“Queens Honoring Another Queen”: Carly Pearce, Carter Faith, and Kaitlin Butts Salute Dolly Parton With Show-Stopping “9 to 5” Cover at ACM Honors

Dolly Parton is getting her flowers. During the 19th Academy of Country Music Honors, Carter Faith, Carly Pearce, and Kaitlin Butts teamed up for an incredible performance of Parton’s hit, “9 to 5.”

The trio of country stars took lines of each verse individually. They joined their voices together during the chorus of the iconic 1980 track.

They did the country icon proud with their cover, earning rapturous applause from the audience.

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The performance came the same night that Parton received the ACM Poet’s Award. The distinction recognized Parton’s extraordinary, decades-long impact as one of country music’s most gifted and influential songwriters.

Parton, a 13-time ACM Award recipient and three-time host, is behind some of the genre’s most enduring songs. A few standouts include “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” and “I Will Always Love You.”

Dolly Parton Accepts the ACM Poet’s Award

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Parton was unable to attend to the event, which was held at The Pinnacle in Nashville. Instead, she accepted the award with a special video message.

“Dolly here! And I just want to send a very special thank you to the Academy of Country Music for honoring me with the Poet’s Award,” she said. “You know, I’ve been able to do many things throughout my life, but at my core, songwriting has always been the most important part of who I am creatively.”

“Every dream I ever had and all the dreams that I’ve been able to see come true in life, well they all started with a song,” Parton continued, “Songwriting has been my therapy; songwriting has been my release, my joy. Songwriting has been a gift from God that has allowed me to touch people with words and music.”

Parton concluded her message by stating, “So thank you God, and thank you fans around the world and everyone at ACM for giving me this very special award.”

In addition to Parton, Brett James and The Carter Family were honored posthumously with the ACM Poet’s Award.

More of the evening’s honorees included ACM Spirit Award winner Kacey Musgraves and ACM Lifting Lives Award recipient Eric Church.

At the ceremony, which Pearce hosted alongside Parker McCollum, Ella Langley was named the ACM Artist-Songwriter of the Year and Jessie Jo Dillon became the ACM Songwriter of the Year.

Photo by Mickey Bernal/Getty Images