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<\/figure>\nSixty-seven years ago, almost nobody in the audience knew the little blonde girl waiting to walk onto one of country music\u2019s most famous stages.<\/p>\n
She was only\u00a013 years old<\/strong>.<\/p>\n She came from East Tennessee.<\/p>\n And the man who introduced her that night was already becoming a country legend himself:<\/p>\n Johnny Cash.<\/strong><\/p>\n What happened next became one of the earliest chapters in an extraordinary American story.<\/p>\n Tonight, Nashville is returning to the place where that story began.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Grand Ole Opry is dedicating its Saturday night show to Dolly Parton<\/strong>, honoring the woman who first stepped onto the Opry stage as a teenager in 1959.<\/p>\n For longtime Dolly fans, the timing makes the evening especially poignant.<\/p>\n Because\u00a067 years after that little girl walked onto the stage with a dream, the Opry is gathering once again to celebrate everything that came afterward.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was 1959 when Johnny Cash introduced the Opry audience to what he called a little girl from East Tennessee.<\/p>\n That girl was Dolly Rebecca Parton.<\/p>\n Dolly performed George Jones\u2019\u00a0\u201cYou Gotta Be My Baby.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n And something remarkable happened.<\/p>\n The audience wanted more.<\/p>\n Dolly received\u00a0three encores that night<\/strong>.<\/p>\n She was still years away from \u201cJolene.\u201d<\/p>\n Years away from \u201cCoat of Many Colors.\u201d<\/p>\n Years away from \u201cI Will Always Love You.\u201d<\/p>\n There was no Dollywood.<\/p>\n No movie career.<\/p>\n No rhinestone-covered global superstar.<\/p>\n There was simply a 13-year-old girl from the Tennessee mountains standing on the Grand Ole Opry stage.<\/p>\n But the audience had already heard something special.<\/p>\n Dolly never forgot what the Opry represented.<\/p>\n On January 4, 1969, at 23 years old, she officially became a\u00a0Grand Ole Opry member<\/strong>.<\/p>\n By then, the little girl Johnny Cash had introduced was becoming one of country\u2019s brightest young stars.<\/p>\n What followed would have been almost impossible for that 13-year-old Dolly to imagine.<\/p>\n She became one of the most recognizable entertainers in America.<\/p>\n Her songs crossed generations.<\/p>\n Her movies introduced her to audiences far beyond country music.<\/p>\n And her unmistakable combination of humor, faith, glamour and generosity made her something even rarer than a superstar.<\/p>\n She became someone millions of people felt they knew.<\/p>\n On Saturday, August 29, the Grand Ole Opry will honor Dolly\u2019s life, music and enormous influence on country music.<\/p>\n Among those scheduled to appear are\u00a0Carly Pearce, Kathy Mattea, Molly Tuttle, Dan Tyminski, T. Graham Brown, Channing Wilson and Belle Frantz<\/strong>, along with the Opry Square Dancers.<\/p>\n Many of the evening\u2019s performers are expected to sing Dolly\u2019s songs.<\/p>\n But one performer has an especially beautiful connection to her.<\/p>\n Carly Pearce began performing at Dollywood as a teenager.<\/p>\n Years later, Dolly personally surprised Pearce with the news that she had been invited to become a Grand Ole Opry member.<\/p>\n It\u2019s another reminder of how Dolly\u2019s story eventually became intertwined with the dreams of younger artists following behind her.<\/p>\n The tribute won\u2019t only celebrate Dolly\u2019s past.<\/p>\n It will continue something she cared deeply about.<\/p>\n A portion of ticket sales from tonight\u2019s Opry performance will benefit\u00a0Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library<\/strong>, the literacy program that has provided hundreds of millions of books to children.<\/p>\n That feels particularly appropriate.<\/p>\n Dolly arrived at the Opry as a child with a dream.<\/p>\n Decades later, part of the money raised on the night honoring her will help other children dream.<\/p>\n Inside the Opry House today, Dolly\u2019s presence isn\u2019t difficult to find.<\/p>\n Her outfits are displayed.<\/p>\n Her image appears in a mural.<\/p>\n Her music remains part of the institution.<\/p>\n But tonight will be different.<\/p>\n Because Nashville isn\u2019t simply remembering a famous singer.<\/p>\n It\u2019s returning to one of the places where America first met her.<\/p>\n Imagine that moment again.<\/p>\n 1959.<\/strong><\/p>\n Johnny Cash walks onto the stage.<\/p>\n He introduces a 13-year-old girl from East Tennessee.<\/p>\n Dolly begins to sing.<\/p>\n The audience calls her back.<\/p>\n Once.<\/p>\n Twice.<\/p>\n And then a third time.<\/p>\n Nobody sitting there could possibly have known what the next 67 years would bring.<\/p>\n Tonight, Nashville does.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s what makes Dolly Parton\u2019s return to the Grand Ole Opry \u2014 this time through her songs, her memories and the artists she inspired \u2014 feel like one extraordinary story finally coming full circle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sixty-seven years ago, almost nobody in the audience knew the little blonde girl waiting to walk onto one of country music\u2019s most famous stages. She was only\u00a013 years old. She came from East Tennessee. And the man who introduced her that night was already becoming a country legend himself: Johnny Cash. What happened next […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chua-phan-loai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogtamsu.com.vn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogtamsu.com.vn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogtamsu.com.vn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogtamsu.com.vn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogtamsu.com.vn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogtamsu.com.vn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1461,"href":"https:\/\/blogtamsu.com.vn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460\/revisions\/1461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogtamsu.com.vn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogtamsu.com.vn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogtamsu.com.vn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Night Johnny Cash Introduced Dolly<\/h2>\n
Ten Years Later, She Belonged There<\/h2>\n
Tonight, The Opry Is Hers Again<\/h2>\n
One More Piece Makes Tonight Special<\/h2>\n
From 13 Years Old to Forever<\/h2>\n