On the night of October 21, 2026, Reba McEntire walked onto the stage of the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Belmont University in Nashville to sing for Dolly Parton. It was the CMA’s two-hour televised tribute, CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton, held two months after Dolly died on August 25 at the age of 80 following a brief battle with cancer.
Before she sang a note, Reba went back to the beginning. Not to an award, not to a duet, but to a backstage moment at the Grand Ole Opry in 1977, when Dolly Parton cost her a song.
The Night Dolly Took One of Reba’s Songs
Reba was a young singer from Oklahoma, about to make her debut on the Opry stage. She had been told she would get to sing two songs. When she arrived, the plan had changed.
“Reba, I’m terribly sorry, but the two songs that we said you could sing, you’re only going to get to sing one.”
When she asked why, the answer came back simply: Dolly Parton had just pulled into the parking lot, and she was going to take one of Reba’s slots.
A lot of young singers would have been crushed. Reba asked if she could meet her.
“I didn’t care or anything. I just wanted to see Dolly Parton.”
Then Dolly came through the door. Reba remembered backing up against the wall. Dolly had on a black chiffon pantsuit decorated with rhinestone butterflies, and Reba remembered her beautiful hair. Reba’s thought in that moment has stayed with her for nearly half a century:
“My gosh, that’s probably what an angel looks just like right there.”
That was the start of a friendship that lasted until the day Dolly died. Over the years the two women worked together often. Dolly guest-starred on Reba’s sitcom Reba in 2005, and in 2021 they recorded “Does He Love You” as a duet.
Why Reba Chose “He’s Alive”
Reba could have picked any of Dolly’s hits. She chose a song Dolly did not even write.
“He’s Alive” was written by Don Francisco, and his recording was named Song of the Year at the 1980 Dove Awards. It tells the Easter story through the eyes of Peter, the disciple who denied Jesus three times, and ends with Peter seeing the risen Christ and knowing he has been forgiven.
Dolly recorded it to close her 1989 album White Limozeen. That October, she sang it on the CMA Awards broadcast with a church choir behind her, and the audience stood. Many fans still consider it one of the finest performances of her career, and it gets passed around online every Easter. Years later, Dolly told CMT she would never forget that night and felt the spirit fall on her.
For Reba, the song was a way of honoring the faith the two women shared, and of pointing straight back to Dolly’s 1989 night on the CMA stage.
How the Performance Unfolded
Reba took the stage in a white-and-silver gown with a structured collar, long sleeves and layers of fringe. She started the song with just the band, letting Peter’s story carry itself through the verses.
Then, as the song built toward its last chorus, a student ensemble from Belmont University joined her. The choir’s entrance echoed what Dolly had done in 1989, when a choir lifted the same final lines. Together, Reba and the students sang the song’s closing declaration of resurrection and forgiveness to a room full of people who had come to say goodbye to Dolly.
It was Reba’s second major televised tribute to her friend in just over a month. In September, she sang Dolly’s “Appalachian Memories” at the Emmy Awards.
The Phone Call Reba Never Got to Return
There is one more piece of this story that makes the night heavier. In a September interview with Entertainment Tonight, she revealed that Dolly had tried to reach her only weeks before she died.
“She did call me the last of July, and I was in a meeting and I missed her call.”
Reba tried to call back but never got through. On the morning of August 25, a friend phoned to tell her Dolly was gone. Her first thought was of that missed call, and that she would never know why Dolly had called. Then she added, “So, I’ll find out one day.”
Heard after that story, a song about forgiveness and heaven’s open gates lands a little differently.
From the Back Wall to the Spotlight
In 1977, Reba McEntire stood against a wall backstage at the Opry and watched Dolly Parton walk in. In 2026, she stood in the spotlight with a choir behind her and sang Dolly’s gospel song back to her.
Do you remember where you were the first time you saw Dolly sing “He’s Alive”? We’d love to hear your memories.