Brandi Carlile recalls first time meeting Dolly Parton 10 years ago on 'Dolly Day'

This story originally appeared on Out."She was formidable, and she was faithful." That's how out queer rocker Brandi Carlile described her close friend, the icon Dolly Parton on this "Dolly Day." Carlile was a guest on NBC's Today show on Friday, Sept, 25th, aka "9-2-5," ahead of her scheduled appearance as a performer for the program's Friday Concert Series at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. As it turns out, it was exactly ten years ago to the day that Carlile met the legendary country singer. The show shared with her a Facebook post from Sept. 25th, 2016, showing them posing for a photograph together, with the caption: “Well it finally happened... I met the queen! I have no recollection of what I said but @dollyparton is the greatest preacher the world has seen!” “I didn’t know that,” Carlile said. “That was backstage at her concert. I went, bought a ticket, went and saw that show,” she added.She had always longed to meet Parton, Carlile told the hosts, long before she became an 11-time Grammy winner. She would go on to forge a close friendship with Parton. “It’s like every little girl’s dream that ever plays a guitar and sings a song to grow up and find a way to meet Dolly Parton, so I was pretty on mission early on to meet Dolly,” she said.Carlile recalled that time in 2019 she was curating a historic all-female lineup at Rhode Island's famous Newport Folk Festival, when she realized it would be so much better if Parton was on the bill.“I got tasked with, or the gift rather, of getting to curate the first all-female headlining set at the Newport Folk Festival, which is just like a history making place,” she said. “It’s one of the most important festivals I think in in U.S. history, and I just knew we couldn’t do it without Dolly, and so that’s how I became, I think, close with Dolly, was through her deciding to come and grace the stage of that festival."Carlile, who collaborated with Parton on her final solo studio album, Ro