While there has been a huge outpouring of grief and reverence after Dolly Rebecca Parton died on Aug. 25, these musicians have been big Dolly Parton fans for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
They are playing a special tribute show, \u201cWe Will Always Love You: A Dolly Parton Celebration with Doll Parts,\u201d Sunday, Sept. 6, at Littlefield in Gowanus. The evening will be a chance \u201cto celebrate and have a cathartic evening,\u201d Sirna-Frest said.<\/p>\n
They have played with a drummer and bass player and are adding a trumpet, trombone and bass sax to make this a true tribute.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis show is a celebration. There\u2019s an incredible community of people who come and sing Dolly Parton songs,\u201d Sirna-Frest said. \u201cWe wanted to bring people together and sing Dolly Parton songs in a room together and remember why we love this woman.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sirna-Frest said when they started the band, she liked Dolly Parton, but didn\u2019t know more about her than others might. \u201cI love Dolly, but who doesn\u2019t?\u201d she added. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t have more of a connection. She\u2019s just incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Doll-Parts-HI-RES-5.jpg\")
The members of Doll Parts say their tribute is less about impersonating Dolly Parton and more about celebrating her songwriting and bringing audiences together to sing.Photo by Kevin Frest<\/p>\n
They got their first gig, almost before they really had a band, after someone saw their tribute in the program of an avant-garde production of \u201cThe Magic Flute\u201d at Target Margin Theater in Sunset Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnion Hall offered us a slot. We took it and did the show,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cIt was rough, but people liked it. We kept rehearsing it and got better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n
They are a tribute band that plays only Dolly Parton, but don\u2019t try to imitate her appearance. \u201cWe don\u2019t dress up as Dolly,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cNone of us are Dolly.\u201d<\/p>\n
They see her as a wonderful songwriter who created a body of work that stands on its own.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a really great songwriter,\u201d Chapman said. \u201cSome of our favorite songs are not the hits. Every album she put out has that great, great song.\u201d<\/p>\n
They always play what they call the \u201cBig Four,\u201d including \u201cIslands in the Stream,\u201d \u201cJolene,\u201d \u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d and \u201c9 to 5.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of Dolly\u2019s biggest songs are not really country,\u201d Chapman added. \u201cThey transcend country. She\u2019s just a great American songwriter.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/dolly.jpg\")
Country music icon Dolly Parton performs at the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, England. Parton\u2019s expansive songbook has inspired Doll Parts, a Dolly tribute band formed in Brooklyn in 2011 that will celebrate her music with a special show at Littlefield on Sept. 6.REUTERS\/Cathal McNaughton<\/p>\n
While she wrote more than 3,000 songs and 40 studio albums, they also see her as an exceptionally good human being who secured her place in the American songbook.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a billionaire who gave away all of her money,\u201d Sirna-Frest said. \u201cShe\u2019s done incredible philanthropic work. She led with full heart and compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parton grew up the fourth of 12 children living near the banks of the Little Pigeon River in Tennessee, not far from where she would build Dollywood, her theme park complete with concert halls, a museum and memorabilia, including the coat of many colors that inspired one of her most famous songs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a coat that her mother made for her out of patches of fabric,\u201d Sirna-Frest said. \u201cThey grew up really poor. When you go to Dollywood, you can see the coat that the song is named after.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doll Parts has played around Brooklyn at the Sultan Room, Littlefield and other locations, as well as at the Los Angeles premiere of \u201cDumplin\u2019,\u201d<\/a> a movie about a girl who idolizes Dolly Parton.<\/p>\n Robinson and Sirna-Frest met her backstage at \u201cLate Night With Seth Meyers,\u201d where Robinson knew someone working there.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hugged her and we talked to her. She said, \u2018Keep playing my music, girls.