Ashley McBryde’s homage to Dolly Parton at CMA tribute brings the story of ‘Coat of Many Colors’ to life

During the two-hour tribute CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton country star Ashley McBryde brought one of the legendary singer’s most personal songs to life.

Live on ABC on Wednesday October 21, McBryde performed ‘Coat of Many Colors’ on the Belmont University stage, depicting a moment from Dolly’s childhood in rural Tennessee in tribute to Dolly, who died on August 25 after a brief battle with cancer.

The song Coat of Many Colors took its name and inspiration from a winter coat Dolly’s mother, Avie Lee Parton, made for her from textile scraps she patched together to keep her warm because she didn’t have enough money to afford a new coat for her daughter.

After making the coat and giving it to her, to stop her feeling ashamed, Dolly’s mother told the biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colours. Dolly was teased by her classmates for wearing a coat made from rags, but she learnt how wealth was not measured by money, but by the love of her mother.

The coast of many colours was proudly displayed (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

McBryde’s performance oozed emotion, with each lyric poured out in a moving display. The Arkansas native has previously spoken of how proud she was of being chosen to take part in celebrating Dolly’s life and she delivered an emotional yet self-contained performance as if she were directing the song at Dolly herself.

The iconic coat that inspired the song was displayed at one point in an image while McBryde delivered her tender rendition.

She said afterwards, “To be selected to be one of the voices that gets to honor her tonight is truly an honorable thing to get to do. To be chosen to sing ‘Coat of Many Colors,’ all I got to do is make her proud.”

The lineup for CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton included multiple generations and genres of performers all united in their love of Dolly. There was a diverse combination of Country Music Hall of Fame legends, stars from country music and bluegrass acts, and Broadway.

Dolly was honoured by the performers (Photo by Shirlaine Forrest/WireImage)

Some of those who performed included Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Amy Grant, Zac Brown, Vince Gill, Sierra Hull, Ricky Skaggs, Reba McEntire, Molly Tuttle, Lukas Nelson, Little Big Town, Lainey Wilson, Lady A, Kristin Chenoweth, Kristen Bell, Kelsea Ballerini, Ella Langley, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, Carly Pearce, Brad Paisley, and Béla Fleck.

The night also included special tributes from some of Dolly’s friends and collaborators such as Bono, Goldie Hawn, Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey and Carol Burnett.

The celebration was filmed in front of a live audience at Belmont University’s Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Nashville.

The university and CMA have said they will donate a portion of the proceeds from the event to Dolly’s Imagination Library, which was established to give free books to children.