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Paidí Ó Sé presenting his jersey from the 1985 All-Ireland final to Dolly Parton. TG4
tributes
'Hello Dolly': Irish singers, broadcasters and fans on their encounters with a music icon
People from across the country who have run into Dolly at some point all have one thing in common: they say meeting the late singer was a joy.
DOLLY PARTON LEFT a lasting impression on the people of Ireland, those she met and collaborated with, and her fans.
The country music star, who died aged 80 on Tuesday, had a strong connection to Ireland. As well as being of Irish heritage, Dolly said she drew inspiration from traditional Irish music.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph in 2002, Dolly said her roots have been a “major influence” on her music.
“A lot of the old songs I sing about have an Irish, Scottish or English feel to them. I am very proud of my Irish heritage and it’s something I would like to know more about,” she said.
Dolly also said herself and the people of Ireland “speak the same language” while appearing on the Late Late Show Country Music Christmas Special in 2020.
“They appreciate and know what it is like to live hard and to be brought up poor, and I think that they know when I am singing it, I mean it… It is from those old songs brought over from Ireland and England,” she added.
In 2019, Ireland became the fifth country to introduce Dolly’s free book for children programme the Imagination Library when it launched in South Dublin County Council Library in Tallaght. The library has a book of condolences for Dolly for the public to sign today.
Irish people aren’t shy about sharing their love for the star either. In June 2023, over 1,100 Dolly lookalikes gathered in Frank Sheehy Park in Listowel.
The event was held in aid of Kerry Hospice and Comfort for Chemo Kerry, and created a world record for the most Dolly lookalikes gathered in one place.
‘Very special’
The people from across the country who have run into Dolly at some point all have one thing in common: meeting the late singer was a joy.
RTÉ journalist Katie Hannon, who spoke to Dolly while hosting RTÉ Radio 1′s Liveline in 2023, said the experience is “hands down” the highlight of her career.
Speaking to The Journal, Hannon said Dolly ended up being a guest on the show following a conversation among the Liveline team on who the “most iconic person” to call in would be.
They agreed it would be Dolly, but they knew her appearance on the show would be a long shot. Fortunately, the star was promoting a book at the time, and the show’s producer managed to arrange a call.
“Until I said ‘hello Dolly’ and she came on the line I didn’t believe it,” Hannon said.
While on Liveline, Dolly revealed that Sinéad O’Connor’s version of Nothing Compares 2 U was one of her “favourite songs”.
She said she “always felt connected” to O’Connor, who had died earlier that year.
“She was very, very sweet. And I hated to hear she was gone. And I know she had a very hard life but in her music you could tell she went through, and sometimes that’s what makes the best singers – people that lived what they’re singing about,” she said.
Dolly said she was surprised when O’Connor recorded a version of Dagger Through My Heart, a song that she wrote back in her teenage years.
Dolly also spoke about her 1990 impromptu performance in Páidí Ó Sé’s pub in Dingle, Co Kerry.
She performed Coat of Many Colours and accepted Ó Sé’s Kerry jersey from the 1985 All-Ireland final. Dolly revealed that she kept the jersey in a frame in her basement.
Hannon said Dolly remembered the entire experience, despite the fact it occurred 30 years previously.
“She had such a memory of that and was so generous with her time,” Hannon said, adding that Dolly also spoke with an Irish fan who called into the show.
Speaking of Dolly’s passing, Hannon said: “I can’t remember when I last felt so genuinely sad”.
That time Dolly Parton made a surprise appearance and sang in Páidí Ó Sé’s pub in Dingle, Co. Kerry, back in 1990. Rest in peace, Dolly. pic.twitter.com/3Ez46HOnq3
— Colm Flynn (@colmflynnire) August 25, 2026
Speaking to Newstalk’s Claire Byrne this morning, Eileen Ní Cearna Sheehy, a Kerry local who was at the pub when Dolly visited, described the night as a “magical moment”.
“Every Sunday night, Séamus Begley and Steve Cooney used to play…but this particular night, we were there, and the door opened and in walks Dolly Parton,” Eileen recalled.
“Everybody was just stunned, looking at each other,” she said.
“She walked up and she looked around and she said, ‘well I’ll sing a song?’”.
Eileen said Dolly played with the other musicians as if they “were playing together every night”.
“She stayed for a while and she was chatting to Paidí, and Paidí presented her with his Kerry jersey, and she was really excited about that,” Eileen said.
“She was as excited about getting the jersey as we were that she was there. She was very, very grateful to him.”
Eileen described Dolly as a “really nice, down to earth woman”.
‘An honour’
Singer Maura O’Connell, who collaborated with Dolly on the album Naked with Friends, said “it was an honour” to have Dolly sing on her song Bright Blue Rose.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this morning, O’Connell said “anything to do with Dolly was an honour”.
“She was a very special person. She was just like herself. She was very self-deprecating but she was beyond everything you could imagine. She was just very special and her voice was very, very beautiful,” O’Connell said.
Recalling the first time she met Dolly, O’Connell said: “I had flown back from Ireland to Nashville the night before and there was a message [asking] will I come in and sing on a song for Dolly at 10am.”
“So I ramble in looking like something that had been dragged through a bush backwards, my hair askew and not dressed up, no makeup, nothing,” she said.
“I got there in time and my sinuses were bothering me and I didn’t really expect Dolly to be there. And there she was dressed to the nines, the hair, the makeup, the clothes, the 4-inch heels.”
“She could have walked into a magazine shoot or a movie and she just gave me the loveliest hug and I was just so shocked.”
O’Connell said she apologised to Dolly because her throat was so sore she wasn’t sure she would be able to sing.
“She said ‘oh honey, you’ll be just fine’. She made me tea with honey and lemon, and she came in and said ‘you’re just going to be fine and you just sing it, and it’s going to be great’”, O’Connell said.
Dolly also appeared on Irish country singer Margo O’Donnell’s 1998 album The Highway of My Life: Shade of the Family Tree.
Speaking to RTÉ this morning, O’Donnell said she “prayed for a miracle” that her friend Dolly would survive.
“I prayed for a miracle, but I knew Dolly wasn’t going to make it. I knew she was sicker than people knew,” she said.
O’Donnell said she and Dolly didn’t talk every week or every month, but they were “always in touch”.
“Every time that she would come over to say, London, or when she was in Belfast and Dublin and all that, I would get a call and I would hop on a plane and off I’d go and we’d spend time together,” O’Donnell said.
“I’ll never forget the first time that I went to Locust Ridge, where she was reared on the farm,” she added.
Any memories of Dolly Parton yourself that you’d like to share? Be it an in-person meeting or listening to her music, we’d like to hear about them
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