Watch Clips of Dolly Parton’s Surprise Visit to Newport Folk Festival

Recent iterations of the Newport Folk Festival have been full of surprise collaborations that have turned into highlights of the year, and maybe even highlights of some fans' lives — you may recall Kris Kristofferson and Margo Price’s “Me and Bobby McGee” duet from 2016. This year, during the fest’s 60th annual run, you wouldn’t have been off-base to expect the official live debut of The Highwomen on Friday to be a key moment. But as the four core members of the country collective — Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires — have repeatedly pointed out, their work is all about collaborating. And as it happens, Carlile curated a headlining showcase on Saturday, billed as ♀♀♀♀: The Collaboration, which put an array of women at the forefront. 

The show was an important reminder of the gender imbalance in the music business — despite writing and performing iconic songs that are commercially successful (Morris' "Girl" hit No. 1 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart, the first single by a woman to do so since 2018), women remain vastly underrepresented. The star-studded set included performances from The Highwomen, 4 Non Blondes’ Linda Perry, Molly Tuttle, Jade Bird, Yola, Sheryl Crow, Judy Collins and many others. And one helluva special guest — country icon, music biz world-record holder and “incomparable unicorn legend” (as Carlile astutely introduced her) Dolly Parton — joined in for the final five songs. 

Above, check out a backstage clip of Parton and The Highwomen rehearsing “Eagle When She Flies” that Perry posted to her Instagram account. (Note Jason Isbell tearing up in the background, pretty much the only normal human response to such heartfelt singing of such a beautiful song.) Thanks to some fan-shot video (hat-tip to YouTube users rac3m, Dale Martin and Anna Ballentyne), you can check out all of Parton’s performances from the set, peppered with side-splitting stories: “Eagle When She Flies,” “Just Because I’m a Woman,” “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene” and an all-hands-on-deck rendition of “9 to 5” to close it out.