Dolly Parton Weighs In on Beyoncé’s CMA Snub, Believes They Probably Prioritized Lifelong Country Stars Over Beyoncé’s “Specialty Album”

Country star Dolly Parton is praising Beyoncé and speaking out about her controversial Country Music Awards snub. 

In a recent sit down with Variety to promote her new meal kit, the icon shared her appreciation of “Cowboy Carter,” which featured a cover of Parton’s hit “Jolene.”

“Well, ‘Jolene’ was in Beyoncé’s, and I thought that was a great album.  She’s a country girl in Texas and Louisiana, so she grew up with that base.  It wasn’t like she just appeared out of nowhere,” Parton explained.

When addressing the CMAs’ failure to nominate Bey for this year’s awards despite the success of “Cowboy Carter,” Parton had a theory about what may have gone into their decision to choose other projects over the singer’s “specialty album.” 

“Well, you never know. There’s so many wonderful country artists that, I guess, probably the country music field, they probably thought, well, we can’t really leave out some of the ones that spend their whole life doing that,” the 78-year-old stated, later adding, “But it was a wonderful album. She can be very, very proud of, and I think everybody in country music welcomed her and thought that, that was good. So I don’t think it was a matter of shutting out, like doing that on purpose. I think it was just more of what the country charts and the country artists were doing, that do that all the time, not just a specialty album.”

Nevertheless, Parton shared she would love to grace the stage with Bey to perform her version of “Jolene” in the future.  The 58th Annual CMA Awards will take place on Wednesday, November 20th, 2024.