Country Music Hall of Famer Dolly Parton passed away today (8/25) in Nashville at the age of 80. Born Dolly Rebecca Parton on Jan. 19, 1946, she went on to become a prolific singer, songwriter, actress, philanthropist and businesswoman with a career spanning nearly 60 years. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton released her debut album, Hello, I’m Dolly, in 1967 leading to success throughout the remainder of the 1960s, both as a solo artist and with a series of duet albums with Porter Wagoner. Parton has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including 44 career Top 10 country albums and 110 charted singles. She has composed more than 3,000 songs, and her catalog of hits includes “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene,” “Coat Of Many Colors,” “Here You Come Again” and “Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That.” In addition to her work with Wagoner, Parton charted hit duets with Willie Nelson (“Everything’s Beautiful [In Its Own Way]”), Smokey Robinson (“I Know You By Heart”), Ricky Van Shelton (“Rockin’ Years”) and Kenny Rogers (“The Greatest Gift Of All,” “Real Love,” “Christmas Without You,” “I Believe In Santa Claus” and “Islands In The Stream”). She also collaborated with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt on the Trio album; with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette on the Honky Tonk Angels project; and released “Romeo” with Billy Ray Cyrus, Tanya Tucker, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Mattea and Pam Tillis. Many of her songs saw crossover success on the pop charts, as well. 

As an actress, Parton can be seen in 9 To 5, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk. Parton also co-owned Sandollar Productions, which produced her Academy Award winning documentary Common Threads: Stories From The Quilt (1989) as well as the television series “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” (1997-2003) and feature films Father Of The Bride and Father Of The Bride: Part II, among others. She owned The Dollywood Company, which manages a number of entertainment venues, including the Dollywood theme park and Splash Country water park. Parton also found a number of charitable organizations, chief of which is the Dollywood Foundation, which manages a number of projects to bring educations and poverty relief to her native East Tennessee, and the Imagination Library, which provides free books for children from birth to age five. Parton has earned 55 Grammy nominations and won 11 Grammys, including the Lifetime Achievement Award; nine CMA Awards, including being one of only seven women to take home the organization’s Entertainer of the Year trophy; 14 ACM Awards; four People’s Choice Awards; three American Music Awards; and 48 BMI Awards. Parton has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1969, and is a 1999 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Parton was named to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001, is a 2008 Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame inductee, and a 2022 inductee to the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. She received the Library Of Congress Living Legend Award in 2004 and the National Medal of Arts in 2005, the same year the CRB presented her with the Artist Career Achievement Award. Parton was recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2006, and three of her compositions – “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene” and “Coat Of Many Colors” – were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007, 2014 and 2019, respectively. Read Parton’s complete biography via the Country Music Hall of Fame here. A small, private service is being planned for immediate family. In lieu of flowers the family asks for donations to be made to Parton’s Imagination Library.

Sony Music Nashville Dir./Radio Marketing & Promotion Anna Widmer has joined Riser House as VP/Promotion, effective at the beginning of September. She will work alongside fellow VP/Promotion Jeff Davis and Dir./Regional Promotion Paul Grosser as the team prepares to release Mitchell Tenpenny's first radio single on the imprint. “Anna is an absolute superstar who works tirelessly on behalf of her artists and radio partners, and her body of work is truly a benchmark for excellence,” says EVP/Promotion & Artist Brand Strategy Shane Allen. Widmer joined SMN in 2023 after nine years at MCA (CAT 8/16/23). Plans for the open position at Sony will be announced soon.

Dog Day(ton) Of Summer: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for July 2026 (three-month rolling average, 4/30-7/22) compared with May and June. Ranks (in parentheses) are among subscribers. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight.

Morris Higham Managment Chairman Dale Morris died Aug. 21 at the age of 89. After starting his career as a songwriter, landing a top five hit with Johnny Paycheck's “Don’t Monkey With Another Monkey’s Monkey,” Morris founded booking agency Dale Morris & Associates and then Morris Artist Management with Alabama as his first client more than four decades ago, going on to handle the careers of Kenny Chesney, Old Dominion, Martina McBride, Jake Owen, Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Dailey & Vincent, Greylan James and Barbara and Louise Mandrell, among others. His business expanded to many related ventures, including record labels Treehouse and WeBlast, Dale Morris Productions, Morris Light & Sound,, and More American Hospitality, which he co-founded in 2014 to manage resort and entertainment opportunities, including Nashville's Fontanel (which he co-owned at the time) and the Deadwood (SD) Mountain Grand (CAT 7/2/14). He sold Morris Artist Management to Front Line Management in 2009 (CAT 5/13/09) and Dale Morris & Associates to Paradigm Talent Agency in 2018 (CAT 11/25/18).

Morris Higham Management Pres. Clint Higham says Morris was "larger than life, and never met a dream he couldn’t build ... He saw things in people, in me, in Kenny, and inspired everyone to reach beyond what we thought possible ... He lived a big, bold, beautiful, blessed life, and I’m holding onto that right now. It’s the end of an era.”

Morris was inducted into the International Entertainment Buyers Association’s Hall of Fame in 2010 and, in 2014, received the Tony Martell Lifetime Entertainment Achievement Award from the T.J. Martell Foundation (CAT 3/11/14). A Celebration of Life will be planned for later this fall. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Read his 2009 feature in The Interview here.