. It will air live from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. ET on ABC in the United States and on Disney+ internationally, with next-day availability on Hulu, Billboard reported.
The broadcast will be filmed live at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Belmont University in Nashville. Robert Deaton serves as executive producer.
Parton died on 25 August at age 80. Tributes after her death included a performance of “9 to 5” by Britain’s King’s Guard band in front of Buckingham Palace, Reuters reported.
The choice of CMA as producer reflects a long history. Parton became the second woman after Loretta Lynn to win CMA entertainer of the year in 1978. She became the first woman to solo-host the CMA Awards show in 1988. In 2016, she became the first woman to receive the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.
Proceeds from the special will support her charity work. CMA and Belmont University will make a donation from the proceeds to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Disney is also supporting the Imagination Library in conjunction with the broadcast.
For fans, this means a chance to watch together, at the same time. A live telecast leaves no extended window for catch-up on the night.
The tribute arrives less than a month before country music’s biggest industry night. The 60th annual CMA Awards are set to air on 18 November.
