A variety of country music stars, bluegrass musicians, Broadway performers and entertainment figures are all set to honor Dolly Parton during a live television special airing Oct. 21 from Belmont University in Nashville.
The Country Music Association and ABC announced the performer lineup for “CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton,” which will include Ella Langley, Carrie Underwood and Kelsea Ballerini, just to name a few. The two-hour tribute will be filmed before a live audience at Belmont University's Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and broadcast from 9 to 11 p.m. EDT on ABC and Disney+, before streaming the next day on Hulu.
The show will also include performances by Ashley McBryde, Béla Fleck, Brad Paisley,
Carly Pearce, Darius Rucker, Kristen Bell, Kristin Chenoweth, Lady A, Lainey Wilson, Little Big Town, Lukas Nelson, Molly Tuttle, Reba McEntire, Ricky Skaggs, Sierra Hull, Vince Gill and Zac Brown.
Amy Grant and Kimberly Williams-Paisley will appear as special guests.
A Belmont University student ensemble is also scheduled to take part in a performance tied to the school's “Dolly U” initiative, which seeks to help students learn from Parton's career, artistry and business achievements, according to the announcement.
In addition, surprise tribute segments featuring Parton's friends from across the entertainment industry are expected throughout the broadcast.
The special was first announced last month, and organizers said the artist roster will reflect Parton's influence across generations and genres.
Proceeds connected to the special will be donated to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, the international literacy program which has provided over 300 million free books to children since its 1995 founding. Disney also is supporting Imagination Library as part of the effort.
For more information about “CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton,” visit CMAworld.com/dollyparton.
This story was written by Chris Parton with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Reba McEntire, Ella Langley, Kelsea Ballerini will perform at Dolly tribute
