“I love this theater. Is the name of it not like, Lyric? I thought how appropriate for me to come to a theater called Lyric since I do write lyrics.”
Dolly started the Imagination Library program nearly 30 years ago and calls it one of her greatest accomplishments.
“I want to be remembered as a person that's done good things or tried to. Of course, I want to be known as a songwriter and a singer, but I can honestly say that the Imagination Library has meant as much, if not more to me than nearly anything that I've ever done. Certainly, anything that I do in my charity work or anything like that. Parton added, “Of course, I'll always be a singer-songwriter, but I just hope people will just say she was a good old girl, you know, she tried hard, she worked hard and she tried to make the world a better place, and try to make people happy, and I will be doing that till I keel over.”
The Imagination Library gives away free books every month to kids from birth until the start of kindergarten. The program has been expanded to all 120 Kentucky counties. Since it began in 1995, the organization has given away 240 million books.
Before treating the audience to an acoustic version of ‘Coat of Many Colors’ Parton gifted the state with a special copy of her book by the same title. Governor Andy Beshear and First Lady Britainy Beshear gifted her with the highest honor given to civilians in the Commonwealth. Dolly headed back to Tennessee as a Kentucky Colonel.
