NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Steve Summers, Dolly Parton’s longtime creative director, created hundreds of dresses and stage outfits for the iconic singer each year, giving him a front-row view of the many chapters in her career.
“Every person in here has a different Dolly Parton that they are in love with,” Summers told fans gathered Tuesday to celebrate the opening of a new Nashville museum honoring the beloved performer, who died in August at age 80.
The 20,000-square-foot Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum traces the singer’s remarkable life and legacy through exhibits on her Smoky Mountain upbringing, Dollywood, film career, signature fashion, faith, family and the Imagination Library.
Visitors, Summers said, should begin with the part of Parton’s story that means the most to them. “You’ve got to find her and find out where you fell in love with her and then follow the path from there,” he said. “So I think the journey is what most people are going to enjoy the most.”
The museum occupies space inside Dolly Parton’s SongTeller, a 240-room themed hotel filled with glitter, rhinestones, guitars, butterflies, portraits of Parton and an abundance of pink. The property also features two performance venues, a cafe and guest rooms equipped with musical instruments designed to inspire songwriting.
Among the museum’s most treasured displays is Parton’s original wedding dress, worn when she married Carl Dean. The gown was thought to be gone until Parton’s niece, Rebecca Seaver, who is curating the museum, discovered it roughly a year ago wrapped in a paper bag and tucked inside a trunk, Summers said.
For those who worked closely with Parton, however, the debut of the museum and hotel carries a poignant sense of loss. The celebration is unfolding without the woman whose vision inspired it.
“We were as surprised as anybody that she’s not here to see it,” Summers said. “It’s beautiful to get to see all of her work come to life, and it’s hard to know that she won’t ever have seen it.”
