Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
(26 Aug 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brentwood, Tennessee - 26 August 2026
++STARTS AND ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Mandy Madson, Dolly Parton fan from Savannah, Georgia:
“I was already driving from a show in Savannah to Nashville to be here for a variety of reasons to celebrate my birthday, honestly. And I got the news yesterday before I left, and I threw all of, I'm a Dolly Parton impersonator with my band, Andy and Mandy. And I just threw my wig in the car as like my emotional support wig. To make it through to grieve in my own way and and I knew her address and I just figured on my way and I wanted to come and and bring her some flowers and a little sticker from our band from our tribute show just to tell her thank you for everything. She's a huge change. I'm a music teacher and the news broke while I was in class with my students yesterday and it's the first time I've ever cried in front of my students in 13 years of teaching and they started crying too and it was a powerful lesson about the impact music makes. On us as humans and as musicians as well."
(Reporter question: Can you talk about being an impersonator and why so many people wanted to look like her?)
“Yeah, you know, I think I've always, as a woman, you don't really get to do drag, although that is more of a thing now, but I've admired drag queens and Dolly's like the person who got to do it, actually, and it be okay and paved the way for other women to do and to be larger than life, because being a woman's awesome in so many ways. It's hard in many ways, but it's awesome so many ways. We get to dress up and have fun and she really got to that in a way that was so larger than life and fun and me as a performer. And a singer, that's what I went to school for. I just always admired that. Taking ownership of being a woman and also just that amount of freedom and sense of love of yourself. And it's been a dream of mine to be a Dolly Parton impersonator and just do a show as Dolly and just have a reason to dress up and. Buy a $400 custom wig from England by her wig makers and wear the dresses and the nails, and I did it for her birthday this past year and it was an honor and I hope to have the chance to do it more.”
(Reporter question: And finally, do you have a favorite song of hers that you like to sing?)
“Yeah, Here You Come Again for always, you know, always. And I actually left a band that I was in because we were going to do that song and they decided last minute we weren't going to do it anymore and I just said I have to be me I have to be authentic and what would Dolly do and I went off and did my own thing just like she did.”
2. Mandy, a Dolly Parton fan, standing outside Parton's home surrounded by flowers and tributes
++BLACK FRAMES++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Trish Shields, fan and a friend of Dolly Parton's sister:
“Dolly was always kind and giving and loved all of us, loves everybody. So, bye. True, genuine, godly person."
(Reporter question: You know, everybody's talking about what a charitable person she is. Like, were you seeing that in daily life with you?)
"Oh yeah, she gave. She was good to her employees, she was good everybody. She gave to a lot of things."
(Reporter: It must be hard to imagine a world without her right now.)
"We can't even process it yet."
++BLACK FRAMES++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Trish Shields, fan and a friend of Dolly Parton's sister:
(Reporter question: Do you have any memories of this house of being here?)
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
===========================================================
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(26 Aug 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brentwood, Tennessee - 26 August 2026
++STARTS AND ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Mandy Madson, Dolly Parton fan from Savannah, Georgia:
“I was already driving from a show in Savannah to Nashville to be here for a variety of reasons to celebrate my birthday, honestly. And I got the news yesterday before I left, and I threw all of, I'm a Dolly Parton impersonator with my band, Andy and Mandy. And I just threw my wig in the car as like my emotional support wig. To make it through to grieve in my own way and and I knew her address and I just figured on my way and I wanted to come and and bring her some flowers and a little sticker from our band from our tribute show just to tell her thank you for everything. She's a huge change. I'm a music teacher and the news broke while I was in class with my students yesterday and it's the first time I've ever cried in front of my students in 13 years of teaching and they started crying too and it was a powerful lesson about the impact music makes. On us as humans and as musicians as well."
(Reporter question: Can you talk about being an impersonator and why so many people wanted to look like her?)
“Yeah, you know, I think I've always, as a woman, you don't really get to do drag, although that is more of a thing now, but I've admired drag queens and Dolly's like the person who got to do it, actually, and it be okay and paved the way for other women to do and to be larger than life, because being a woman's awesome in so many ways. It's hard in many ways, but it's awesome so many ways. We get to dress up and have fun and she really got to that in a way that was so larger than life and fun and me as a performer. And a singer, that's what I went to school for. I just always admired that. Taking ownership of being a woman and also just that amount of freedom and sense of love of yourself. And it's been a dream of mine to be a Dolly Parton impersonator and just do a show as Dolly and just have a reason to dress up and. Buy a $400 custom wig from England by her wig makers and wear the dresses and the nails, and I did it for her birthday this past year and it was an honor and I hope to have the chance to do it more.”
(Reporter question: And finally, do you have a favorite song of hers that you like to sing?)
“Yeah, Here You Come Again for always, you know, always. And I actually left a band that I was in because we were going to do that song and they decided last minute we weren't going to do it anymore and I just said I have to be me I have to be authentic and what would Dolly do and I went off and did my own thing just like she did.”
2. Mandy, a Dolly Parton fan, standing outside Parton's home surrounded by flowers and tributes
++BLACK FRAMES++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Trish Shields, fan and a friend of Dolly Parton's sister:
“Dolly was always kind and giving and loved all of us, loves everybody. So, bye. True, genuine, godly person."
(Reporter question: You know, everybody's talking about what a charitable person she is. Like, were you seeing that in daily life with you?)
"Oh yeah, she gave. She was good to her employees, she was good everybody. She gave to a lot of things."
(Reporter: It must be hard to imagine a world without her right now.)
"We can't even process it yet."
++BLACK FRAMES++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Trish Shields, fan and a friend of Dolly Parton's sister:
(Reporter question: Do you have any memories of this house of being here?)
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
===========================================================
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Twitter: twitter.com/AP_Archive
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You can license this story through AP Archive: aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/b440b53eb64e4b9dacabb737af96e1d7
