Dolly Parton’s Museum Opens in Nashville: ‘Life of Many Colors’ With Her Final Video Message

Dolly Parton in 2023 (photo: CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons)

In the heart of Nashville, the «Life of Many Colors Museum» opened on Tuesday, September 29 — the largest museum ever dedicated to the life and career of Dolly Parton, as Page Six reports. At the opening ceremony, a video message recorded by the singer herself before her death on August 25, at the age of 80 after a battle with cancer, was played on a television screen: «Hello everyone, I’m Dolly, and I’m so proud to invite you to the opening of my Life of Many Colors museum, right here in the heart of Nashville, at my SongTeller Hotel».

«This museum will be the largest museum of my life and career, filled with the stories, songs and memories I have carried with me», Parton says in the video published on the museum’s Instagram account, according to Page Six. The exhibition includes the stage costumes of the decades of her career, gold and platinum discs, and a copy of the singer’s tour bus. Visitors who were present at the opening described it as «museum perfection».

The museum occupies over 1,850 square metres on the third floor of the SongTeller Hotel in downtown Nashville, with a separate entrance from the street, according to The Tennessean. It is presented as the most extensive exhibition of Parton’s works and personal belongings to date: an interactive journey from her home in the Tennessee mountains to Nashville, Hollywood and the whole world, Vogue writes.

Among the most special objects are the dress and veil from her wedding to her husband Carl Dean, the Bible she carried instead of a bouquet of flowers, a letter from the pastor who married them secretly in Ringgold, Georgia, and the «time capsule» — Carl’s chest with previously unpublished photographs, including a strip of photos that Dolly herself had not seen since the day it was taken, according to Vogue. The museum’s executive director is her niece, Rebecca Seaver, who built the exhibition together with her aunt and her longtime stylist, Steven Summers.

The SongTeller Hotel, a collaboration between Parton and the company Herschend — the operator of Dollywood — has 245 rooms and officially opened its doors also on Tuesday, according to AFAR and The Tennessean. Parton bought the building for 75 million dollars in November 2023 and had described the project as «bringing Dollywood to Nashville». The name SongTeller comes from the way she described herself throughout her career: «Throughout my life I have been a SongTeller… the SongTeller Hotel is my love letter to the city», she is quoted as saying in a statement, according to The Tennessean. With over 100 million albums sold, 10 Grammy Awards and six decades of career, Parton remains one of the most beloved figures in American music, AFAR writes.