Elle King’s Botched, Profane Dolly Opry Tribute Performance

Elle King played the Grand Ole Opry's tribute to Dolly Parton on Friday night (1/19) for the icon's birthday in Nashville. She was clearly drunk, botching one of Dolly's songs, forgetting the words, and using profanity throughout.

King sang one of Parton's songs ("Marry Me") off-key and at one point sang her own lyrics, "I don't know the lyrics that she sings in the f------ town. Don't tell Dolly 'cause it's her birthday." After the song, she looked disoriented and said to the crowd, 'You're ( the audience) like holy s---, we bought tickets for this s---. I'm not even alive." Her bandmate jokes, "That's a b-side for ya." King continues as the uneasy audience laughs, "Holy s---, I'm not even gonna f------ lie. Ya'll bought tickets for this s---. you ain't getting your money back." One guy yells, "I don't want It," and she shouts back, "Good, 'cause you ain't getting it."

Elle then says, "I'll tell you one thing more. Hi, my name is Elle King, and I'm f------ hammered." She then says some illegible things and says, "Celebrating Dolly's birthday with a bottle. I'll celebrate her birthday in one way or two." Her bandmate then says, "Elle, why don't we give them one of yours?" King says, "How about that? Go ahead, why don't you give me this s---? I'll tell you one thing: I can barely play another person's song; let's see if I can play one of mine." She then screams to the crowd, asking them if they are having fun before launching into one of her songs on the mandolin.

See that video here.

Dolly or King has yet to comment on the performance, but Dolly's sister Stella Parton did comment on X. She wrote, "I didn't see nor hear the Grand Ole Opry birthday tribute to my big sister Dolly over the weekend. But some little girl by the name of Elle King apparently cussed and insulted some of Dolly's fans by not knowing a song. She did admit to being "hammered" her word, not mine."

Parton continued, "But let me just say this, it wouldn't be the first time a Hillbilly went on the stage of the Opry "hammered" but I guess it's ok if you're a male but good lord don't ever let a girl behave that way, folks! Double f------ standard if ya ask me. So the Opry is apologizing! Lol"

She concluded, "To any lil ego thinking they can learn the lyrics correctly with a half-assed listen to one of Dolly's songs. Surprise! You'll end up looking as silly as that lil girl. Do your homework, people. Memorize the lyrics to Jolene or COMC. My sister loves words. A brilliant wordsmith."

See that post here.

The Grand Ole Opry did apologize for the incident to a fan who commented on a post by Lauren Alaina on X. The Opry wrote, "We deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night's second Opry performance."

Other fans reacting to the post said the Opry should "get rid" of King for good.

See that post here.

The third week of January is always one of my favorites in my work as I get to write about and celebrate Dolly Parton's birthday (1/19). Her birthday has become "Dolly Parton week" in Nashville and anywhere her millions of fans are located.

I love diving back into one of the reasons I fell in love with country music in the first place, not long after seeing the movie 9 to 5 in the movie theater and wanting to know more and more about the wonderful Parton.

When I was a teenager, the way to get good seats to see your favorite music stars in concert was sleeping outside at night in line at the box office to be first in line when the box office opened. I did just that in January in the cold of Salt Lake City, Utah, waiting to get tickets to see Dolly in concert with Kenny Rogers. The feat paid off as I sat in the first row of the show, singing every word.

In the many interviews I have done with Parton since I moved to Nashville, I never confessed to her my devotion and sacrifice to see her the very first time. However, it was those early days and my teenage years of devotion that made me appreciate her work so much.

As we celebrate her birthday this week (1/19), I dove into her many music videos and because of when my love for this icon began in the 1980s and 1990s, a couple videos from my list of her best videos are from that time period. Before we look at the five videos, I wanted to highlight two of her most recent music videos from her 2023 Rockstar album.

"We are The Champions/ We Will Rock You" (2023) - This video came out and focused on her covers of two Queen classics.

Another video I must mention from Rockstar is the one she did with Linda Perry, covering Perry's 4 Non Blondes song "What's Up?" Perry appears with Parton in the video, playing guitar and singing along in the chorus. It's also fun to see Parton wearing jeans, which she rarely does.

This music video shows footage and moments of Dolly and Kenny Rogers when they toured together for a few years in the early 1980s. It is to be cherished; although they recorded together many times, the music icons only toured together in the 1980s.

This music video is also a gem. It is the only music video to feature Parton with fellow country music Queens and icons Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn, who have both since passed. The beginning of the music video shows a fun clip of music and guitar icon Chet Atkins trying to get backstage to see the country queens. The security guard says, "I don't care if you are Chet Atkins, you can't get in," and Chet replies, "I am Chet Atkins." It was Atkins who first signed Dolly to a RCA recording contract in the 1960s.

This fun video starts with Dolly auditioning men to play her leading man in the video, and it's pretty funny. At one point, a car salesman auditions just to meet her, and she quips, "I think you're real cute." The video starts after he says, "Dolly, is that you?" This is just pure fun.

This is one of Dolly's songs that I always thought should have been a big hit. It was one of the rare songs not written by Parton. The music video, shot in black and white, shows Parton singing as well as scenes of people overcoming obstacles in their lives.

Broadway actress and movie star Kristin Chenoweth plays in this video that is circus-themed and shows Parton dressed as a circus conductor advising women to "get to living." In true Dolly style, the song shows a positive attitude toward life, something she has always possessed.