Lainey Wilson stepped onto one of the biggest festival stages of the year with a set packed with her own hits — but one of the night’s most emotional moments belonged to the woman she had looked up to for years.
During her performance at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, Wilson paused to remember Dolly Parton, who died less than a month earlier at the age of 80.
She didn’t speak about Parton simply as a country music icon.
She called her “my hero.”
More personally, she described Dolly as “one of my dearest friends” and “the lady that I looked to for everything.”
Then Wilson turned the tribute into music, performing the song she had written around a simple question — What Would Dolly Do? — before launching into one of Parton’s most famous anthems.
‘She Was Better Than I Could Have Ever Imagined’
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Wilson performed Saturday night, September 19, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The reigning Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year used part of her set to reflect on what meeting Parton had meant to her.
There is an old warning about getting too close to the people you idolize: never meet your heroes.
Wilson said Dolly was the exception.
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“They say never meet your heroes, but that did not count with Dolly Parton,” she told the audience.
For Wilson, meeting the woman she had admired for years hadn’t diminished the image she carried of her.
It strengthened it.
“She was better than I could have ever imagined,” Wilson said.
She then invited the Las Vegas crowd to do something together.
“Let’s celebrate for Dolly Parton, y’all!”
Wilson Chose A Song Inspired By Dolly Herself
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The first song couldn’t have been more personal.
Wilson performed “WWDD,” short for “What Would Dolly Do?”
The track appeared on her 2021 major-label debut album, Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’, and was written by Wilson alongside Casey Beathard and Michael Heaney, with Jay Joyce producing.
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Long before Wilson was standing onstage mourning Parton, she had already turned her admiration for the country legend into a song.
Its premise was built around imagining Dolly as a kind of guiding voice — asking what she might do when life becomes complicated.
Years later, that song carried an entirely different emotional weight.
Wilson was no longer simply singing about a distant musical hero.
She was remembering someone she had come to know personally.
Then Came ‘9 To 5’
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Wilson followed “WWDD” by reaching directly into Parton’s extraordinary catalogue.
She performed “9 to 5,” one of Dolly’s most recognizable songs.
The combination made the tribute particularly fitting.
“WWDD” represented the influence Parton had on Wilson and the generation of country artists who followed her.
“9 to 5” brought the audience back to Dolly’s own music.
One song asked what Dolly would do.
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The next allowed the crowd to celebrate what Dolly had already done.
After finishing the two-song tribute, Wilson summed up her feelings with a line that drew directly on the affection Parton inspired across generations.
“If you don’t like Dolly Parton, something’s wrong with you, right?” she told the crowd.
Dolly Parton Died At 80
Parton died on August 25 in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 80.
An official statement confirmed that she had passed away peacefully, while her representatives later said she died at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones after a brief battle with cancer.
Parton had chosen to keep her illness private.
Her death came after another profound loss in her life.
Her husband, Carl Dean, died in March 2025 at 82.
The famously private couple had been married for nearly six decades.
Parton was later laid to rest beside Dean in Nashville.
Wilson Had Already Spoken About Dolly’s Influence
Wilson is among the many artists from country music and beyond who have honored Parton since her death.
But her connection with Dolly carried particular significance.
Parton wasn’t simply an artist whose records Wilson had grown up hearing.
She became someone Wilson could turn to personally.
That transformation — from hero to friend — was at the heart of her Las Vegas tribute.
Wilson’s words suggested that meeting Dolly had confirmed everything she had hoped the legendary singer would be.
The larger-than-life performer she admired from afar had become someone she treasured offstage as well.
The Rest Of Wilson’s Set Celebrated Her Own Journey
After honoring Parton, Wilson continued with songs from the career that has made her one of contemporary country’s biggest stars.
Her festival set included “Can’t Sit Still,” “Wildflowers and Wild Horses,” “Phone, Keys, Wallet,” “4x4xU” and “Heart Like A Truck.”
The contrast made the Dolly tribute even more poignant.
Wilson was performing songs from the career she had built while stopping in the middle of that success to recognize one of the women who helped show her what was possible.
It was both a remembrance and an acknowledgment of musical lineage.
A Huge Night Of Music In Las Vegas
Wilson was part of an enormous 2026 iHeartRadio Music Festival lineup.
The bill included BTS, Benson Boone, Cardi B, Ciara, Goo Goo Dolls, LE SSERAFIM, Kenny Chesney, Major Lazer, Muse, Snoop Dogg, The Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer and Zara Larsson.
Stella Lefty also appeared for a special performance, while Ryan Seacrest returned as host.
The festival was broadcast live through iHeartMedia radio stations across more than 150 markets, with Disney+ and Hulu serving as its official streaming destinations.
Yet amid a weekend filled with major names and large-scale performances, Wilson created one of her most personal moments by looking backward.
From Idol To Friend
Dolly Parton’s influence on country music is almost impossible to measure purely through awards, records or chart positions.
It also exists in the artists who came afterward.
Wilson had already made that influence explicit years earlier when she wrote “WWDD.”
The title alone showed how deeply Dolly’s example had entered her thinking.
But standing in Las Vegas after Parton’s death, those words no longer represented only admiration.
Wilson had actually met her hero.
She had become her friend.
And according to Wilson, the reality somehow exceeded everything she had imagined.
On Saturday night, she couldn’t bring Dolly back onto the stage.
So she did the next closest thing.
She sang the song inspired by her, followed it with a song that belonged to her — and asked thousands of people to celebrate Dolly Parton together.
