They were like two peas in a pod.
On August 25, 2026, Dolly Parton sadly 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. Dolly’s reps confirmed she sadly died following a “brief battle with cancer,” though the specific kind was not revealed.
Dolly is of course Miley Cyrus’ godmother, and she hit the jackpot in that sense… obviously, any musician would be lucky to have Dolly in their corner giving advice and helping them make decisions about industry-related things, in addition to general life advice.
Miley has talked about their relationship before, and they were very close throughout her life, and during her show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California, last night, Miley shared a beautiful story about the one and only time she saw Dolly perform there:
“I only got to see Dolly Parton live in concert one time in my entire life. And it was here. Now, I spent a lot of time backstage, and if she had it her way, when she was playing a show, I would be standing right beside her in a matching costume.
And so when I was coming to this show at the Bowl to see her, I said, you know, I would love a night where I could just experience you, I could just enjoy you like the rest of the world has gotten to. And so Dolly, I don’t want to perform tonight, I just want to sit in my seat and watch the show like everybody else.
She said, ‘Okay, Miley.’ That never means okay.”
Yeah, Dolly had something up her sleeve…
Dolly came out to the Hannah Montana show theme song “Best Of Both Worlds,” and told the entire audience that Miley was out there in the crowd watching the show:
“So I’m sitting in my seat back there, where some of you are, and all of a sudden, Dolly enters, but I hear ‘The Best Of Both Worlds.’ Yeah. Dolly opened performing Hannah Montana. But that’s just not the end of that story.
She comes out, and she goes, like a proud aunt, ‘I don’t know if y’all know this, but my goddaughter is Hannah Montana, and she’s actually here tonight, but she’s sitting out in a seat, she didn’t want anyone to bug her. She said she just wanted to watch the show.’
Which defeated the entire purpose of the conversation that we had just had, because absolutely no one was aware that I was at the concert until she drew an obnoxious amount of attention to it.”
But she says she feels Dolly with her now more than ever, and she started crying when she talked about getting to see her again one day:
“But like so many things Dolly did that I didn’t understand at the time, sitting here with you all right now, feeling her all around me, knowing that she’s right here beside me every day, all the time, more than she could be when she was here.
I feel her more now than ever, and knowing that I get to share this story with you all, it makes that night very worth it. This memory is gold to me. Me and Dolly, we are eternal, nothing in this life could ever tear us apart, and I’m gonna see her again, and I can’t f****** wait, because I miss her.
Some of the greatest music that we have today was written, produced, performed, by my aunt Dolly. This is one of those songs.”
Miley was visibly emotional talking about Dolly, and it was a beautiful tribute from someone who knew a very intimate side of Dolly:
She then went on to perform “Jolene,” a song she’s covered many times throughout her life:
@leandrockx #miley #jolene #hollywoodbowl ♬ original sound – Leandro
