Dolly Parton‘s Pet Gala aired on Wednesday, February 21 on CBS. The star-studded, two-hour special featured a performance by Lainey Wilson, who teamed up with Parton to perform the iconic “I Will Alays Love You.”
“Dogs, dolly, & a little sparkle…three of my favorite things,” Wilson said. “Sharing a stage with the queen herself, Dolly Parton, to perform, ‘I Will Always Love You,’ was a dream come true.”
Dogs, dolly, & a little sparkle…three of my favorite things 🪩✨Sharing a stage with the queen herself @DollyParton to perform, “I Will Always Love You,” was a dream come true. Y’all tune in to Dolly Parton’s Pet Gala on @CBS & @paramountplus TONIGHT at 9pm ET/PT! #dollyspetgala pic.twitter.com/3JCj0dAAVn
— Lainey Wilson (@laineywilson) February 22, 2024
Parton’s Pet Gala featured numerous artists and celebrities, including Chris Janson, Carly Pearce, Iaian Armitage, Billy Ray Cyrus and Firerose, Carson Kressley, Jessica Simpson and more, along with several dogs, including pets of the celebrities, appearing, decked out in stylish attire.
Amid Parton’s busy schedule, the 78-year-old decided to do the Pet Gala for the sole reason of giving people something to enjoy, if only for a couple of hours.
“I think everybody needs some fun in their lives,” Parton told Everything Nash, explaining the inspiration behind the Pet Gala. “We’ve been thinking about this for quite a while, and then the strike happened, so we had to put it on pause, but when we started our own Doggy Parton line of accessories and all, so that kind of kicked it into first gear to say, ‘Okay, let’s just go for it.'”
“We’ve got the fashion show,” she continued. “We’ve got the cute little dogs. I think more than anything, [it’s] just to have something fun and uplifting on TV, because what you see now is all the craziness. We’ve got all these celebrities that came out, bringing their dogs…But I think just being on the show with their pets is great. We always want to take our dogs everywhere we go, don’t we?”
This isn’t the only time Parton and Wilson collaborated together. The two recently teamed up to sing “Mama He’s Crazy,” from A Tribute to the Judds, released last fall.
“They asked me if I wanted to be a part of a tribute for The Judds. And I mean, for me, that was just a no-brainer,” Wilson said when the record was released. “They were the soundtrack to my childhood, the Judds. I’ve gotten to know Wynonna, and she’s even better than I had imagined. She is a spitfire, just like I thought she would be. But when they told me that I’d be doing ‘Mama He’s Crazy,’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is perfect.’”
Jane Lynch hosted the event with Parton. Dolly Parton’s Pet Gala is now streaming on Paramount+, live and on-demand for Paramount+ for Showtime subscribers, and on-demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers.