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A mural paying tribute to country singer and Tennessee native Dolly Parton and her stance on the Black Lives Matter movement has emerged outside a known music venue in Nashville.
Nashville-based artist Kim Radford painted the mural of the “Queen of Country” outside The 5 Spot on Forrest Avenue in East Nashville. The mural was completed on August 14, a day after she started painting.
“The day before I finished the mural, Dolly had an amazing press release about her upcoming Christmas album and her interview with Billboard. As I painted the final touches I knew her sassy loving quote – ‘Of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little White a**es are the only ones that matter?’ – would be a perfect finish to send out in my neighborhood,” Radford told CNN.
“This piece was a passion project and the timing was a happy accident coinciding with her press.”
In a wide-ranging interview with Billboard magazine, Parton, 74, said that while she has not attended the protests, she voiced her support.
“I understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen,” she said. She then used the quote that Radford eventually painted into the mural.
“And of course Black lives matter. Do we think our White a**es are the only ones that matter? No!”
The muralist said she chose The 5 Spot because of its location in her own neighborhood and because it has become a first stage for many musicians who move to Nashville to pursue their music careers.
“It’s a magical little dive bar and Dolly adds the mojo this neighborhood needed,” Radford said.
A history of speaking up
This wasn’t the first time Parton stood up against racial injustice. During the Billboard interview, she also provided details on why two years ago she renamed her Civil War-themed dinner attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and Branson, Missouri from the Dixie Stampede to The Stampede after she became aware that the term “Dixie” is associated with the Confederacy.
“There’s such a thing as innocent ignorance, and so many of us are guilty of that,” she told the magazine.
“When they said ‘Dixie’ was an offensive word, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to offend anybody. This is a business. We’ll just call it The Stampede.’ As soon as you realize that (something) is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumba**. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.”
CNN’s Faith Karimi contributed to this report.
