
“I know where she is.”
Carrie Underwood fought back emotion as she honored Dolly Parton during a weekend concert, pointing to the country legend’s deep Christian faith just days after her death at 80.
“I know where she is, and I know how much she loved Jesus,” Underwood told the crowd Saturday at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts.
Underwood, 43, was performing at Tanglewood for the first time when she paused to remember Parton, describing her as a “huge influence to so many of us” and “one of the nicest people I think I’ve ever met.”
“It was such a shock,” Underwood said in a video circulating online. “I feel like just the whole world, like could feel the ripples, like time just stood still, and it was just like … what?”
“She’s just the one that transcends all space and all time,” she added.
Underwood also reflected on the joy Parton continued to display throughout her life.
“I feel like she was just out there with the brightest smile on her face up until the very last day,” she said, adding that it was something “we can all learn from.”
“She is gone, but she’s not forgotten.”
Pointing a finger toward the sky, the “Jesus, Take the Wheel” singer then spoke directly about the faith she shared with Parton.
“I know where she is, and I know how much she loved Jesus,” Underwood said.
She then asked concertgoers to pull out their phones and “light this place up” in Parton’s honor before dedicating her song “See You Again” to the late country icon.
It wasn’t the first time Underwood pointed to Parton’s faith following her death.
In an Instagram tribute last week, Underwood wrote, “She’s not gone. I know exactly where she is,” describing Parton as “the epitome of faith, grace, talent, beauty and humor.”
“She had a humble heart for Jesus and made everyone around her feel special,” Underwood continued. “She was a one of one and no one will ever come close.”
Underwood ended the tribute with a message rooted firmly in her belief that death was not the end for Parton.
“It’s alright to be sad that this world lost a legend, but heaven gained an angel,” she wrote. “Well done, good and faithful Dolly. Welcome home.”
Parton died peacefully at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville following a brief battle with cancer, according to a statement from her team. Loved ones surrounded her.
“Our beloved Dolly Parton spent her life and career bringing joy, laughter, hope and integrity into everything she touched,” her team said.
That legacy stretched far beyond her decades of hit songs and performances. Parton’s Imagination Library distributed hundreds of millions of books to children, while her philanthropy supported education, disaster relief and medical research.
But Underwood’s tribute focused on something that fame and accolades could never fully capture: the faith behind the woman the world knew as Dolly Parton.
For Underwood, there appears to be little uncertainty about where her friend is now — and why she believes they will meet one day again.