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The lineup has been announced for “CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton,” a special set to air live on ABC and Disney+ Oct. 21, with a list of 20 performers that includes Ella Langley,
Lainey Wilson, Reba McEntire, Carrie Underwood, Vince Gill, Kristen Bell, Molly Tuttle and Carly Pearce.
Others booked to perform on the two-hour show include Kelsea Ballerini, Brad Paisley, Zac Brown, Ashley McBryde, Bela Fleck, Kristin Chenoweth, Lady A, Ricky Skaggs, Sierra Hull, Little Big Town, Lukas Nelson and Darius Rucker. Amy Grant and Kimberly Williams-Paisley were also announced in the rollout, as non-performing guests.
The special will be broadcast live from Belmont University’s Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Nashville. (It’s a venue where Parton herself spent a lot of time; in the fall of 2025, her “Dolly” musical had its sole pre-Broadway production there, and the singer was highly involved in promotion and behind the-scenes-tinkering during that out-of-town tryout.) Tickets to attend the event in person are now on sale.
Robert Deaton, longtime helmer of the CMA Awards each year, will serve as executive producer on this as well.
Beyond its live airing on ABC and Disney+, the special can be seen starting the following day on Hulu.
The Country Music Association and Belmont have pledged to make a donation from proceeds from the show to Parton’s Imagination Library.
Nashville is seeing plenty of posthumous Dolly activity at the moment, as her SongTeller Hotel and an adjacent museum have just opened in downtown Nashville.
