The Country Music Association (CMA) and ABC have revealed plans for a two-hour live on TV special honoring Dolly Parton, bringing together performances and personal stories for a night dedicated to her music and legacy.
The special, CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton, will air live Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+, with next-day streaming available on Hulu.
The show will take place at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The university has its own connection to Parton, having hosted the 2025 premiere of DOLLY: A True Original Musical, which tells her life story through her music.
CMA CEO Sarah Trahern described the special as the industry’s way of expressing gratitude to a performer whose influence extended far beyond music. “Dolly Parton belonged to the whole world, but she was born of this industry, and this industry owes her a debt of gratitude that words alone cannot repay,” Trahern said.
The broadcast will feature performances of Parton’s songs alongside personal stories and archival footage celebrating her career and humanitarian legacy. The performers have not yet been announced, giving fans another announcement to look forward to before the October broadcast.
Dolly Parton’s TV Special Will Continue One of Her Biggest Missions
The tv special will also carry forward one of Dolly Parton’s most enduring causes. The CMA and Belmont University will donate a portion of the event’s proceeds to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the book-gifting program she launched in 1995.
The program has distributed nearly 308 million books to children since its launch, growing from an initiative in Parton’s home county in Tennessee into an international literacy program.
By directing a portion of the proceeds to the Imagination Library, the celebration will do more than revisit Parton’s career. It will also support one of the philanthropic projects most closely associated with her legacy.
Executive producer Robert Deaton said the production would celebrate not only Parton’s music but also the qualities that made her such a beloved figure. “My goal is to honor Dolly’s story with the same heart, humor, generosity, and spirit that she gave to all of us,” he said.
Why ‘I Will Always Love You’ Is the Perfect Title for Dolly Parton’s TV Special
The special’s title comes from one of Parton’s most famous compositions, and its history makes the choice particularly meaningful. Parton wrote “I Will Always Love You” in 1973 as a farewell to her longtime musical partner and mentor Porter Wagoner as she prepared to leave his television show and pursue her career independently.
Parton’s original recording was released as a single in 1974 and reached No. 1 on the country chart. Remarkably, she recorded the song again for the 1982 film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and that version also reached No. 1 on the country chart.
A decade later, Whitney Houston transformed the song for The Bodyguard soundtrack. Her 1992 rendition became a worldwide success and spent 14 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, bringing Parton’s songwriting to an even larger international audience.
Parton died Aug. 25 at age 80 following what her family described as a “brief” battle with cancer. She left behind a legacy extending beyond her music to acting, business and philanthropy.
Now, CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton will bring those different parts of her legacy together, while also supporting the literacy program she championed for more than three decades.
