The queen poet herself, Mrs.Dolly Parton.
Last night at The Pinnacle in Nashville, some of the best and brightest stars in the genre gathered together at the 19th annual ACM Honors Awards. Returning for her sixth straight year, Carly Pearce hosted the night alongside reigning Album of the Year winner, Parker McCollum.
In case you aren’t familiar with the concept of ACM Honors, unlike the ACM Awards, which highlight an artist’s individual performance, album or event, it awards recipients for their impact on the genre at large in a multitude of different categories, including the Poet’s Award, International Award, Spirit Award, Lifting Lives Award and many more.
Throughout the night, Kacey Musgraves was honored with the ACM Spirit Award, which was inspired by Merle Haggard. The late, great Brett James posthumously received the Poet’s Award alongside Dolly Parton (who accepted the award remotely) and The Carter Family for their songwriting careers. Taylor Sheridan’s hit show, Landman, received the ACM Film Award. Ella Langley, who has been on a historic run thanks to “Choosin’ Texas,” also received her first-career Artist-Songwriter win, and Eric Church received the well-deserved ACM Lifting Lives Award for his extensive philanthropic work and dedication to charitable service.
But it was Dolly who received one of the most prestigious awards of the evening, for her decades of contributions to country music through her pen, because really, it’s a fitting name for the award as Dolly received the ACM Poet’s Award for her songwriting.
Dolly has of course won many awards for her classic songs over the years, and she has been nominated multiple times in the ACM Song of the Year category, including for “You’re the Only One,” “9 to 5” and “When I Get Where I’m Going,” underscoring the lasting power of her songwriting within Country Music. From “Jolene” and “Coat of Many Colors” to “I Will Always Love You,” Parton has “written with honesty, heart and unmatched storytelling power, creating songs that have shaped the culture of country music and continue to resonate far beyond genre lines.”
And while she’s been dealing with ongoing health issues and was unable to attend in-person, Dolly sent a sweet video message to everyone there, thanking them for the award. She explained that songwriting has “always been the most important part” of who she is as a creative, adding that every dream she’s ever had come true has been because of a song.
Dolly says that songwriting has been her “therapy, release and joy,” and she thanked God for giving her the gift of songwriting and being able to touch so many people through her words and music:
“Dolly here, and I just wanna send a very special thank you to the Academy of country music for honoring me with the poet award. You know, I’ve been able to do many things throughout my life, but at my core songwriting has always been the most important part of who I am creatively.
Every dream I ever had, and all the dreams that I’ve been able to see come true in life, well, they all started with a song. Songwriting has been my therapy. Songwriting has been my release, my joy. Songwriting has been a gift from God that has allowed me to touch people with words and music, so thank you God.
And thank you fans around the world and everyone at ACM’s for giving me this very special award.”
It was a beautiful speech, and it’s hard to put into words just how important and impactful her songwriting has been not just for country music, but for people all over the world.
Dolly is an icon, a global superstar, one of the last universally-beloved figures on this earth, and somehow, she has still managed to remain that down-home, salt-of-the-earth southern girl from the mountains of east Tennessee. She started out with a song in her heart and a message to share with the world, and is still doing that today.
You can watch her full speech here:
