The first time Reba McEntire ever saw Dolly Parton in person, Dolly was covered in rhinestone butterflies.
McEntire has told the story more than once. She was backing up against a wall, a young singer watching a star walk into a room. “She had on the most beautiful black chiffon pantsuit with rhinestone butterflies on them,” McEntire remembered.
On Monday night at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, McEntire walked onstage wearing rhinestones and a butterfly of her own.
According to Smooth Radio, Parton’s niece Rebecca lent McEntire a pair of rhinestone earrings and a butterfly ring for the performance, so that a piece of Dolly would be with her while she sang. McEntire performed “Appalachian Memories” during the In Memoriam segment at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, three weeks after Parton died in Nashville at 80.
The Gown Pointed Back to the First Time Dolly Sang It Live
The dress carried its own meaning.
McEntire wore a sparkling, long-sleeved white gown designed by Michael Schmidt. Smooth Radio reported that the look was a deliberate nod to what Parton wore when she performed “Appalachian Memories” live for the first time during her 1983 television special Live in London. Parton sang it that night in a white fringed gown.
Forty-three years later, McEntire sang the same song in a white gown made to echo it.
She entered as fog rose from below the stage, and a photograph of the two of them appeared on the screen behind her. The arrangement stayed small, just piano and strings, and the whole performance ran a little under three and a half minutes. Images of Parton filled the screen while she sang.
McEntire made it through every line. On the last one, her voice cracked.
“I love you, Dolly. So much.”
Dolly Introduced the Song Herself Before Reba Sang It
Before McEntire took the stage, host Mariska Hargitay framed the moment for the room.
“On August 25, we lost a piece of America’s heart, Dolly Parton,” Hargitay said.
Sally Field, Parton’s Steel Magnolias costar, delivered the introduction after winning an Emmy earlier in the evening. The broadcast then played a clip of Parton herself at the 1983 Emmys, introducing the song in her own words.
“I grew up in the Smoky Mountains, the Appalachian Mountains. I have written a song that touches me very deep,” Parton said that night. “This song, like I say, is very important to me. And I hope you like it. If you don’t like it, if you don’t mind, I would rather not hear about it later.”
She got a laugh out of a room full of Hollywood forty-three years ago, and the clip got one again on Monday.
Butterflies Were Always Her Thing
Anyone who followed Parton’s career knows the butterfly was hers long before it showed up on Reba’s hand.
She put butterflies on album covers and stage costumes for decades. She wrote “Love Is Like a Butterfly” in 1974 and used it as the theme for her variety show. She has said she connected with them because they are gentle and beautiful and go about their business without bothering anybody, which is roughly how she described her own approach to a sixty-year career.
McEntire, 71, first met Parton at the Grand Ole Opry in 1977. They stayed close for nearly five decades, recorded together, and appeared on each other’s television shows.
The two of them last sat down publicly on September 25, 2025, for a TalkShopLive conversation promoting Parton’s book Star of the Show. They talked about clothes, about their fans, and about their faith.
Reba McEntire spent her whole career next to a woman who never walked into a room without sparkling. On the night she had to say goodbye on national television, she borrowed the sparkle from Dolly’s own family and wore it to the microphone.
