The impact of Dolly Parton: 6 women in pop carrying the Queen of Country’s legacy

While rooted in grounded narrative storytelling, Parton’s iconic reinventions across bluegrass, country, disco and pop-rock, are mirrored by Cyrus’s own versatility, with a catalogue that spans pop, hip-hop and rock, on top of her roots in country. Cyrus embraces each era as an essential part of her artistic evolution—a mindset reflected in her always evolving covers of Jolene and Love Is Like a Butterfly, as well as reflective tracks like Used to Be Young.

Beyond their professional collaboration, Parton served as a mentor when Cyrus transitioned away from teen television, teaching her how to navigate public scrutiny with humour.

Swift and Parton shared a mutual admiration for each other dating back more than a decade, rooted in musicianship and business independence. Like Parton, Swift moved to Nashville when she was young to write and release country music; and like Parton, Swift is one of the few female artists in history to achieve global pop crossover success.

And then there’s the rights similarity. In 1974, Elvis Presley wanted to record Parton’s hit I Will Always Love You, but insisted that she would have to yield half of her publishing rights—and therefore takings—to him. She refused, and in doing so, established a landmark precedent for catalogue control.

Decades later, Swift followed a path pioneered by Parton, re-recording her back catalogue to reclaim her master recordings and retain complete control over her self-written compositions while expanding from country roots to international pop stardom. 

In her statement after Parton’s death, Swift said the global icon had “walked so that young girls like me could grow up dreaming of joining the circus too”. But Parton saw Swift’s power too; as long ago as 2015, in an interview with People magazine, Parton said of Swift: “She knew exactly who she was, she had her dream, and she stuck with it. That’s what you gotta do. I’m just so proud of her.”

When Beyoncé, a staple in RnB and hip-hop, recorded her country project Cowboy Carter (2024), she sought Parton’s direct participation. Parton, who was the sole songwriter and copyright owner of Jolene, cleared the rights for Beyoncé’s rewritten version, and contributed spoken vocals to two separate tracks on the project, Dolly P and Tyrant. The album faced scrutiny from country music traditionalists who questioned its place in the genre. But Parton’s endorsement offered a powerful stamp of legitimacy from country royalty; it went on to win best country album awards at the Grammys and American Music Awards.

In a tribute posted onto her website, Beyoncé called Parton a “north star” and “barometer”, writing, “I am grateful for your art, your heart, your generosity, your humour, your entrepreneurship … I’m honoured that I had the privilege to work with you. I will treasure that forever.”

Read more: Dolly Parton’s greatest legacy was the lives she changed

Eight-time Grammy-winner Kacey Musgraves, who grew up studying Parton’s music and aesthetics, called her the “ultimate songwriter”.

“How has she not influenced me and my career?” Musgraves said in a 2019 red carpet interview with Billboard magazine. “My favourite thing about Dolly is that she has all of these components perfectly melded together: beauty, sex appeal, brains, wit, humour, beautiful songwriting—meaningful songwriting—no apologies for who she is, LGBTQ advocate long before it was even a thing or trendy or whatever.”

Musgraves performed Here You Come Again on CMT (Country Music Television) Crossroads with Katy Perry in 2014, and again at the 2019 MusiCares Person of the Year gala honouring Parton.

Ahead of Parton’s performance at the 2014 Glastonbury Festival, Allen interviewed the country icon for Radio Times, dressing her young daughters in country-and-western outfits for a backstage photo with the legend.

Clear parallels exist between Parton’s intuitive, storytelling-driven songwriting and Allen’s oral and observational social commentary—a style that has deepened in vulnerability across albums like No Shame (2018) and West End Girl (2025), which tackle themes of divorce, infidelity and addiction. Allen’s 2025 track Madeline, which mimicked a confrontation with her ex-husband’s mistress, drew widespread comparisons to Jolene.

Reflecting on Parton’s lifelong presence in her musical upbringing, Allen noted during their 2014 meeting: “I can’t really think of a time when I haven’t known who she was. My mum probably played me Dolly for the first time—a compilation that had 9 to 5 on. It was the only song on it that I wanted to listen to.”

As a tribute to Parton, whom Wilson calls her “biggest inspiration”, Wilson wrote WWDD—standing for What Would Dolly Do—for her 2021 debut album Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’. “Dolly is an international icon and role model for a lot of folks around the world, so it’s an easy song for a lot of people to relate to,” she explained at the time.

Although they had previously remotely recorded a duet covering The Judds’ Mama, He’s Crazy, the two didn’t meet in person until the 2023 Academy of Country Music Awards, where Parton presented Wilson with the Female Artist of the Year award. The following year, they shared the stage to perform I Will Always Love You on Dolly Parton’s Pet Gala, a television special featuring musical performances alongside celebrity pets.

Wilson routinely cites Parton’s signature blend of bold visual style and candid small-town storytelling—or in Wilson’s own words, “[telling] it how it is with a little bow wrapped on top”—as the blueprint for her own career.

In the documentary special Lainey Wilson: Bell Bottom Country, Wilson noted that she channels Parton’s unapologetic approach to country glamour and confidence when dealing with attention to her physique. “I went back to ‘how would Dolly handle this situation’,” she said. “Dolly flaunts it. She’s proud of it.” 

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