Kacey Musgraves pays emotional tribute to Dolly Parton with 'I Will Always Love You' at 2026 VMAs

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Kacey Musgraves paid an emotional tribute to country music icon Dolly Parton at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs). She led the touching tribute with a rendition of Parton’s iconic 'I Will Always Love You.'

For those unaware, Parton died at the age of 80 on August 25. Her death has been one of the most shocking losses in the music world, and the industry is still mourning her even a month after her passing.

Kacey Musgraves performs Dolly Parton’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ at VMAs 

A pre-taped performance began with footage of Parton, including a clip featuring her 1974 song. “I’d like to leave you, fellas, with a little bit of advice,” the country legend said in the clip. 

“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,” she continued. 

The video then showed Parton beginning to sing 'I Will Always Love You', as Musgraves joined in, accompanied by a piano. Musgraves performed with her eyes closed and immersed herself in the song as she delivered the high notes.

Following Parton’s death, Musgraves dedicated her song 'Rainbow' to the country icon during her concert at Boston’s TD Garden. She then performed Parton’s 1977 classic 'Here You Come Again'.

Later, during her 'Middle of Nowhere' tour at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, the singer covered Parton’s '9 to 5'. 

Dolly Parton kept cancer battle private

Parton’s death still appears to be difficult for Hollywood and the music world to process. The 'Jolene' singer died at the age of 80 after battling cancer, with her manager announcing her death.

Parton’s passing has remained widely discussed, with several cities across the country honoring the country music icon with Dolly Parton Day on September 25. As per TMZ, Parton secretly traveled to Germany for cancer treatment about a year before her death. According to insiders, she stayed there for about a week.

She had kept much of her health struggle private. During an interview with 'CBS Mornings' on September 9, her sister Stella revealed that the singer did not want many of her loved ones to know about her condition.

“Well, Dolly did not want anybody to tell that, because Dolly could not bear negative things, and she would not have wanted her fans worried about it. She didn’t want a lot of the family worried about it. Some of us knew, the ones that were closer, but not every relative,” she shared.

“She’d be really happy and delighted that people have shown her so much love because she knew that would make us feel better as her family,” Stella added.