The Dolly Parton Classic That Kacey Musgraves Says She May Never Sing Again

Kacey Musgraves has likely performed “I Will Always Love You” for the last time. Following Dolly Parton’s death, Musgraves honored the country music star at the 2026 VMAs with a performance of the iconic song.

While speaking on SiriusXM’s The Highway, Musgraves reflected on her Parton tribute.

“That is not an easy song to sing. They suggested either ‘Here You Come Again’ or ‘I Will Always Love You.’ I kind of like the challenge of ‘I Will Always Love You,’” she said. “I’ll probably never sing that song ever again, because it’s really hard.”

“It’s not about outdoing, or whatever. There’s her version, and that’s the one. Her and Whitney, no one can top those,” Musgraves continued. “But I did my best to try and show the respect, and what she meant to me.”

Kacey Musgraves Reflects on Dolly Parton’s Impact

The singer, who’s currently on her Middle of Nowhere Tour, went on to admit that she “definitely wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing as I know it without Dolly or Loretta [Lynn].”

“All these women really getting in and paving the way for what we now term as our new normal,” she said. “But at one point, we forget that they were really pushing a lot of boundaries. [They were] honestly kind of pissing a lot of people off at times, while looking beautiful.”

That dichotomy, Musgraves said, is “a testament that you, as a woman, can be multifaceted and multidimensional.”

“You can have a wonderful business and be extremely intelligent in that way. You can be funny, you can make jokes about your body, you can have a body and show it off, and you can be glam and all of that,” she said. “I really admire that.”

The same night of Musgraves’ VMAs tribute, the singer performed in Nashville. During that show, Musgraves honored Parton by performing “Rainbow” for the Bridgestone Arena crowd.

She also praised Parton and others for not being “afraid to say s**t that was uncomfortable.”

“I think about Dolly and getting banned from the radio for singing about some taboo stuff. I think about Loretta getting banned for singing about birth control. I think about Tammy [Wynette] singing about divorce when it was taboo,” she said, before pointing to her disco balls set piece. “Those balls up there, those belong to all those women.”

Photo by Matthew Taplinger/CBS via Getty Images