Joseph Hudak
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Dolly Parton with Lainey Wilson in 2023. Jason Kempin/Getty Images for American Greetings To state the obvious, there will never be another Dolly Parton. No one can fill her high heels, cultivate such a diverse group of listeners from Nashville to Nairobi, or better embody the American poverty-to-philanthropy story.
But there are artists in country music who have at least some of that same Dolly sparkle. Reba McEntire, a longtime friend of Parton’s, is one from the legacy class. Garth Brooks possesses that entertainer DNA too. In today’s contemporary scene, Lainey Wilson certainly has that Dolly approachability: It’s easy for fans to make a connection with or even see themselves in the Louisiana native. (In 2020, she even dropped the song “WWDD” (What would Dolly do?).
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On this week’s special tribute episode of Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast, we ask the question of who is modern country music’s Dolly? Wilson’s name came up, and so did Luke Combs, who is dedicated to uniting music audiences in the same way that Parton did. But there is one name that fans shouted in response to our query: Kacey Musgraves. To be fair, they’re not wrong. Musgraves mirrors the same boldness — and empathy — that Parton imbued in her songwriting. And she’s certainly never met a rhinestone she didn’t like.
Other fans suggested Parton’s goddaughter, Miley Cyrus, as well as Sierra Ferrell, Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert, Kelly Clarkson, and Brandi Carlile, who just closed her Bridgestone Arena concert in Nashville this weekend with an all-Dolly encore.
