Carrie Underwood delivered the title song of Wednesday night’s live TV special CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton. The country music star closed out the ABC broadcast with a soaring performance of Parton’s 1974 ballad,
joined near the end by some of the evening’s other performers.
The singer appeared in a flowing white dress onstage to sing the night’s emotional, final tribute. Among the artists that honored Parton during the show were Zac Brown, who sang a “duet” with Parton using her prerecorded vocals from “Butterfly,” and Ella Langley, who offered her take on the 1974 hit “Jolene.”
Released on Parton’s Jolene album, “I Will Always Love You” was originally written as a farewell to Porter Wagoner, who hired Parton to regularly appear on his TV variety series. Wagoner, a country crooner known for his rhinestone suits, was a veteran hitmaker who gave Parton her big break by casting her on his show. The pair became frequent duet partners and released 13 duet albums; they won the Country Music Association Award for Vocal Duo of the Year three times.
Eventually, however, Parton outgrew the show (and began to outshine Wagoner) and she exited in 1974, leaving him with one of music’s most emotional ballads. She’d sing it for him again in 2007 in honor of Wagoner’s 50th year as a Grand Ole Opry member. “If it hadn’t been for Porter, I wouldn’t have written this song,” Parton said then. “This is kind of my goodbye song to Porter.”
In 1992, “I Will Always Love You” found new life when Whitney Houston recorded it for the soundtrack of The Bodyguard. Since Parton’s death in August, artists from Brandi Carlile and Kacey Musgraves to Orville Peck and John Mayer have performed it in her honor.
Held at Nashville’s Belmont University, CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton begins streaming on Hulu on Oct. 22 and includes Langley, Brown, Underwood’s performances as well as tributes by Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, and more. Proceeds from the event benefit Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
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