Taylor Swift Remembers Dolly Parton as ‘True Grace & True Grit, All in One Dazzling Person’

Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift never recorded a song together, but openly shared a mutual admiration.

Now, Swift is sharing her heartfelt appreciation for Parton, who died Tuesday (Aug.

25) at age 80, thanking her for “the melodies and lyrics she wrote that thawed even the coldest hearts.” Swift praised Parton for her songwriting and also for her philanthropy and just general Dolly-ness.

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“But because of the eternally generous way she spent her time on this earth and the countless lives she changed for the better, her legacy will be an everlasting one.” She lauded Parton for knowing her own value as a creator, something the two artists shared: “She possessed the softest heart when it came to the struggles of others, and a backbone of steel to defend her own self worth as an artist,” Swift said.

Just last month, Parton took to social media to thank Swift and her then-fiancé Travis Kelce for their $2 million donation to Parton’s Imagination Library as part of their $26 million in charitable giving prior to the pair’s July 3 wedding.

Parton even jokingly asked, “Hey, when you have your first born can I have it? Because that is going to be one special baby.” Parton often praised Swift, telling E! News last year , “I’m just crazy about Taylor.

I just admire her so much for what she’s done with her life.

Her career.

Such a great artist and songwriter.” Swift’s statement in full is below.

Like so many tributes to the icon, Swift even managed to fit in a reference to Parton’s most famous and enduring song, “I Will Always Love You”: “A world without Dolly doesn’t feel possible, real, or right.

But because of the eternally generous way she spent her time on this earth and the countless lives she changed for the better, her legacy will be an everlasting one.

She was truly the gift that kept on giving.

Dolly gave us someone to look up to while encouraging us to be who we are as individuals.