Dolly Parton, the queen of country sass and sequins, has something to say about Beyoncé’s surprise disappearance from the 2024 CMA Awards nominations. Yes, you heard that right. Beyoncé dropped her country-inspired album Cowboy Carter, and yet…crickets. Not a single nomination. None. Nada. Zilch. It’s like showing up to a hoedown with the best boots and getting kicked out for wearing too much glitter.
Now, Dolly, being the national treasure that she is (seriously, she might be listed as an official U.S. landmark), didn’t waste any time addressing this in an interview with Variety. Spoiler alert: she handled it with more grace than a rodeo clown juggling banjos.
“Well, you never know,” Dolly mused, which is Dolly-speak for, “What in tarnation?” But she quickly shifted to her “wise country grandma” mode, adding, “There’s so many wonderful country artists that, I guess, the CMA guys probably thought, ‘Well, we can’t leave out all the people who spend their whole lives singing about trucks, heartbreak, and whiskey!’”
But Dolly didn’t stop there, y’all. She called Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter a “wonderful album”—which in Dolly’s vocabulary is like the Pope declaring a miracle. “She can be very, very proud of it, and I think everybody in country music welcomed her,” Dolly continued, probably while crocheting a blanket and solving world peace. She made it clear: Beyoncé wasn’t shut out on purpose. It’s just, well, country folks have been singing about tractors since the dawn of time. You can’t just swoop in with a bedazzled cowboy hat and steal all the trophies, right?
“She’s a country girl from Texas and Louisiana, so she grew up with that base,” Dolly reminded us. In other words, Beyoncé didn’t just roll up to Nashville after googling “how to yee-haw.” She’s got roots, y’all. Deep ones. Probably deeper than Blake Shelton’s love for mullets.
And just when you thought Dolly was done, she casually dropped Post Malone’s name into the conversation like it’s no big deal. Apparently, Posty’s been loving country music since forever, and Dolly teamed up with him for a duet. Because of course she did. Is there anything Dolly hasn’t done at this point? Probably not.
“I thought both those albums were great,” Dolly declared, giving the final stamp of approval as if she’s the president of the “Country Cool Club”—and, let’s be real, she totally is.
Dolly Parton doesn’t throw shade. She sprinkles compliments like confetti, all while strumming a guitar and reminding us that country music isn’t just about how many cowboy boots you own. It’s about heart, history, and maybe the occasional bedazzled mic stand. Beyoncé might not have gotten any CMA love this year, but with Dolly on her side, she’s already won the honky-tonk jackpot.