After Dolly Parton’s sudden passing, the chorus of mourning has sounded exactly as you’d expect: an avalanche of tributes for a dead-set legend of country music, philanthropy and western pop culture. The day after Dolly’s death was her largest spotify day of all time and social feeds were jammed with our favourite Dolly quotes, portraits of her best wigs and rhinestones, and clips of her songs, interviews and best quips. Dang, she was top notch.

A week on, I have reflected on something much rarer than a three-octave vocal range or an impressive business empire, or even her generous literacy programs (which included braille). I’ve been considering her complete lack of ego. A good example of this is how she handled the drama around Beyoncé’s country album Cowboy Carter, launched in 2024.

Five years before that album landed, Beyoncé performed alongside The Chicks at the Country Music Association Awards. Dolly territory. Folks not even invited to those awards (AKA online trolls) banged out some pretty rotten words about Beyoncé as an interloper trespassing on sacred, homogenous white lady turf. CMA executives with very soft ballsacks, scrubbed Beyoncé’s performance from their socials altogether. True story. 

Years later, Beyoncé confirmed that Cowboy Carter was an album created directly out of that poke in the eye, from an explicit message that she wasn’t welcome. Nevermind she was born in Texas. The CMA dorks and the trolls that fuelled them did not like it that she was wuz black, and she were hip hop. Now go on, geet.

Queen Beyoncé spent five years in secret unearthing the original Black roots of American country music. And she called in the big guns. The queen herself, DOLLY PARTON. This whole scenario gives me tingles.

In true Dolly fashion, she contributed to the album with a voice cameo, AND she let Beyoncé reimagine one of her biggest hits of all time, Jolene. That song is a sacred text in country music. For fifty years, it had stood as the ultimate anthem of female vulnerability, a heartbreaking plea where a woman begs another not to steal her man. Like a man has no will of his own. It was a sign of its times.

Queen Beyoncé is a new breed of lady and it was 2024. She changed the lyrics and turned it into an assertive warning. Instead of ‘I’m begging of you, please don’t take my man’ Queen Bey warns Joelene, don’t come for my man, just because you think you can. Phooooweee!

Dolly Parton got a ‘big kick’ out of the recording and said she felt deeply honoured. She gave the young superstar her personal backing, lending her credibility and artistic equity to a project designed to poke at the very establishment Dolly had spent decades navigating. Willie Nelson is on the album too. Stick that up ya jumper, country music executives and stay-at-home trolls in yer swampy sweats.

That is professional generosity at its finest. Dolly Parton understood a fundamental idea that insecure leaders never grasp: lifting up others doesn’t diminish your glory. True leadership means refusing to allow a scarcity mindset to create a turf war. Success is not a pie with limited slices.

The album landed and the establishment snubbed Cowboy Carter at award season time, emphasising why Dolly’s intervention mattered so much. Then… Beyoncé rode a white horse into the stadium for the NFL Christmas Day half time show wearing a giant white cowboy hat and a white fluffy coat, and I screamed my head off. Black lady, white horse. I couldn’t love Beyoncé more, together with Dolly’s sisterly nod. So good I could cry.

As we say goodbye to Dolly Parton, the Queen of Country, let us remember her for more than the hair, the enormous rack and the hit records. Let’s remember her as a hard working visionary who knew that the best thing you can do with your power is to share it. When the next generation comes knocking, don’t shut the door. And if you see the establishment excluding someone, you know what to do. Be like Dolly.

I listened to Cowboy Carter while I wrote this article. I listened to this album non-stop on a trip to Japan so it reminds me of Kyoto. Weird. My fav song is track 16. II Most Wanted. RIP Dolly Darling. 

If you’d like a reco for some Aussie country, try Emily Lubitz’ album, Two Black Horses. I drove all the way from Sydney to Bowraville to see her play live once.

About the Author: Lucy Bloom is a keynote speaker, author and business consultant based in Sydney. She’s an expert in creative leadership, innovation and doing business differently without corporate fluff.