Kacey Musgraves delivered a deeply moving tribute to Dolly Parton at the 2026 MTV VMAs, performing Parton's iconic "I Will Always Love You" in a stripped-down piano-and-vocal arrangement.

The pre-taped performance opened with a video of Dolly herself singing the song before Musgraves joined in, wearing a glittering gown. It marked her first VMAs appearance in five years.

The tribute comes in the wake of Parton's passing on August 25. Musgraves has been honoring the country legend throughout her Middle of Nowhere tour, telling audiences, "The world definitely lost a light."

Joke Of The Day

A tourist in New Paltz asked a local, "How do I get to the Gunks from here?" The local shrugged and said, "Oh, you can't miss them — but the parking lot will give you a solid 45 minutes to try."

New Paltz: world-class climbing, world-class searching for a spot to leave your Subaru.

Interesting Facts

New Paltz, New York packs a surprising amount of history and quirk into a small Hudson Valley town.

• The oldest street in America with original houses: Huguenot Street in New Paltz is widely recognized as one of the oldest streets in the United States where multiple original stone dwellings — built by French Huguenot settlers in the early 1700s — still stand on their original foundations and remain accessible to the public.
  
  
• A defiant mayor made national headlines: In 2004, New Paltz Mayor Jason West began performing same-sex marriages before it was legal in New York State, making the tiny village a flashpoint in the national marriage equality debate years before the courts caught up.
  
  
• Shawangunk Ridge is a climber's mecca: The Shawangunk Mountains bordering New Paltz are considered among the finest traditional rock-climbing destinations in the entire eastern United States, drawing serious climbers who prefer its distinctive white quartz conglomerate cliffs over more famous western sites.
  
  
• Named by refugees, not the Dutch: Although the area was settled within the Dutch colonial territory of New Netherland, the town takes its name from the Palatinate region of Germany, because many of its founders were Huguenot refugees who had first fled France to the German Palatinate before emigrating to America.
  
  
• A university born from a single normal school: SUNY New Paltz traces its roots to 1828, making it one of the oldest teacher-training institutions in New York State — it predates the formal State University of New York system by over a century.