“I Love Dolly Parton, Y’all”: Dierks Bentley Honors Late Country Legend With Emotional Grand Ole Opry Tribute

Dierks Bentley made time to honor the late Dolly Parton while at the Grand Ole Opry. The country star took the stage at the famed venue of Nov. 3, during which time he spoke about his love for bluegrass and acoustic music.

After noting that the world lost one of the greats in that realm following Parton’s August death, he revealed he was going to perform a song in her honor.

“This is a song that Dolly took to the top of the charts back in the day,” Bentley told the crowd, as he began strumming the opening chords to “Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle to You.”

Pebe Sebert and Hugh Moffatt wrote the track. Joe Sun and Brian Collins both released versions of the song in 1978. However, the track found the most success when Parton put her spin on it in 1980, topping the Hot Country Songs chart in the process.

Bentley impressed with his cover of the tune, and ended the performance by saying, “I love Dolly Parton, y’all.”

Dierks Bentley’s Grand Ole Opry Set

That moment was just one of many that fans got to enjoy during Bentley’s Opry set. He kicked things off with a performance of “Drunk on a Plane,” before transitioning into a more serious vibe with “I Hold On.”

“This next song is probably my favorite song to sing of all the songs I get to sing every night,” Bentley said of “I Hold On,” before sharing that he has a photo of himself holding his late dad’s hand.

“It’s just a really powerful thing to hold somebody’s hand. My son wasn’t even born at that point, and now I’m at place in life where all our kids are leaving us. It’s not my dad’s hand, it’s my wife’s hand,” he said. “I’m holding on for dear life right now as all our kids walk out the door. It’s scary going forward and our family not knowing what’s next. This is about having someone to hold on to when you go through harder moments in life.”

Bentley went on to perform the fan-favorite track “Riser,” before wrapping up his set with the Parton tribute and a rousing performance of “What Was I Thinkin’.”

Photo by Mickey Bernal/Getty Images

The post “I Love Dolly Parton, Y’all”: Dierks Bentley Honors Late Country Legend With Emotional Grand Ole Opry Tribute appeared first on American Songwriter.