Katy Perry and Ella Langley joined forces to honor Dolly Parton in heartwarming way.
The Harleys in Hawaii singer and the 27-year-old American singer-songwriter teamed up on Wednesday, October 21, to pay a special tribute to the late iconic country music singer in Nashville.
The event, named CMA Presents | Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton, was a live two-hour television special that took place at Nashville’s Belmont University Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and served as an emotional homage following Parton’s death in August 2026.
Perry and Langley came together at the event to deliver one of the most memorable segments of the evening, combining a heartfelt spoken tribute with a powerful musical performance of a country classic.
The Watch It Burn hitmaker took the stage to remember Parton as a woman who “masterfully toyed with the power of her femininity.”
“Devastatingly sharp and equally as sweet, she could read you for filth with a wink and a smile, and then make sure that your children learn to read too. That’s a mother,” she continued.
Katy Perry added, “Beneath the decades of dazzle was an extraordinary generosity of spirit. Some called her the Great Unifier because she had this ability to bring people together from all walks of life, political perspectives and sexual orientations. She saw beyond those labels because she saw the humanity in everyone. For me, Dolly is the blueprint.”
Following Justin Trudeau’s girlfriend’s high-praise introduction, Ella Langley performed a soulful rendition of Dolly Parton’s iconic 1974 hit Jolene.
