Dolly Parton kicks off Nashville premiere of new Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit featuring lyrics, outfits and more
Dolly Parton's indomitable spirit will be displayed in a new exhibition, "Dolly Parton: Journey of a Seeker" at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum until Sept. 2026.
The opening was celebrated with a May 19 private debut and a brief ceremony attended by Parton. It featured performances of Parton's songs 'Coat of Many Colors' and "The Seeker' performed by Alison Krauss & Union Station.
"It's a long way from the top of the Smoky Mountains to the top of the world," said Parton, about her new exhibit.
Access to the "Dolly Parton: Journey of a Seeker" exhibit is included with museum admission. A limited number of timed tickets for the exhibit are available each day. Reservations are encouraged and ticket availability can be found on the museum's website.
"Dolly Parton: Journey of a Seeker" displays clothing, awards, handwritten lyrics, instruments, photographs, interview footage and more, including:
Parton's first draft of handwritten lyrics to her classic song and No. 1 country hit 'Jolene.'
A custom-built Gibson five-string banjo with a white metallic finish, rhinestone embellishments and butterfly motifs used by Parton at performances in 1992 and on her 'Halos & Horns Tour' in 2002.
A cowgirl outfit Parton wore in the 1980 Hollywood film '9 to 5.'
Hand-painted and beaded boots, designed by Bambi Breakstone, which Parton wore at the photoshoot for her 2002 album, Halos & Horns.
The Kennedy Center Honors medallion Parton was presented in 2006 to honor her lifetime of contributions to American culture.
A Tony Chase-designed lace dress, embellished with pearl beading that Parton wore when she performed the R&B classic 'I'm a Hog for You Baby.' It was a duet with the Muppets character Miss Piggy on an episode of Parton's ABC-TV variety series, 'Dolly!,' in 1987.
The Gibson L-30 archtop acoustic guitar, built around 1935 — given to Parton as a gift from her brother Floyd Parton — which she played in the 1991 music video for 'Silver and Gold,' from her album Eagle When She Flies.
The dress, with balloon sleeves, chiffon skirt, bugle beading and rhinestone accents, Parton wore at a 1978 photoshoot by celebrity photographer Harry Langdon Jr. The likeness of her on a Dolly Parton-themed pinball machine, made by Bally in 1979, was based on one of Langdon's photos of her in this dress.
Designed for Parton by Lucy Adams, a pantsuit with bell sleeves, bell bottoms and rhinestone-and-bead embellished floral shapes, worn by Parton when she toured with her Traveling Family Band in 1975, and on the cover of Dolly, her 1975 album also known as The Seeker/We Used To.
"From immediately deciding to embrace country music instead of being a pop singer, or when she moved her career to Los Angeles (in the 1980s), then started the Dollywood amusement park and the Imagination Library, Dolly's always remained her own person in often making choices that countered (what people advised her to do)," said Michael McCall, associate director of editorial, at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
"Dolly fought each step of the way to maintain her vision, alongside being a charismatic entertainer and talented performer."
She highlighted that even at the start of her career, making her Grand Ole Opry debut at age 13 alongside her Uncle Bill Owens in 1959, she received three encores on country music's most prestigious stage. Despite this, Opry stage manager Walter Kilpatrick initially deemed her too young to perform.
Knoxville-based Opry members Carl and Pearl Butler convinced fellow Opry member Jimmy C. Newman to agree to give up one of his regular Saturday night spots to Parton, who was introduced to the stage by Johnny Cash.
"From the beginning, because of how she envisioned her career's success, it was as if she was destined to manifest global stardom," added McCall.
"I love that we have Dolly's fax machine in the exhibition," McCall continued.
In the early 1980s, Parton needed a fax machine to review multi-million-dollar global contracts, as her gamble on becoming a Los Angeles-based film and music star had paid off handsomely. She released "Islands in the Stream," a triple-platinum pop crossover hit duet with Kenny Rogers, penned by the Bee Gees. Additionally, she starred in the films 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas' and 'Rhinestone' alongside Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone, respectively, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 1985, Parton invested $5 million in the Silver Dollar City amusement park in her native Sevier County, Tenn. One year later, the park was rechristened as "Dollywood." Meanwhile, per U.S. census data, the population of Pigeon Forge jumped 66% between 1980 and 1990, and over 100% from 1990 to the present day.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will hold a variety of programs, including public programs and arts and crafts programming for families. Visitors can find more information on the exhibit and upcoming related programming via countrymusichalloffame.org.
An illustrated and in-depth exhibit companion book supplements the gallery presentation, featuring historical photographs and artifacts from the exhibit. The book is now available via the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's store. It will also be available in bookstores and online outlets through a distribution partnership with the University of Illinois Press.
An additional display that celebrates Parton's literacy community, created through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, is presented in the museum's Taylor Swift Education Center.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What's in Dolly Parton's new Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit?
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