Just weeks before Dolly Parton’s death at the end of August prompted an outpouring of grief around the world, the country music legend had been preparing to unveil a new Nashville hotel and museum.
Dollywood, Parton’s first major venture into tourism, opened in East Tennessee in 1986 as a tribute to the Smoky Mountains where she grew up. Her final project, The SongTeller Hotel, feels like a farewell to Nashville — the city that helped turn her into a global star. The 245-room property also houses the 20,000-square-foot Life of Many Colors Museum on its third floor.
The £96million development took four years to complete, transforming a once-ordinary Downtown office building into a dazzling pink-and-white celebration of Dolly Parton. Outside, visitors are greeted by a 20-foot guitar and a huge, glittering rainbow mural.
The hotel’s position also reflects Parton’s renowned commercial instinct. It sits just a rhinestone’s throw from Lower Broadway, Nashville’s neon-filled Honky Tonk Highway, while being far enough away from the live music to give guests a quieter night’s sleep.
“This property wasn’t for sale, but Dolly somehow made it available,” SongTeller marketing executive Brittany Fryman tells me. “She basically said, ‘I want that building — now work out how to make it happen.’”
Most of the existing tenants were willing to move aside for a Nashville icon, although one held out. As a result, 60 rooms are not expected to open until spring or summer 2027.
In the spotlight: The SongTeller Hotel, home to the Life of Many Colors Museum, opened on September 29, just weeks after the Queen of Country died from cancer aged 80
Hello, Dolly: Holographic footage recorded by Dolly Parton in March appears throughout the visitor experience at the new Life of Many Colors Museum
The museum explores one of music’s most flamboyant wardrobes, with Dolly’s wigs, heels and stage costumes all on display (Source: Life of Many Colors Museum)
Fryman says interest in the hotel surged after news of Parton’s death from cancer, aged 80, spread around the world.
I was among those eager to visit, although I wondered whether it was too soon to cross the Atlantic for an attraction still coming to terms with the loss of its namesake.
The lift journey to the museum begins in near silence, as though visitors instinctively understand the significance of the moment. Then a bright guide cuts through the solemnity with a grin: “You’re about to enter the pinkest room you’ve ever seen!”
It is exactly the tonal shift needed. From there, visitors embark on a captivating 90-minute tour through Parton’s life and career — one that uses cutting-edge technology to make her presence feel remarkably close.
Recorded in March, Parton narrates the exhibition herself, appearing in vivid holographic form on television screens, inside picture frames and at a cinema-style ticket booth. Even after her death, she is still guiding visitors through her story in her own unmistakable voice.
The displays include a recreation of the modest Appalachian cabin where she grew up with 11 siblings, footage from her youthful 1967 television debut alongside Porter Wagoner, and a dazzling collection of the towering heels, wigs and sequined outfits that defined one of music’s most recognisable styles.
Among the previously unseen treasures is Dolly Parton’s 1966 wedding dress, made by her mother and discovered just two years ago in a trunk linked to Carl Dean’s time in the National Guard
The SongTeller Hotel celebrates the extraordinary life of the musician, performer and philanthropist
Parton’s Live, on the building’s second floor, combines food, drinks and live entertainment, with space for country stars and songwriting sessions
Longtime fans will also discover rare material, including a playful pop-art recreation of the “Wishy Washy” laundrette where Parton first met her husband, Carl Dean. Displayed there is her surprisingly understated wedding dress, stitched by her mother in 1966 and found inside a trunk only two years ago.
The museum builds towards an emotional finale: a mini-concert featuring a crystal-clear holographic Dolly performing a selection of her best-known songs before closing with I Will Always Love You.
“There are tissues at the back of the room if you need them,” our guide says. We certainly do.
Later, at Jolene’s on the hotel’s 11th floor, we settle into raspberry-coloured lounge chairs overlooking Nashville’s Cumberland River. A £12 Locust Ridge cocktail — bourbon, prosecco and a nod to the small mountain community where Parton was born — seems the obvious choice.
The menu focuses mainly on contemporary small plates, including oysters, truffle fries and generous salads. There is also a nod to Parton’s request for “meat on a stick” in the form of wonderfully glazed pork-belly skewers.
On a lower floor, Parton’s Live offers dinner and music in a more theatrical setting. Guests can even sit down to write at a statement table shaped like a giant jewelled guitar. A nearby café serves delicate pastries, while the merchandise shop is packed with irresistible souvenirs — including a pink, guitar-shaped fish slice.
The Dolly theme is more restrained inside the bedrooms, although the rooms still have plenty of personality and exceptionally comfortable, cloud-soft beds.
Murals in some rooms were created using concert ticket stubs collected by a British fan over a lifetime of shows. Vinyl players add another musical touch, while even the hairdryer has been given a Dolly makeover and renamed the “wig dryer”.
