Dolly Parton's estate is throwing DollyFest, a two-city celebration that's exactly what she wanted
Days after a private burial, Parton's estate announced tribute concerts in Nashville and London for 2027, billed as "the party of a lifetime" and, it turns out, Dolly's own idea.
In brief
Dolly Parton's estate is throwing DollyFest, a two-city celebration that's exactly what she wanted
Three days after Dolly Parton was laid to rest in a private ceremony in Nashville on August 28, her estate did something very Dolly: announced a party.
According to ABC News, Parton's estate confirmed this week that two tribute concerts, branded as DollyFest, will take place in Nashville and London across consecutive weekends in 2027. The announcement called them "the party of a lifetime," and, crucially, the idea did not originate with the estate. It originated with Dolly herself.
Danny Nozell, Parton's longtime manager, said in a statement that "DOLLYFEST is a dream of Dolly's that was intended to take place on her 80th birthday in Nashville." She turned 80 on January 19, 2026. The celebration was originally scheduled for Nashville in January and was intended to be a "multi-artist event" featuring Parton herself, who died on August 25 at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer. The cancer diagnosis was not made public until after her death.
Exact dates for the two 2027 DollyFest celebrations are forthcoming, Parton's estate said, along with more information on who will be performing. The Nashville and London pairing reflects the two audiences that arguably claimed her most fiercely: the country faithful who grew up with her in Tennessee, and the British fans who turned her into a campy, glitter-draped national treasure decades before the rest of the world fully caught on.
A very public goodbye after a very private burial
Parton had been clear about not wanting a public funeral. She chose not to have a public funeral, but the memorials, flowers and tributes continued to pile up outside her Brentwood home and at other landmarks, including Dollywood. That instinct, spare the grief, keep the joy, runs straight through the DollyFest concept.
The week she died, Nashville did not wait for an official event. Singer Rhonda Vincent performed a heartfelt rendition of Parton's song "Coat of Many Colors" at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, as a screen behind the stage projected a photo of Parton with the message "Remembering Dolly Parton 1946-2026." Then came the sold-out Grand Ole Opry tribute on August 29. An enormous pink butterfly made of flowers stood as a centerpiece on the Opry stage, and musicians took the stage one after another to sing her biggest hits, with the lineup including Carly Pearce, Kathy Mattea, T. Graham Brown, Molly Tuttle, Dan Tyminski, Channing Wilson and Belle Frantz.
Countless artists also switched gears in the days since her death to play Parton songs during their concerts, including Harry Styles, Kacey Musgraves, Brandi Carlile and Pitbull, according to The Washington Post.
The tributes crossed every genre, every generation, every political line. Tributes from across the music industry included legends like Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Daryl Hall and Carole King. Country music superstars Reba McEntire and Kacey Musgraves joined voices with Mick Jagger, Dionne Warwick, Pink, Keke Palmer, Lily Tomlin, Kelly Clarkson and fashion designer Donatella Versace. Even Gene Simmons of KISS offered his condolences, saying "She was a sweet and kind soul and I'm proud to say I knew her. There will never be another Dolly."
Parton's goddaughter Miley Cyrus paid tribute in an emotional Instagram post, reflecting on their close relationship and the private moments they shared offstage. The two had been close since Cyrus's childhood; Parton had appeared on 'Hannah Montana' when Cyrus was a teenager, and the bond never broke.
What DollyFest actually is
The DollyFest concept is not a passive memorial. It is a multi-artist live event, which means someone, or more likely many people, will stand on a stage in Nashville and try to fill a space that, by all accounts from this past week, cannot actually be filled. Some fans visited her Music City Walk of Fame star to lay flowers, while the Empire State Building lit its tower pink in her honor. The scale of public grief gave the estate a clear signal: go big.
There is also the matter of timing. The exhibition 'Dolly Parton: Journey of a Seeker' runs through October 4, 2026, at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in downtown Nashville, meaning 2027 gives fans a natural next chapter after that exhibition closes. And on Broadway, a Dolly Parton musical is set to begin at the St. James Theatre in December 2026, with an official opening planned for January 19, 2027, which would have been Parton's 81st birthday.
The picture coming into view is less a grief cycle and more a sustained, year-long cultural reckoning with what she actually meant. With more than 100 million records sold, Parton is among the best-selling music artists of all time, per Wikipedia's tally of her career. She also built Dollywood into a Tennessee institution and launched the Imagination Library, which has put hundreds of millions of books into the hands of children.
Parton was born one of 12 children in a small town in Tennessee and propelled herself to become one of the world's most successful entertainers, releasing 50 albums and winning 11 Grammy Awards. The Broadway musical opens on what would have been her 81st birthday. DollyFest follows the weekend after. The machine she built keeps running exactly the way she designed it.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
