Katelyn Drye has been preparing herself for the next time she sees Dolly Parton towering over the stage on the big screen.
It will be in Calgary, the only Canadian city on the upcoming tour of Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony, and the first time the show will be performed since Parton’s Aug. 25 death at the age of 80.
The North Carolina singer is one of three vocalists — alongside Hollie Hammel and Blair Lamb — who will perform Parton’s songs at the Jack Singer Concert Hall on Friday, Sept. 11. The show, which is sold out in Calgary, was developed and co-produced by Parton.
“Every show, pretty much, the girls and I have a little moment of being emotional, just because we are all very thankful to be a part of it already,” says Drye in an interview with Postmedia. “Now that she’s not with us — just to see her and it being the first one — honestly, I’m assuming and feel very sure that there’s going to be a couple tears shed. But also, I think there is going to be a strength in all of us that we’re all proud to be a part of that and are able to celebrate who Dolly was.”
Katelyn Drye, Blair Lamb and Hollie Hammel perform Dolly Parton’s Threats: My Songs in Symphony. Photo courtesy, Colorado Symphony
Drye has been touring as part of Threads for the past year and a half. The multi-media show features Parton herself on screen, guiding the audience through her life and the stories behind some of her most beloved hits, including Jolene, I Will Always Love You and Coat of Many Colors.
In Calgary, the songs will be performed by the three singers, a band and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. The Calgary Phil will be conducted by David Hamilton, who created new orchestrations of Parton’s songs.
Threads premiered in March of 2025 in Nashville. Parton was there and met the performers backstage before the show and again at intermission. After the show, Drye introduced her to the stage.
That was the first time they met, but the singer’s relationship with Parton goes back to when she was a child growing up in North Carolina. Her parents were fans and would watch her on reruns of the Porter Wagoner Show and Hee Haw. When Drye first saw a picture of Parton, she was “immediately drawn to the way she looked, first and foremost. As a kid, I just always loved glitter and makeup and lipstick and clothing.”
As she got older, Drye began to appreciate Parton’s occasionally under-heralded talents as a songwriter. Threads highlights those talents by offering a healthy sampling of Parton’s output over the years.
“Dolly is onscreen, and she is telling how she wrote the songs and the stories behind them,” she says. “That goes in and out of the songs with the symphony and the band from Nashville. It’s country music with a twist. It’s really beautiful with the symphony and how they’ve been reimagined with the symphony by David Hamilton.”
Drye will perform a number of songs on Friday, but says she is particularly fond of singing Light of a Clear Blue Morning, which Parton wrote for her 1977 record, New Harvest … First Gathering and it was inspired by her painful professional breakup with Wagoner, who was her early business and musical partner. Drye calls it a “song of hope.”
“We have sung it around the country for the last year and a half, and to look out and see people wiping tears during (it) is always just a reminder to be present in the moment with people. You never know what people walk in with,” she says. “I feel like it’s my job to just sing those words: Everything is going to be OK because there are just so many things that are happening all the time in people’s lives. But we all come together for music to unite; it’s just a beautiful thing.”
She also loves singing Parton’s Backwoods Barbie, the funny and poignant title track of her 2008 album.
“I really related because I had a bunch of girls who weren’t nice to me and I got bullied because of my makeup and different highlights in sixth grade,” Drye says. “So that song I really relate to, and her story before that is just so funny. It always just reminds me to be who I am.”
Among those playing in the house band for Threads is Drye’s husband Derek, who plays dobro, lap steel, acoustic guitar and performs backup vocals. The two also perform as the Dryes. In 2022, they appeared as contestants on NBC’s The Voice as part of Team Blake Shelton. Before that, they released the honkytonk-inspired single Dolly Would, a tribute to Parton and a play on words referring to the artist’s Dollywood theme park in Tennessee.
In 2025, Parton separately met with all three singers in Nashville to snap photos backstage during the intermission of the premiere of Threads.
“We all got to spend a little bit of time with her in that moment, and it was so sweet,” Drye says. “I actually got to tell her about our song Dolly Would, and she laughed in her Dolly way and said, ‘You know what? We’ve got two of them.’ She is a star, and everyone wants her attention, but when someone is in front of her, she gives them her time. She is very genuine about it. That was truly one of my favourite nights of my life. My husband was right beside me and he joked, ‘I think I just stood there; I didn’t say anything. I was just watching you and her interact.’ It was a moment I’ll never forget.”
Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony will be performed with the Calgary Phil on Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at the Jack Singer Concert Hall. The show is sold out. Call 403-571-0849 to get on the waitlist.