A beautiful tribute to one of her heroes.
Sadly, the world lost a true angel on earth this week, as country icon Dolly Parton passed away at 80-years-old in Nashville Tennessee. Dolly had been dealing with undisclosed health issues for the last year or so, and she previously shared that she was having issues with severe kidney stones. Aside from that, she understandably didn’t share more, though it has since been revealed that she suffered a “brief battle with cancer.”
Tons of artists from country music and beyond have been paying their respects to the queen, and last night, Megan Moroney performed Dolly’s iconic hit, “I Will Always Love You,” in Denver, which is the last stop on the U.S. leg of her Cloud 9 tour and is actually a make up date from when she was sick a few weeks ago.
Dolly released the song as a solo cut in 1974 as part of her thirteenth solo studio album, Jolene. The iconic title track became Parton’s second solo #1 country single and also became a minor pop hit, though “I Will Always Love You” eventually became an even larger mega-hit thanks to the very popular film, The Bodyguard, starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.
That’s no easy song to sing, when you’re competing vocally with Dolly and Whitney Houston. Of course, Chris Stapleton did an incredible job with it recently with his own performance, but honestly for me, it’s one of those songs I think most people should just stay away from. But Megan sounds really good here, and she delivered the song with so much heartfelt emotion and I thought it was a really lovely rendition.
Megan has spoken at-length over the years about how much Dolly influenced her, and I think her influences are obvious, and while the world will continue to mourn the loss of such an incredible woman, the music will live on, that’s for sure:
@madicloud9 🥹🫶 @Megan Moroney @MoroneyHQ #meganmoroney #countrymusic #foryoupage ♬ original sound – madi🩷🩷
Here’s another angle:
@carolina_swiftie I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU OMGGGGGG @Megan Moroney @MoroneyHQ @Dolly Parton #meganmoroney #RIP #dollyparton #iwillalwaysloveyou #denver ♬ original sound – carolina_swiftie
It’s still so hard to believe Dolly’s gone, but seeing the overwhelming response of people all over the world gives me a ton of hope that her music, and more importantly, her legacy, will live on forever. The music is enduring, and it’s timeless, and it’s a tribute to the one-of-a-kind artist Dolly was.
Cloud 9 Tour Dates:
SEPTEMBER
13 | Oslo, NO – Sentrum Scene
15 | Stockholm, SE – Annexet
18 | Cologne, DE – Carlswerk Victoria
19 | Tilburg, NL – 013 Poppodium
21 | Paris, FR – Le Trianon
23 | London, UK – Eventim Apollo
26 | Manchester, UK – O2 Apollo
27 | Glasgow, UK – O2 Academy
OCTOBER
1 | Belfast, UK – SSE Arena
