Rare Footage Captures Dolly Parton Singing With Both of Her Parents in One of Her Most Personal Family Performances

Long before Dolly Parton became one of country music’s most recognizable stars, music was already woven into everyday life for the Parton family in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

That connection was captured beautifully in rare footage from Dolly’s television show in the 1970s, when she performed the traditional Appalachian song “In the Pines” alongside both of her parents and several of her siblings.

Following Parton’s death on August 25, 2026, the decades-old performance has resurfaced, offering fans a poignant glimpse of the singer not simply as an international star, but as a daughter surrounded by the family and mountain music that helped shape her.

Even more remarkably, her mother and father each get a moment to sing on their own.

Music surrounded Dolly Parton from childhood

Dolly was the fourth of 12 children born to Robert “Lee” Parton and Avie Lee Parton.

Growing up in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains, the family had limited material wealth, but music was a constant presence.

During a 2000 interview with American Routes, Dolly described her mother’s side of the family as “very musical” and explained how several traditions came together during her childhood.

She sang in church while also hearing the old mountain and folk songs performed by her family. English, Irish and Welsh musical traditions mixed with gospel and bluegrass, creating the musical environment that surrounded the future country star.

That upbringing would remain deeply connected to Dolly’s work throughout her career.

Rather than distancing herself from her mountain roots after finding fame, she repeatedly returned to the stories, sounds and memories of her childhood.

“In the Pines” was one of the traditional songs that belonged to that world.

Dolly brought her family together for ‘In the Pines’

The history of “In the Pines” stretches back generations.

The Appalachian folk standard developed from musical traditions associated with two older songs, “The Longest Train” and another song also known as “In the Pines.” Their precise authorship is unknown, although their origins can be traced to the 1870s.

Over the years, numerous musicians recorded or performed variations of the song, including bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe.

But Dolly’s televised version carried a particularly personal meaning because she wasn’t performing it with a conventional backing group.

She was singing it with her family.

The resurfaced footage shows Dolly seated prominently alongside her mother, Avie Lee, and father, Lee. Seven of her 11 siblings can also be seen seated behind them.

For most of the performance, the family sings together, their voices combining in harmony.

Then the arrangement gives Dolly’s parents their own moments in the spotlight.

Fans can hear Dolly Parton’s mother and father sing

Avie Lee briefly sings by herself during the performance, offering viewers a rare opportunity to hear the voice of the woman whose musical family had such an important influence on Dolly.

Lee later receives a solo moment of his own.

Seen decades later, those brief passages make the footage particularly special.

Fans are accustomed to hearing Dolly’s unmistakable voice across countless recordings and performances. Far fewer have had the opportunity to hear both of her parents singing alongside her.

The clip also reveals something about Dolly’s musical beginnings that biographies alone cannot fully capture.

The Partons weren’t simply a family in which one extraordinarily talented child happened to become famous. Singing was something they shared.

For a few minutes on television, Dolly was able to bring the world she came from into the world her success had created.

The Parton family performed another deeply personal Dolly song

“In the Pines” wasn’t the family’s only performance together during that episode.

Dolly, her parents and siblings also joined forces to sing “Old Black Kettle,” a song Dolly herself had written.

Unlike the traditional “In the Pines,” “Old Black Kettle” came directly from Dolly’s own songwriting and her memories of home.

The song appeared on her 1973 album My Tennessee Mountain Home, one of the clearest musical expressions of her connection to her upbringing.

Even the album artwork reflected those roots.

Its cover featured the small log cabin where Dolly and her family had lived during the 1940s and 1950s.

By performing “Old Black Kettle” with the people who shared those memories with her, Dolly effectively brought the story behind the song onto the television screen.

Dolly never left the Smoky Mountains behind

As her career expanded far beyond Tennessee, Dolly’s childhood remained a recurring source of inspiration.

The poverty, faith, humor, family relationships and mountain traditions of her early years appeared repeatedly in her songwriting and storytelling.

Her family was central to that identity.

That makes the old television footage especially poignant today. There are no enormous production numbers or elaborate stage effects at the heart of the performance. Instead, viewers see Dolly surrounded by her mother, father and siblings, singing music connected to the place where everything began.

After decades of hit records, sold-out performances and worldwide fame, footage like this offers something altogether different.

It captures Dolly Parton before the legend overwhelms the person — sitting with her family, returning to an old Appalachian song and allowing the voices that surrounded her childhood to be heard alongside her own.

And following her death at 80, that simple family performance has become an especially precious reminder of the roots Dolly Parton carried with her for the rest of her life.