On a Saturday morning in June 1964, a blonde, 18-year-old country singer boarded a Greyhound bus bound for Nashville with nothing but a single suitcase in hand. She had no record deal and no job, just determination to make it big in Music City.
Over 62 years later, her name is among some of the city's biggest brands with real estate in the Nashville skyline.
Dolly Parton's SongTeller Hotel isn't only the last in her long list of successful businesses. It's her magnum opus.
"This will be the largest exhibit of my life and career to date," Parton said in December 2025, ahead of the opening. "Filled with the stories, songs and memories that I've carried, it includes all of the things that have helped this little girl's dreams come true."
Throughout
her career, Parton launched dozens of businesses, nonprofits and licensing deals, 30 of which remain active. She capitalized on her fame and used it to change the lives of people around her, whether she knew them personally or not.
Parton died at 80 years old on Aug. 25, 2026, but her lasting legacy will persist through songs played in Broadway bars, portraits hung on restaurant walls, and over 200,000 square-feet in Downtown Nashville dedicated to her music, fashion, family and life's work.
"This is not something that was done yesterday," Middle Tennessee State University marketing and personal branding professor Don Roy said. "This is the culmination of decades of forging a favorable brand image and being philanthropic."
How Dolly Parton built her vast business portfolio
Parton debuted her first business venture, Owepar Publishing Co., at 21 years old in partnership with her uncles Bill and Louis Owens in 1967. Its principal holdings were Parton's lyrics and music. Though it was far more common for record labels to own an artist's masters, Parton and her uncles maintained ownership of her catalog from the start of her career.
"She was brilliant in that she really controlled her own destiny from an early stage, at a time when stars were not doing that," University of Tennessee entrepreneurship professor Tim Pollock said. "The managers and other people controlled where their images went and who things were licensed to, but keeping the rights over her own music, she was one of the pioneers in doing that. That control allowed her to be selective."
She went on to open Fireside Studios in 1973 with mentor Porter Wagoner and license her songs to the likes of Merle Haggard and Nancy Sinatra. She also was afforded the choice to turn down requests from musicians like Elvis Presley.
She famously declined his offer to record "I Will Always Love You" when his manager Colonel Tom Parker said that would mean giving up half of the publishing rights. That decision alone made Parton millions in royalties from her own rendition and Whitney Houston's later cover.
After 15 years of success as a musician and actress, Parton began to dip into other industries. In a 1982 interview with The Tennessean, Parton described her seven-year plan to build out her personal brand, launching her own lines of cosmetics, lingerie and shoes.
"I have a big dream of having a big empire based in Nashville," she said. "What I really want to do is just to — what I've always done — own myself."
By the end of her life, Parton more than achieved that dream.
Parton's 30+ lasting businesses, nonprofits, licensing deals
With Parton's extremely favorable image and clear vision for her business empire, she was able to leverage her celebrity brand into dozens of verticals and branding opportunities, business and marketing experts said.
"The thing about branding, whether you're talking about a person or a company, is that it's an ongoing process," Roy said. "You are never totally finished."
In the wake of Parton's death, her companies maintain at least 30 businesses, nonprofits and licensing deals carrying on her legacy. Here is the comprehensive list of Parton's active companies, major licensing deals and partnerships:
- Dollywood, open since 1986 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, run by The Dollywood Company and co-owned by Parton and Herschend Family Entertainment
- SongTeller Hotel, opening in fall 2026 in Nashville
- Dolly's Life of Many Colors Museum, opening in fall 2026 in Nashville
- Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop since 2026 in Cornersville, Tennessee
- "Threads: My Songs in Symphony" U.S. tour began January 2026, following a 2025 Nashville debut
- World Choice Investments, the Pigeon Forge-based entertainment company that also has operations in Branson, Missouri, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Panama City Beach, Florida. It is the parent company of Parton’s dinner theaters and restaurants, including Stampede Dinner Theater, Pirates Voyage Dinner & Show, Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Feud, The Comedy Barn Theater, Frizzle Chicken Cafe and The Titanic Museum
- “Dolly: A True Original Musical,” debuted at Belmont University in July 2025
- The Dolly Wines Bar, opened in Nashville’s Assembly Food Hall in August 2025
- Dolly Wines, a line of varietals launched in 2024
- Parton Family Cellars, Parton’s California-based alcoholic beverages company that filed for trademark in 2023 and is parent company of Dolly Wines
- Duncan Hines line, began in 2022 with new collection launched in 2025
- Dolly Beauty, launched in 2024 including perfumes and makeup
- Doggy Parton pet apparel and accessories
- The Dollywood Foundation
- Imagination Library, founded in 1995 with the goal of improving childhood literacy in Sevierville, Tennessee, and has since grown into a global operation
- Series of autobiographies and photobooks, including “Star of the Show: My Life on Stage”
- “Billy the Kid” children’s books centered on a French bulldog
- Dolly Parton Productions, which has produced TV series and movies including "Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors” since the 1980s and has inked deals with the likes of Netflix and NBC
- Dolly's Joleans clothing with Khloe Kardashian’s Good American denim brand
- Kendra Scott jewelry line
- Heart & Home decor collection with Dollar General
- Walmart paper goods and party supply line
Parton stayed true to herself and selective in her licensing throughout her decades-long career.
"If I'm going to be big business," Parton said in 1982, "I want to be pretty much in control."
"I just think we're all here for a reason, and I'm out to figure out what all my reasons are."
Hadley Hitson covers business news for The Tennessean. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work, subscribe to The Tennessean.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Dolly Parton's legacy shines through her business empire
