The final note had barely faded when the entire room rose to its feet in a thunderous standing ovation
Carrie Underwood had just closed the night with I Will Always Love You and what began as a solitary performance became a shared farewell as Reba McEntire and Vince Gill and Brad Paisley and Lainey Wilson and Ella Langley and other performers stepped forward to join her for the closing lines
The emotional moment unfolded at Belmont University’s Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Nashville on Wednesday October 21 2026 and it felt almost destined because Dolly Parton herself had foreseen it more than twelve years earlier
The two hour CMA television special brought together more than 20 performers to celebrate the beloved entertainer nearly two months after Dolly Parton died on August 25 at age 80
Vince Gill introduced Carrie Underwood for the final performance and she stood alone before a large black and white photograph of Dolly Parton while wearing a flowing white gown decorated with butterflies and honoring one of the legend’s favorite symbols
Long before it became a worldwide anthem the song began as Dolly Parton’s farewell to Porter Wagoner and honoring the country star who helped launch her national career
Released in 1974 it became one of Dolly Parton’s defining recordings before Whitney Houston introduced it to another generation in 1992
For Dolly Parton the power of that song was forever tied to a painful farewell
Whitney Houston died in February 2012 at age 48 and during her funeral the famous recording played while pallbearers carried the coffin from the church
Dolly Parton later explained how deeply that moment affected her and how hearing her own words during Whitney Houston’s final farewell brought home the reality of the loss
When Entertainment Weekly asked her in a May 2014 interview what music she would want played at her own funeral she offered a striking prediction
“I’m sure they’ll be playing ‘I Will Always Love You’ when I die, just like they did with Whitney Houston.”
Nashville proved her right in October 2026 yet the answer she gave in that interview revealed another wish that was far more personal
The song Dolly Parton truly hoped would be sung for her was If We Never Meet Again and it was an old country gospel hymn about separation and faith and the hope of meeting loved ones again beyond this life
Her love for the hymn reached back to her father Robert Lee Parton and the family connection mattered more to her than the fame of any recording
“That was my daddy’s favorite.”
The Parton family had sung the hymn at Robert Lee Parton’s funeral and Dolly Parton said she hoped it would also be sung at her own funeral
Whether that wish was fulfilled during her private family service has not been publicly established and the October 21 CMA concert was a separate televised celebration of her life
I Will Always Love You was the farewell the whole world recognized while If We Never Meet Again belonged to a quieter world of childhood faith and family memories and a father whose favorite hymn stayed with his daughter long after his death
On that October night Nashville chose the song millions associated with Dolly Parton and Carrie Underwood began it alone before a gathering of familiar country voices finished it together
It was exactly the goodbye Dolly Parton had predicted yet behind the famous farewell lived another one she had carried in her heart for years and it was a gospel song that reminded her of her daddy