Dolly Receives Kennedy Center Honors
The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. was buzzing with reporters Sunday night as Dolly, Steven Spielberg, Smokey Robinson, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Zubin Mehta arrived to accept their honors as this year’s Kennedy Center Honors recipients. Dolly arrived in a flowing white Robert Behar gown as she made her way to the evening’s festivities that included President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and a slew of country music and Hollywood icons. Dolly joked to the Knoxville News-Sentinel’s Terry Morrow that had she been in charge of the evening, “everybody would be wearing overalls and blue jeans, whatever made them comfortable…But on special nights like this, people love to get dressed up. And they should. 
It’s not every night you get to go to the White House and the Kennedy Center.”
The three and a half hour ceremony included a long line-up of tributes to Dolly and the other honorees. Reba McEntire introduced a video narration of Dolly’s life and career followed by Reese Witherspoon’s speech honoring Dolly saying “Like a lot of little girls growing up in the South, I grew up loving Dolly Parton.”
Carrie Underwood dueted with Kenny Rogers on “Islands In The Stream”, Alison Krauss, Suzanne Cox and Cheryl White performed “My Tennessee Mountain Home” and “Jolene” and Shania Twain performed “Coat Of Many Colors” on guitar. Jessica Simpson flubbed on her performance of “9 To 5″, missing some lines and ending to no applause as she apologetically said, “Dolly that made me so nervous” and ran offstage. Vince Gill finished off Dolly’s tribute by performing “I Will Always Love You” backed by a large orchestra.
Fellow celebrities gushed on Dolly throughout the night. Reba McEntire stated during the ceremony, “Once, a woman in Nashville was told what song to sing, in what clothes and just how to sit on the stool while singing it…Because of Dolly, we’re here writing, producing and singing our own music…not to mention finding ourselves in movies and starring in our own television shows.” But Dolly was brought to tears when Alison Krauss summed it up as she said, “Dolly, you make me want to be somebody.”
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