Kacey Musgraves delivered an emotional tribute to the late country music legend Dolly Parton at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night.

Musgraves gave an electric performance of Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” drawing a flurry of reactions from fans on social media.

Musgraves, who has been paying tribute to Parton on her ongoing “Middle of Nowhere” tour, said she’ll “never” get over her death. She added that the world now feels “a lot less sparkly” since her passing.

Kacey Musgraves Joins Dolly Parton’s Archival Performance For VMAs Tribute

Kacey Musgraves paid homage to Dolly Parton at the MTV VMAs in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday night.

The multi-Grammy winner delivered a moving performance of the late icon’s timeless 1974 ballad, “I Will Always Love You,” featuring Parton in a unique way.

The set began with archival footage of Parton introducing the song with a short quip, per The Independent.

“I’d like to leave you, fellas, with a little bit of advice,” she said in the clip. “Don’t criticize your wife’s judgment. You just remember who she married. Just kidding you. There’s a lot of truth in that, and I would also like to say about life, I hope it treats you real kind, and I hope that you have all that you ever dreamed of.”

Parton then began singing in the footage before Musgraves joined in, accompanied by a piano.

Fans Call Kacey Musgraves The ‘Right Choice’ For Dolly Parton Tribute

Across social media, fans praised Musgraves for the tribute, with some calling her the “perfect person for it.”

“Kacey was the right choice. Of all the modern country girlies, she has just the right tone to honor Dolly’s iconic voice. She did her proud,” an X user wrote.

Someone else said, “Kacey honoring Dolly with that song is such a full-circle VMA moment—the vocal phrasing kept the tribute heartfelt without losing her own style.”

A third person noted, “Talented, beautiful, amazing, gorgeous, intelligent, quirky, slightly weird, always fascinating, MOTHER!”

• Musgraves said she’ll “never” get over Parton’s death.
• Reba McEntire still doesn’t have an answer for this Dolly Parton question.
• U2 announced a new album that’ll feature the late country star.
• Billy Ray Cyrus reflected on his longtime friendship with the singer.
• Parton’s sister insisted that there was “no feud” despite her nephew’s firing and lawsuit.
• Sally Field honored Parton following her win at the Emmy Awards.

Kacey Musgraves Says She’ll ‘Never’ Get Over Dolly Parton’s Death

Musgraves has been paying tribute to Parton during her ongoing “Middle of Nowhere” tour.

At the Boston and New York stops, she gave moving performances of Parton’s songs “Here You Come Again” and “9 to 5.” She also said she wasn’t going to get over losing the music icon anytime soon.

“I’m not over it, and I’m never gonna be over it,” she told the crowd at Madison Square Garden, per Rolling Stone. “The world definitely lost a light, and it’s hard for me to talk about. And I know how much Dolly meant to everybody also in this room.”

“I think why it feels so dark is it’s already hard to navigate these times right now, and then we lose a matriarch like that. It’s the closest thing we’ve ever had to royalty,” she added.

Dolly Parton Said She Overlooked Health Issues While Caring For Her Husband

The “Jolene” singer died on August 25 at age 80, four days after confirming in an interview that she’d had difficulties with her health. Still, she wasn’t going to stop working.

“I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” she said, referencing her late husband, Carl Thomas Dean, who died in March 2025 at age 82.

At the time, Parton explained that she’d experienced health troubles before. With the advent of social media, however, things get “magnified in ways it wasn’t years ago.”

She also said she and her team were looking to collaborate with companies that created “avatar performances,” adding that they were in the “early stages of development.”

Source Calls Dolly Parton Estate Dispute A ‘Gut Punch’ To Nashville

Meanwhile, the weeks after Parton’s passing have taken a contentious turn after her nephew, Bryan Seaver, was fired as head of security.

Her estate, She’s Alive LLC, obtained a restraining order against him after he allegedly made threats and attempted to extort the late singer’s business associates.

However, he denied any wrongdoing, calling the restraining order “spurious and simply a publicity stunt” in a statement shared with ABC News.

“I’ve never threatened anyone,” he said. “They are my friends and my brothers and colleagues.”

A source told PEOPLE that Nashville was still trying to make sense of the debacle, calling it a “gut punch to a grieving city.”

“That anyone would want to abuse her memory or take advantage of a family and community in grief is despicable and the antithesis of everything Dolly stood for,” the insider added.

The Dolly Parton Takes Center Stage In Kacey Musgraves’ VMAs Tribute first appeared on The Blast