CMA Awards 1978: Dolly Parton Accepts Entertainer of the Year Award Minutes After Busting Out The Front Of Her Dress

Dolly Parton country music
CMA Awards

In 1978, the great Dolly Parton, finally received the credit she was due – winning Entertainer of the Year on the heels of her Heartbreaker album release.

But in the moment that Johnny Cash and Ronnie Milsap announced Dolly the winner, the popular singer actually hoped her name wouldn’t be the one called. She explained why in her acceptance speech:

“I had this dress made in case I won and about five minutes ago, I was hoping I wouldn’t win because I busted the front out of it! But my daddy says that’s what I got for putting 50 pounds of mud in a 5 pound bag!”

In the moments before she was “crowned” Entertainer of the Year, Dolly realized that her specially made dress had busted in the front.

Luckily, she was sitting next to Kenny Rogers’ wife who was wearing a big fur stole:

“I was sitting down there near her, so I grabbed her stole and held it up”

In an interview with People Magazine, Dolly said she remembered the dress’s fabric being so fragile and delicate. She even recalled thinking that with her preference for tight clothing, she really hoped the whole thing would, “all hold together.”

Unfortunately for her, that wasn’t the case:

“I remember thinking this is such a beautiful dress, but the fabric is so delicate. I thought, ‘Man, as tight as I wear my clothes…’ and I was a little hefty then anyway, I thought ‘I hope this all holds together!.

When they called my name, I felt something creeping up my stomach and I thought, ‘Oh My God, my dress is coming apart!’ And I thought ‘What am I gonna do?’”

 And talk about a terrible moment to have a wardrobe malfunction, but Dolly handled it with grace – as always, even giving the crowd a good giggle in the mean-time.

Dolly shared her thoughts on one of the biggest moments in her career:

“I wanted to look good when I won the award, but I did think, ‘Well, this is very entertaining!’ That that fit in well with the award!”

CMA Awards 2012: Faith Hill, Tim McGraw And More Honor Willie Nelson

Here’s to the one and only Willie Nelson.

With the CMA Awards right around the corner, we’ve been taking a look back at some of the best, and most memorable, moments from throughout the 50-plus years of the show.

There’s the time Alan Jackson walked out in the middle of a Beyoncé performance, Shania flirted her way to the stage during a performance of “Any Man Of Mine,” and of course, one of my personal favorite’s, the time Sturgill Simpson busked outside of Bridgestone Arena during the show with his Grammy trophy on display.

And almost 10 years ago to the day, the show had some of the biggest names in country deliver a star-studded tribute to the Red Headed Stranger himself, singing some of Willie’s biggest hits and fan-favorite songs.

Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Lady A, and Willie’s longtime harmonica player Mickey Raphael all took the stage to sing renditions of “Always On My Mind,” “Crazy,” “Whiskey River,” “Good Hearted Woman,” and Willie even joined them at the end to close it out with “On the Road Again”

A decade later, I think it’s high time we get fresh version of this… I don’t know if there’s any “saving” the show and the consecutive dismal ratings at this point, but it sure as shit wouldn’t hurt to try with another Willie Nelson medley, with the right artists, of course, right?

I mean, I could listen to Tim and Faith channel their inner Willie and Waylon all day long:

This years 57th CMA Awards show will air live next week on November 7th on ABC, with Peyton Manning and Luke Bryan co-hosting live from Nashville, Tennessee.

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