The above video is our WITN+ livestream and may not reflect the content in this story.<\/p>\n
NEW BERN, N.C. (WITN) – In remembering legendary singer and songwriter Dolly Parton, WITN spoke to country music radio station WRNS out of New Bern about her impact on the industry.<\/p>\n
From hit songs \u201c9 to 5,\u201d \u201cJolene,\u201d and \u201cI Will Always Love You,\u201d Dolly Parton has had an undeniable impact in the music industry, with a career spanning decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cDolly really paved the way for a lot of women and did it in her own way,\u201d Operations Manager Crystal Legends says. \u201cDolly always had big hair and wore sequins. She didn\u2019t have to show up riding a horse and camo to be country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hundreds of country music artists, including Taylor Swift, have visited WRNS in the past, and although Parton never made the trip, Legends says they see her influence in artists they work with every day. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no one that doesn\u2019t credit Dolly. There\u2019s no one. You can watch all the tributes that are coming through. Everyone credits Dolly with something. She wasn\u2019t just an artist. She played over twenty different instruments, and she always lent a hand, lent an ear,\u201d Legends told WITN.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see the surge of female country artists now, and we almost see them channel Dolly Parton,\u201d Production Director TK Vaden says. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see. The Lainey Wilsons, the Ella Langleys, and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parton\u2019s impact not only reached modern artists, but spanned decades of influence on music.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe impacted every generation that she was a part of, which is hard to do,\u201d Market Manager Tony Denton says. \u201cThey remember her, and she affected them in some way. Certainly, my parents\u2019 generation, which is where she really got started, then mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition, Parton\u2019s influence extended far beyond music. She was a philanthropist and businesswoman, among many other titles. <\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WITN. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The above video is our WITN+ livestream and may not reflect the content in this story. NEW BERN,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[58984,104,18553,58982,58986,58988,58980,58985,15189,3824,58983,3663,117,107,118,58981,3246,32450,11509,105,58987],"class_list":["post-121040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bern","tag-9-to-5","tag-bern","tag-country","tag-country-music","tag-country-music-radio-station","tag-crystal-legends","tag-dolly-parton","tag-i-will-always-love-you","tag-impact","tag-industry","tag-jolene","tag-music","tag-nc","tag-new-bern","tag-north-carolina","tag-notrh-carolina","tag-radio","tag-radio-station","tag-station","tag-witn","tag-wrns"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117164476022246137","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}