Palak JayswalMusic fans across the world are mourning the loss of country music legend Dolly Parton.
The global superstar, who was known as the “Queen of Country Music,” died Tuesday at age 80. For the past year, Parton was battling health issues, according to Rolling Stone, which broke the news. Her family confirmed the news of her death in a video posted to the musician’s Instagram account.
(Edward Keating | The New York Times) Dolly Parton, savoring a chocolate mousse cake. Parton, the country singer, songwriter, entertainer and entrepreneur whose rags-to-riches story, outsize persona and prodigious vision and talent placed her in a class by herself, died in Nashville on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. She was 80.
Fans in Utah were in mourning, too.
Recently, Parton’s Imagination Library, a program that gifts books to children at no cost, partnered with Utah nonprofit Operation Literacy to give away free books and improve the state’s reading levels.
“When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true,” Parton said in a quote shared on the Imagination Library’s website. “I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister. Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer.
“The seeds of these dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world.”
Jennifer Jenkies, the CEO of Operation Literacy, said, “Dolly Parton understood something profoundly simple: when you put a great book into a child’s hands, you open a door to possibility.”
Following a presidential proclamation, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox ordered the flags at all state facilities to be flown at half-staff until sunset on Sept. 1 in honor of the country music legend.
Utah musician David Archuleta paid tribute to Parton in an Instagram post, writing, “Thanks for helping me feel seen as a shy teenager from Utah, as you’ve made millions feel seen.”
Parton visited Utah a handful of times over the years.
She performed at the former Valley Music Hall in North Salt Lake (now known as the Bountiful Regional Center) in 1968.
She once recorded at L.A. East Studios, a Victorian Gothic building on Salt Lake City’s west side. It was built in 1900 and used as a Latter-day Saints meetinghouse and later became a production studio. The building is now known as the Art Castle.
Most recently, Parton visited Orem in 2016 on her “Pure & Simple” Tour.
“I try every day to leave something in this world that is a little better and a little brighter,” Parton said in the lead-up to that tour. “I just see so much darkness in this world, I just want to be some sort of a light. I just want to do something that might lift the spirits of somebody.”
Pat Bagley | Dolly Parton
In the video statement posted by her family, Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver said:
“Dolly also opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians, and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent,” he said. “My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you. She has always been on your television, your record player, your CD, and on your phone playlist, becoming an extended part of your family, whether you liked it or not.”
