“I prayed for a miracle, but I knew Dolly wasn\u2019t going to make it. I knew she was sicker than people knew,” she said.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell first met Parton in the late 1990s, with the US star later appearing on her 1998 album The Highway of My Life: Shade of the Family Tree.<\/p>\n
![\"Margo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024e634-614.jpg\"\/)
\nMargo O’Donnell and Dolly Parton have recorded numerous songs together<\/p>\n
The pair recorded Parton\u2019s song God\u2019s Colouring Book together, while Parton and Irish singer Maura O\u2019Connell also featured on O\u2019Donnell\u2019s recording of Wrong Direction Home.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell said theirs became more of a personal relationship than a business one.<\/p>\n
“I wouldn\u2019t talk to her every week or every month but I was always in touch and always kept in touch with her,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Every time that she would come over to say, London, or when she was in Belfast and Dublin and all that, I would get a call and I would hop on a plane and off I\u2019d go and we\u2019d spend time together.”<\/p>\n
She also recalled visiting Parton\u2019s home at Locust Ridge in Tennessee, where the singer grew up.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ll never forget the first time that I went to Locust Ridge, where she was reared on the farm,” O\u2019Donnell said.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ll never ever forget the view.”<\/p>\n
![\"Margo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024e637-614.jpg\"\/)
\nMargo O’Donnell visited Dolly Parton at her childhood home at Locust Ridge in Tennessee<\/p>\n
She remembered being able to look out over the landscape which inspired God\u2019s Colouring Book, saying Parton continued to return to Locust Ridge to write in later years.<\/p>\n
“You could see where she sat on the front porch and she wrote most of her stuff. Even in latter years, she went back to Locust Ridge to write.<\/p>\n
“They all loved her, they really did. And I loved her.”<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell also recalled Parton\u2019s generosity when they worked together.<\/p>\n
She said she had been unwell before they were due to record and told Parton she was unsure whether she would be able to go through with the session. Parton told her simply to get herself to the studio and she would take care of everything.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell also remembered Parton insisting that their names be switched around on the CD after seeing that her own had been given top billing.<\/p>\n
‘Anything to do with Dolly was an honour\u2019<\/p>\n
Irish singer Maura O\u2019Connell also paid tribute to Parton on Morning Ireland, describing collaborating with her as “extra special”.<\/p>\n
Parton provided harmony vocals on O\u2019Connell\u2019s recording of Jimmy MacCarthy\u2019s The Bright Blue Rose, which appeared on her 2009 album Naked with Friends. <\/p>\n
“The song is very special and having Dolly sing in it was extra special,” O\u2019Connell said.<\/p>\n
“Even though I wasn\u2019t in the studio when she recorded it, I was told that she loved the song and she loved the sentiment and she loved the spirituality of it.<\/p>\n
“Of course, it was an honour to have her sing. Anything to do with Dolly was an honour.”<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connell described Parton as “beyond everything you could imagine”.<\/p>\n
“She was very self-deprecating, but she was beyond everything you could imagine,” she said.<\/p>\n
“She was just very special and her voice was very, very beautiful and that was just one of her many talents.<\/p>\n
“She seemed to be very warm, very kind, smart and very funny.”<\/p>\n
Read more:
‘Queen of country music’ Dolly Parton dies aged 80<\/a>
How Dolly Parton changed young lives in Ireland<\/a>
In pictures: The life of music legend Dolly Parton <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish country singer Margo O’Donnell has remembered her friend Dolly Parton, saying she had been “praying for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-605076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}