Dolly Parton Backs CMA On Beyoncé Controversy

Dolly Parton has chimed in about the controversy surrounding the supposed snub of Beyoncé at this year’s CMA Awards, stating that she doesn’t believe Beyoncé’s album, Cowboy Carter, was shut out “on purpose.”

Parton discussed her forthcoming book, Good Lookin’ Cookin’, which she penned alongside her sister, Rachel Parton George, the year of Taylor Swift, and more in a new interview with Variety. She was also asked about her thoughts on Beyoncé not receiving any nominations at this year’s CMA Awards.

“Well, you never know,” Parton said, answering a question about what she thought about Beyoncé being shut out of the awards.

Adding that there are “so many wonderful country artists” that it would have been difficult to decide on nominees (or potentially leave out lifelong country artists), Parton continued, “I didn’t even realise that until somebody asked me that question. But it was a wonderful album.”

Parton said Beyoncé should be “very, very proud of” Cowboy Carter and believes the country music community welcomed her.

“I don’t think it was a matter of shutting out, like doing that on purpose,” Parton said. “I think it was just more of what the country charts and the country artists were doing, that do that all the time, not just a specialty album.”

You can read the interview here.

Parton has been a devoted fan of Beyoncé’s turn to country music on Cowboy Carter for months. In June, she discussed the album with E! News and remarked: “I was very proud of her album. I thought she did a great job in country music, and I thought it was great.”

Reviewing the lyrical differences in Beyoncé’s version of Jolene, Parton added that she was “happy” Beyoncé covered her song, but she “would have loved” to hear it done “in its original way.”

She continued, “But of course, it's Beyoncé. Her life is different than mine.” Elsewhere in the interview, Parton said she found Beyoncé’s decision to cover and reinterpret Jolene to be “bold”.

“I think it was very bold of her,” Parton explained, “When they said she was gonna do Jolene, I expected it to be my regular one, but it wasn't. But I love what she did to it. And as a songwriter, you love the fact that people do your songs no matter how they do them.”

Beyoncé previously insisted that her latest effort “ain’t a Country album” but a “Beyoncé album,” adding that her aim for Cowboy Carter is to reach a point where “the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant.”