DollyFest will take place in London and Nashville across consecutive weekends in 2027.
The festival will celebrate Dolly Parton, who died aged 80 on 25 August 2026.
Parton helped develop the DollyFest concept before her death, with a traditional public memorial ruled out.
The two-day festival will honour the late Queen of Country with a star-studded celebration of her life and music.
London is getting ready to celebrate one of music’s most unmistakable voices. DollyFest London, an official festival honouring the life and legacy of Dolly Parton, will take place in the British capital in 2027, following the country music legend’s death on 25 August 2026.
Dolly Parton died in Nashville at the age of 80 following a brief battle with cancer. The singer, songwriter, actress and philanthropist was laid to rest in a private ceremony three days later, alongside her husband of 60 years, Carl Dean, who died in March 2025.
Rather than staging a traditional public memorial, Parton’s estate is moving ahead with DollyFest, an idea that the singer herself helped to create. The two-day celebration will take place across two consecutive weekends in Nashville and London in 2027. Exact dates, venues, performers and ticket details have not yet been announced.
The concept originally began as a multi-artist event in Nashville, planned to coincide with Parton’s 80th birthday in January 2026. Parton had intended to perform and host the celebration herself, but the plans were postponed after she faced health challenges. Her team will now transform the idea into a two-continent tribute featuring artists and fans celebrating her extraordinary career.
Danny Nozell, DollyFest organiser and CEO of CTK Enterprises, said: “As far as a traditional memorial goes, that is not something Dolly wanted. So, instead, it feels more appropriate for us to take a beat, let all the tributes that immediately make sense occur naturally, and then, see through this festival-style concept that was truly dreamed up by Dolly. This is something that is authentic to her, something that feels right to me, and something that artists and fans around the world can participate in, while also giving everyone time to grieve, and giving everyone time to plan.”
Few artists leave behind a songbook as recognisable as Parton’s. Her career stretched across more than six decades and saw her sell over 100 million records worldwide. She scored 25 number-one singles on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and won 11 Grammy Awards, while writing thousands of songs during her lifetime.
Among those songs are “Jolene,” “9 to 5,” ‘Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You,” which became a worldwide phenomenon when Whitney Houston recorded it for The Bodyguard soundtrack. Parton also crossed into pop culture with tracks such as “Here You Come Again” and “Islands in the Stream,” her enduring duet with Kenny Rogers. Her influence stretched beyond country music into film, television, theatre and philanthropy, with her Imagination Library becoming one of the world’s best-known children’s literacy initiatives.
For British fans, DollyFest also has particular resonance. Parton delivered one of Glastonbury Festival’s most memorable Legends Slot performances in 2014, playing to an enormous Pyramid Stage crowd and reinforcing just how far her popularity stretched beyond Nashville and country music.
The DollyFest London line-up remains under wraps, but organisers have described the event as star-studded, suggesting some significant names could gather to perform songs from Parton’s vast catalogue. Further information on the London venue, dates, artists and ticket sales will be announced in due course.
Contact: www.dollyparton.com