Miley Cyrus has shared a heartfelt tribute to the icon of country music—and Cyrus’ own godmother—Dolly Parton, who died yesterday, August 25, at 80 years old. “The feeling of losing my Aunt Dolly is beyond what feels right to share,” Cyrus wrote in a message shared across her social media accounts. “What I KNOW is Dolly would want me to feel it, write a song about it, and then continue on and be strong. I have an angel by my side. I always have. One of our last conversations was about music and metamorphosis. 🦋”
Cyrus closed her note by saying, “I will always love her and want to make her proud. My heart breaks for the world, her family and friends who will miss her deeply. We’re in this loss together and we will see her in all of the most beautiful things. 💖”
Billy Ray Cyrus and Parton toured together in 1992, and Miley, his daughter, was born that November. “He [Cyrus] said ‘We’re having a girl, and you’ve got to be her godmother,’” Parton recalled in a 2023 interview on The Howard Stern Show. “I said ‘Well I’d be honored.’”
Parton guest starred as “Aunt Dolly” on multiple episodes of the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana. It was part of the show’s canon that Aunt Dolly and Mamaw Ruthie (Vicki Lawrence, playing Cyrus’ in-universe grandmother) had been feuding for years ever since Parton had stolen Ruthie’s one-time boyfriend, Elvis Presley.
In 2012, Cyrus covered “Jolene” as part of her “Backyard Sessions” series. She and Parton also showed up on each other’s records throughout the years: Parton on “Rainbowland” from 2017’s Younger Now, and Cyrus reworking her own song “Wrecking Ball” for Rockstar, Parton’s final studio album, in 2023. “Jolene” was actually the last song the two performed live together, to close out the December 2022 edition of Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party, Cyrus’ briefly lived annual TV special.