A mural made from a British fan’s concert ticket stubs adds character to the hotel, where heart-shaped guitars are also proving popular with guests
Dolly Parton first performed at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry in 1959 and returned more than 100 times over the following seven decades; it remains a highlight for visitors to Music City
I am given a glimpse of the Six Sisters Suite, a three-bedroom-style space with three double beds, old-Hollywood dressing tables and spectacular views across Nashville’s glowing skyline. Inspired by Parton’s relationship with her five sisters, it is the ultimate setting for a glamorous sleepover.
A cup of ambition — and a gallon of fuel — at Dolly’s service station
Cinnamon bread, “cup of ambition” coffee and plenty of Dolly merchandise are on offer at the late star’s Cornersville service station, which opened earlier this year
At what became her final public appearance in June, Parton opened a service station serving travellers cinnamon bread, brisket, peach cobbler and gallons of fuel.
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Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop, on the Pulaski Highway in Cornersville, includes a Southern-style restaurant, a barbecue café, live country music and the chance to order a “cup of ambition”.
The themed stop is filled with photographs, merchandise, favourite recipes, rhinestones and guitars.
At the launch, Parton said: “Who better to own a travel stop than someone who spent her entire life on the road? I’ve been travelling since 1967 to make my living, and I know every travel stop from coast to coast.”
The next essential stop on the Dolly map is another Nashville institution.
The Grand Ole Opry — known as the “Mother Church of Country Music” — is the historic venue that helped establish Parton’s reputation.
She first appeared on the stage of the original Opry venue, the Ryman Auditorium, in 1959 at just 13, introduced by Johnny Cash.
Since 1974, the Grand Ole Opry House has been located at Opry Mills, around 20 minutes from the city centre. It remains the spiritual home of country music and offers a memorable night out.
Tickets costing around £45 provide entry to one of the live Opry radio broadcasts, featuring a mix of established performers and emerging country stars.
To fully understand Parton’s journey, however, visitors need to head 215 miles east to the corner of Southern Appalachia where she was raised.
The winding drive through the Smoky Mountain foothills towards Locust Ridge, her childhood home, offers a vivid sense of how humble and remote her early life was.
The landscape where the musician and actress spent her childhood remains largely untouched by modern development.
Deeply protective of her family history, Parton bought much of the land around the cabin she shared with her parents, Avie and Robert Lee, and her six brothers and five sisters. She also redirected fans 12 miles west towards Dollywood.
There is little to see around the former home today beyond a weathered wooden security fence, but the journey illustrates the extraordinary distance Parton travelled from her beginnings. She also protected the nearby family cemetery, keeping relatives’ headstones away from unwanted attention.
Another important Parton landmark is Sevierville, the East Tennessee town where she secured her first paid stage performance at the age of ten, appearing at the Pines Theater in 1956.
The community honours its most famous daughter with a bronze statue on the grounds of the historic Sevier County Courthouse, built in 1896.
On a bright October morning, two months after Parton’s death, visitors continue to arrive to photograph the statue. It has stood there since 1987 and was created by local sculptor Jim Gray.
Sevierville, where Dolly Parton secured her first paid performance at ten, continues to honour her with a bronze statue erected in 1987 and now surrounded by floral tributes
Dollywood combines classic fairground charm with high-speed rollercoasters, while also offering a peaceful day out for older visitors exploring the Pigeon Forge attraction
“Dolly felt like family to us,” says Mark Ailey, who owns Off the Chain Bicycles on nearby Bruce Street. “My son received a $15,000 college scholarship through her foundation, which supports young people in Sevier County.”
Parton quietly invested millions in the region throughout her life. Dollywood and the adjoining Dollywood’s Splash Country water park have become major employers in East Tennessee, providing jobs for local residents and plenty of Partons along the way.
Parton gave the world countless beloved songs, but she also created what may be its most charming theme park.
Dollywood challenges the usual idea of what a theme park can be.
There are plenty of adrenaline-fuelled rides, including Big Bear Mountain, Wild Eagle and Thunderhead. But the park also celebrates the traditions and history of this atmospheric corner of the American South.
Visitors can enjoy hearty Southern cooking — ham, hand-breaded fried chicken and cornbread — at restaurants such as Aunt Granny’s and Granny Ogle’s Ham ’n’ Beans. Elsewhere, there is a working blacksmith, craft stalls, a chapel and a traditional country fair.
Dollywood attracts one of the broadest age ranges of any theme park. For every young child or teenager racing towards a ride, there is a silver-haired grandparent browsing the shops, enjoying the food or taking in the scenery.
Like the SongTeller Hotel and its immersive Life of Many Colors Museum, Dollywood feels like a fitting tribute to the Queen of Country music — colourful, generous and unmistakably Dolly.
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