This Amazing '80s Dolly Parton & Reba McEntire Pic Proves "The Higher the Hair..."
Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton performed together to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry.
Country musicians Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire may be close friends now, but once upon a time, McEntire was a star-struck fan of Parton's, watching her perform at the Grand Ole Opry.
As McEntire has said in interviews, she made her Grand Ole Opry debut in 1977 following her first single in 1976 — but it was unexpectedly shortened by Parton's arrival at the venue.
"The first time I was ever in her presence was September 17, 1977. It was my first time at the Grand Ole Opry," she told Taste of Country in 2023. "I was gonna get to do two songs, and they came to me and said, 'Well, we're gonna have to take one of your songs,' and I said, 'Why?' They said, 'Well, Dolly Parton just pulled in the parking lot and we're gonna give her one of your songs.'"
"I said, 'She can have both of them. Can I meet her?'" she added.
The two women weren't officially introduced that day, she clarified... though McEntire still remembers what Parton was wearing.
"She came walking in and I kind of backed up against the wall," she told MasterClass in 2023. "She had on the most beautiful black chiffon pantsuit with rhinestone butterflies on them and her beautiful hair. And I thought, 'My gosh, that's probably what an angel looks just like.'"
Less than 10 years later, the two women were sharing that same stage for the Opry's 60th anniversary celebration.
Watch video of the Grand Ole Opry 60th Anniversary concert here.
Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire in 1985 at the Grand Ole Opry
The two women shared the stage for the 60th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry in 1985, a celebration that was also telecast.
Parton, one of the most recognizable figures in country music then and now, opened the show, which also featured Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, the Oak Ridge Boys, Ricky Skaggs, Alabama, Earl Scruggs, Minnie Pearl, and many others.
Parton, for her part, recalled her own debut at the Grane Old Opry — which occurred in 1959 when she was just 13 years old, according to the Library of Congress.
"Most of the artists at the Opry had two spots, so I just walked up to Jimmy C. Newman and I said, 'Jimmy, I want to sing," Parton told the audience. (Newman, a Cajun and country artist, was the Opry member who hosted Friday nights at the time, according to Knoxville, Tennessee NBC affiliate WBIR.) "So he told Johnny Cash that I was going to sing, and Johnny introduced me, and I sang my little heart out."
According to the Library of Congress, she sang Cash's own "You Gotta Be My Baby" and then three encores.
"I just tore the house down," she added. "I know now that it was because I was little, but I just sung it over and over and over."
The show then opened with all the performers, including Parton and McEntire, singing "The Wabash Cannonball," led by Roy Acoff.
Parton got a whole celebratory segment in the middle of the show, during which she performed her iconic hit, "Coat of Many Colors."
McEntire, meanwhile, was officially inducted as an Opry member on that night.
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"I've been waiting on this for 25 years," McEntire said in her acceptance speech. She then sang her hit, "Somebody Should Leave," earning a standing ovation from the crowd that brought her to tears.
The show closed out with another ensemble performance in which McEntire and Parton also both sang.
Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire today
Today, the two legends are friends — but, like most people, McEntire is beholden to Parton's idiosyncratic communication style.
In an October 2023 interview on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, McEntire revealed that Parton does not text, email, or use her landline.
The method she uses? "Fax," McEntire stated.
"I don't have her telephone number," she added. "And I asked Kenny Rogers one time, I said, 'Do you have Dolly's number?' [and] he said, 'No.'"
Parton's goddaughter, Miley Cyrus, has confirmed that she and Parton also only communicate via fax.
"No one else faxes," Cyrus said in a June interview with W magazine. "I literally have to access my lawyer's office, because the lawyer is the only person who can still receive a fax."
