In one of the biggest moments of her young career, Belle Frantz stepped onto the Grand Ole Opry stage for the first time Saturday night, Aug. 29, and used her long-awaited debut to honor one of the women who helped give her the courage to make the music she wanted to make: Dolly Parton.
Frantz paid tribute to the late country legend during the Opry’s celebration of Parton, becoming emotional after the audience gave her a standing ovation. You can watch a replay of the livestream here.
“This moment and you and this, I will never forget this for my entire life,” Frantz told the crowd in video captured by a Parade editor at the Opry. Fighting back tears, she stopped herself and admitted, “I need just one second. I’m sorry, Opry.”
When someone in the audience shouted, “We love you,” Frantz answered simply, “I love you.”
Related: Ella Langley Honors Dolly Parton With Fiery ‘Jolene’ Cover: ‘Tonight’s Show Didn’t Feel Right Without Doing Something Like This’
Belle Frantz Honors Dolly Parton During Her Opry Debut
Belle Frantz honors Dolly Parton at the Grand Ole Opry (1:22)Earlier in her performance, Frantz admitted that she was struggling to put the significance of her Opry debut into words.
“I’ve dreamed about this since I was a little girl,” she told the audience. “I don’t even have words for it right now, but I do have words for Miss Dolly Parton.”
Frantz then spoke about a side of Parton that particularly resonated with her: the country icon’s willingness to openly embrace her faith without imposing it on anyone else.
“Dolly was a bold person,” Frantz said. “And she was never afraid to talk about her faith and to sing the gospel. She loved the gospel so dearly.”
“She knew she could be two things at once,” Frantz continued. “She was witty and a little naughty, and she was faithful. She never shied from it. But she also never made anyone feel like they had to be faithful too.”
In Parton’s honor, Frantz performed the gospel song “Where No One Stands Alone.”
The moment carried another layer of significance for Frantz. She had been scheduled to open for Parton during the country legend’s planned Las Vegas residency last year before the shows were canceled, making Saturday’s tribute a poignant connection between a performance that never happened and Frantz’s first night on country music’s most famous stage.
Related: Rising Star’s Cover of 1970 Conway Twitty No. 1 Has Fans Saying Real Country is Back
Belle Frantz Breaks Down After a Standing Ovation
Belle Frantz Gets a Standing Ovation in Her Opry Debut (2:15)The audience’s response left Frantz visibly overwhelmed, but after collecting herself, she returned to Parton and explained just how much the late singer’s example had influenced her own career.
Frantz is preparing to release her debut album Hymns From a Barstool on Nov. 6. For a young singer trying to establish herself as a country artist, making a gospel album as her first full-length project could have felt like a risk.
Parton, Frantz said, helped give her the confidence to take it.
“I’m a country artist and I’m making my debut album this year, November 6th, and it is so scary to make a debut album in general,” Frantz told the Opry crowd. “It’s even a little bit scarier for your debut album, for some people to say, to be a gospel album.”
“But I felt bold enough to do that because of Miss Dolly Parton,” she added.
Frantz also reflected on the extraordinary response to Parton’s death, telling the crowd that despite how divided people can be, “we came together as one person” to mourn her.
“She was a great example,” Frantz said.
How Dolly Parton Inspired Belle Frantz’s Debut Album
@mara.h.tso proud!! @Belle Frantz that stage was made for you and the makeup ate #countrymusic #opry #bellefrantz #oprydebut #dollyparton
♬ original sound – maraFor Frantz, gospel music isn’t separate from her country roots. It’s woven directly into them.
“I love hymns,” she said. “And I love the Lord. And that is such a big part of me and how I was raised. But I also believe that God is way more of a feeling than a building.”
That connection is at the heart of Hymns From a Barstool, which will feature collaborations with Wynonna Judd and Frantz’s longtime hero Reba McEntire.
Part of the album was recorded at Elvis Presley’s childhood church, a location that carries its own family connection for Frantz: It was also her great-grandfather’s church.
Frantz, a Greenwood Springs, Miss., native, has built her career around the traditional country music she grew up loving. After releasing her debut EP Why I Sing This Way in 2023, she went on to share stages with Willie Nelson, Alabama and Tracy Lawrence. She also co-wrote “Lonely’s What I Do” with Vince Gill, who later recorded the song.
But on the night Frantz finally realized her childhood dream of performing at the Grand Ole Opry, she kept returning to Parton.
Before performing an original song from her upcoming album, Frantz explained that she wanted to honor not only Parton’s faith, but the songwriter in her as well.
“I wrote this next song a lot about her,” Frantz told the audience.
And after a standing ovation brought Frantz to tears on the stage she’d dreamed about since childhood, Parton’s lesson about being “bold” suddenly felt less like a tribute and more like something Frantz was already putting into practice.
Related: Dolly Parton’s Final Message to Millions of Children Is Breaking Hearts After Her Death: ‘Promise Me’
Hence then, the article about rising country star honors dolly parton at opry debut breaks down after standing ovation i need just one second exclusive was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Rising Country Star Honors Dolly Parton at Opry Debut, Breaks Down After Standing Ovation: ‘I Need Just One Second’ (Exclusive) )
Also on site :
- I Tried Every Single Disney Vacation Club Perk—Here’s What Disney’s Most Exclusive Club Is Really Like
- TikToker stabs three on livestream in Amsterdam – media
- I Tried Stanley Tucci’s Surprisingly Simple Frittata—and His Clever Pan Trick Made All the Difference