\u2019 Keep playing my music,\u201d Sirna-Frest said. \u201cWe were so overcome with the moment that Maggie and I bowed and exited the way you would do when you met the queen. When you meet royalty, you\u2019re not supposed to show them your back.\u201d<\/p>\n Dolly Parton gives them gorgeous music and wisdom with lines such as \u201cIt\u2019s hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world,\u201d Sirna-Frest said. \u201cShe sings a lot about rhinestones\u201d and starred with Sylvester Stallone in \u201cRhinestone.\u201d<\/p>\n They say 1970 was a particularly good year for Parton, including \u201cI\u2019m Wasting Your Time\u201d and \u201cAs Long as I Love You,\u201d which Sirna-Frest calls \u201cheart-breaking and beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n The tribute band has had some big gigs, including the Los Angeles premiere of the 2018 movie Dumplin\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody Googled us, listened to it and approved it,\u201d Sirna-Frest said. \u201cAnd they said we\u2019re going to fly you out.\u201d<\/p>\n Other musicians sit in with the band, giving it a fuller sound and bringing more musical chops.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a drummer and bass player who are regularly gigging musicians,\u201d Chapman said. \u201cThey marvel at how often people call us to play shows.\u201d<\/p>\n Sirna-Frest now lives in Dublin, Ireland, pursuing a master\u2019s in theater directing, still with an apartment in Bushwick, while Maggie Robinson lives in Minneapolis after 12 years in Brooklyn, and Shane remains in Gowanus.<\/p>\n \u201cWe fly in and we come together and we practice. We get in the room together and sing songs,\u201d Sirna-Frest said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been playing together for 15 years. We know each other and how to sing together.\u201d<\/p>\n They sing \u201cHeartbreak Express\u201d as part of the \u201cDoll Parts Heart Break\u201d Valentine\u2019s Day show<\/a> and, as Chapman said, they \u201call do tons of things outside of Doll Parts.\u201d<\/p>\n Chapman teaches music at Brooklyn College and Kingsborough Community College and arranges music for the band.<\/p>\n \u201cSome are new to Dolly,\u201d Chapman said of audiences. \u201cSome have loved Dolly their whole lives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a warm, lovely, thrilling, exciting show,\u201d Sirna-Frest added. \u201cIt\u2019s because of the people who show up and sing with us.\u201d<\/p>\n They feel lucky to have found, and to continue to find, and play her music, which they plan to continue doing.<\/p>\n \u201cShe felt like a force that would always be in the world,\u201d said Sirna-Frest. \u201cI think her music will continue to reverberate. We\u2019ll be learning for the rest of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n They listened to Dolly Parton when she told them to keep playing her music, keeping the lyrics and tunes alive for their audiences. In a way, they\u2019re still chasing the dream that started it all.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a dream, which is such a Dolly thing,\u201d Robinson said of the story behind the band\u2019s birth. \u201cShe was a dreamer and she chased her dream.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe Will Always Love You: A Dolly Parton Celebration with Doll Parts\u201d will take place Sunday, Sept. 6, at Littlefield, 635 Sackett St. in Gowanus, with doors opening at 7 p.m. and the show starting at 8 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit Littlefield\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The idea of becoming a musician starts as a dream for a lot of people, but for Julia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[99913,98,100,83717,99,123943,5362,1613,127010,30608,127011,51908,464,127012,4790,9508,23113,2538,9,24,12,370,63,127013,127014],"class_list":["post-338123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-american-music","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-music","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-celebrity-tributes","tag-concerts","tag-country-music","tag-doll-parts","tag-dolly-parton","tag-dolly-parton-tribute-band","tag-glastonbury-festival","tag-gowanus","tag-littlefield","tag-live-music","tag-live-performances","tag-local-music","tag-music","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-songwriting","tag-tribute-bands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/24_DollParts_2012_08_10_bk01BCPRINT_WEBWEB.jpg\")
Doll Parts, photographed for The Brooklyn Paper in 2012, has seen its lineup rotate over the years, but Julia Sirna-Frest and Maggie Robinson, first and second from left, and Shane Chapman, far right, have remained at the heart of the Dolly Parton tribute band since its early days.File photo by Stefano Giovannini<\/p>\n