Bill Lee says he favors proposal to rename Nashville’s international airport after legendary country singer

Bill Lee, the Tennessee governor, on Friday said he favored a proposal to rename Nashville’s international airport after legendary country singer Dolly Parton, who died three days earlier at age 80.

In a statement, Lee said he and the managers of the airport in Tennessee’s capital city – where Parton resided – wanted to create “a lasting tribute to her indelible legacy and the generations of people she inspired”. He said he had spoken previously to the 11-time Grammy winner and her team, who were “touched by the idea”.

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© Photograph: Justin Renfroe/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Justin Renfroe/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Justin Renfroe/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Country music fans use the Long Road festival in Leicestershire to mark the passing of Dolly Parton

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© Photograph: Orlando Gili/The Guardian

© Photograph: Orlando Gili/The Guardian

© Photograph: Orlando Gili/The Guardian

Dolly Parton was utterly real about her unrealness. She played with the over-the-top details.

© Ron Galella, via Getty Images

Ignore Iran, the Epstein files, and your wallet – not to mention Trump’s plummeting approval ratings

Don’t mention the war! Or the economy, for that matter. Or the Epstein files. Or Natalie Harp. Or “affordability”, which, as Donald Trump recently said at a rally, is a word that was “never used” by the media before he took office. Best not to talk about anything that affects ordinary people or embarrasses the president, really. Instead, let’s all rejoice in Trump’s latest triumph: renaming Lake Ontario, which is shared by Canada and the US, as Lake America.

On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to America-fy the lake’s name on US maps and documents, which is an excellent use of time and resources. I suppose we can at least be thankful that the president, who is trying to slap his own name on everything from airports to the Kennedy Center, didn’t decree that the body of water be called Lake Trump.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

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© Photograph: Al Drago/Pool/Al Drago - Pool/CNP/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Al Drago/Pool/Al Drago - Pool/CNP/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Al Drago/Pool/Al Drago - Pool/CNP/Shutterstock

With their departure, can America please shake off its obsession with royalty?

© Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Country star came to South Yorkshire town in 2007 for UK launch of the Imagination Library, her book donation scheme

Shane Jarman was up a ladder decorating a Christmas tree at the school where he was deputy headteacher when he got a call asking him to come to Rotherham hospital ASAP. It was December 2007 and Jarman’s wife, Claire, had given birth the previous day to their first child, a girl called Emma, so of course he rushed to the phone. All was well, he was told, but that “everything would become clear” when he got to the hospital.

Once there, his wife told him – somewhat unexpectedly – that they were going to meet Dolly Parton. “And literally within what felt like five minutes,” he recalled, “there were great camera flashes, lots of noise, lots of clicking and in walked this real big bundle of energy.”

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© Photograph: The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust

© Photograph: The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust

© Photograph: The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust

Long before 80-year-old Parton died Tuesday, fans in January 2025 started an online petition calling for officials to rename Nashville International Airport in her honor. It got renewed attention following Parton's death, jumping to more than 155,000 signatures Friday.

Terrified of being seen as a loser, Donald Trump is nonsensically lashing out – even against our old friend Canada

I’m still grieving Dolly Parton. I never met her and always wanted to. She was almost exactly my age and my height and had values I deeply admired. Her death leaves a hole in the firmament.

Which brings me to the person whose values are as far from Dolly Parton’s as any human could possibly be and still claim to be human. I’m referring, of course, to the current occupant of the Oval Office.

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© Photograph: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

© Photograph: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

© Photograph: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

A surging online push to rename Nashville International Airport for the beloved Tennessean superstar could get snagged in bureaucracy and politics.

© Chandan Khanna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

In 1980, feminists were often stereotyped as man-hating or out of touch. Then Parton gave the movement a boost — and an anthem.

Across six decades, the late country singer and pop culture icon turned self‑presentation into a flamboyant art form

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Dolly Parton may have had a record 25 US country No 1 singles, released 66 studio albums and earned six Golden Globe nominations, among many other achievements, but the Tennessee-born star also had an incredible number of fashion moments. “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap”, she famously quipped when asked about her style. As we bid her farewell, six Guardian writers reflect on their favourite Dolly looks.

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© Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

© Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

© Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Dolly was the fourth named storm for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.

Bipartisan tributes demonstrated the success of the singer’s long-running effort to stay out of party politics in a sharply divided country.

© Timothy D. Easley/Associated Press

Even Machiavelli wouldn’t like Trump’s doings.

© Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

She didn’t see herself as a saint; she identified as something we needed even more: a writer.

© Timothy White/AUGUST

Tributes continued to pour in for Dolly Parton a day after her death. Singer-songwriter Martina McBride, named female vocalist of the year four times by the Country Music Association and three times by the Academy of Country Music, joined Amna Nawaz to discuss her friend and fellow icon.

The country star supported early childhood literacy, disaster relief, the development of the Covid-19 vaccine and more.

© Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

Musicians and performers pay tribute to the country legend who managed to be a generational talent, a formidable entrepreneur, a dedicated philanthropist and a truly kind person

Shirley Collins, singer-songwriter

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© Photograph: Richard E Aaron/Redferns

© Photograph: Richard E Aaron/Redferns

© Photograph: Richard E Aaron/Redferns

The world is mourning the passing of the queen of country, Dolly Parton. Her enormous legacy spans not only music, but the world of movies and entertainment, health care, philanthropy and education. Amna Nawaz takes a look at Parton's extraordinary life.

Dolly Parton was more than a musician, actor, author, philanthropist, or theme-park entrepreneur. Parton, who died Tuesday at age 80, occupied a space in our global cultural imagination — a figure of American mythology, someone best described as larger-than-life and then a little bit more. But from the very beginning, at the heart of everything she accomplished, she was a songwriter.