Brigitte Bandit was having an exhausting year. It was the end of 2023. She had testified at the Texas Capitol against bills that would ban certain drag performances and story hours, and joined a lawsuit to stop the legislation.<\/p>\n
After she performed as Dolly Parton at Oilcan Harry\u2019s that December, one of the hosts made her sit on stage while a five-minute-long video<\/a> played of people thanking her for her work on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n Then the host presented her with an oddly shaped box wrapped in pink.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first I was, like, is this like a \u2026 Dolly costume?\u201d Bandit said. \u201cThen I opened it, and I saw the signature.\u201d<\/p>\n It was an acoustic guitar covered in rhinestones \u2014 and signed by Dolly Parton, the country legend who died Tuesday<\/a> in Nashville.<\/p>\n Bandit said she can\u2019t play guitar, but she can pretend to.<\/p>\n \u201cJust like I pretend to sing,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n Bandit had received global attention that year when she testified at the Capitol in drag. She brought with her a children\u2019s book about Parton, and a photo showed it opened to a page that said: \u201cShe wore big hair and lots of makeup, and some people might\u2019ve thought it was too much, but she liked it, and the kids did too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat made it all the way to Dolly,\u201d Bandit said.<\/p>\n She said Parton\u2019s niece Rebecca Seaver, who does drag in Tennessee, showed the singer the photo and they orchestrated the whole thing.<\/p>\n Bandit said she never anticipated for her persona to be so intertwined with Parton; it just came naturally. Her first official paid booking as a drag queen was a Dolly Parton show. She later started doing socially distanced drag telegrams as Parton during the pandemic.<\/p>\n Parton has become an icon in the queer community and was, to Bandit, a drag queen herself.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the heightened femininity and the way that she spreads a message of love and self-acceptance and acceptance of other people,\u201d she said. \u201cI think a lot of queer people can relate to Dolly and see themselves in her, you know, with the way that she fights societal norms and expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n Bandit said Parton will forever inspire and influence her work \u2014 \u201cfrom entertaining people to also advocating for my community.\u201d<\/p>\n She and others will pay tribute to Parton this Saturday during her regular Drag Hoedown at Stoney\u2019s Good Time Ranch<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bandit said she will bring the guitar.<\/p>\n