Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee Moves to Rename Nashville Airport After Dolly Parton

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Friday that he wants Nashville International Airport renamed in honor of Dolly Parton, days after the country music legend’s death. “At a place where Tennessee welcomes the world,” Lee said in a statement, “it is fitting that Nashville International Airport would bear the name of our state’s favorite daughter and greet travelers with the enduring legacy of Dolly’s music, generosity, faith, and kindness.” The proposal would need buy-in from the Metro Nashville Airport Authority, which oversees the facility and sets its own naming rules.

Parton died Aug. 25 at age 80. Her publicist said she passed “peacefully” after a brief battle with cancer, a diagnosis that had not been previously made public. Tributes poured in from across the music industry and political spectrum in the days that followed, reflecting a career and public persona that, unusually for the current moment, drew admiration from virtually every corner of American life.

Details & Background

Support for the renaming has moved fast. An online petition backing the effort has drawn more than 164,000 signatures, with tens of thousands added in the days since Parton’s death. Tennessee state Rep. Todd Warner and singer Sheryl Crow have both publicly backed the idea. It isn’t an entirely new suggestion — asked about it in a January 2025 interview with CBS Mornings, Parton herself said, “I’m very flattered. But it’s a nice compliment, and I appreciate it,” a response that stopped short of an endorsement but didn’t rule it out either.

Standing in the way is the Airport Authority’s own policy, which requires a person to be deceased for at least two years before a facility can be named for them — a rule designed to avoid politicizing naming decisions in the heat of the moment. Lee’s proposal, along with the existing guidelines, is now set to be discussed at the Authority’s Sept. 17 meeting, where officials may have to formally revisit the two-year requirement to accommodate Parton.

Reactions

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, a Democrat, embraced the idea at his Friday media roundtable, calling it “a wonderful idea.” He added that the city intends to work directly with Parton’s family and foundation on any renaming effort: “We’re going to explore that with them and make sure that the way we do it is represented with the way that Dolly did it.”

No organized opposition to the renaming has surfaced in reporting so far — a notable contrast to the sharper political fights that usually accompany naming battles over public infrastructure. The bipartisan tone, spanning a Republican governor and a Democratic mayor, underscores just how broadly Parton’s legacy is regarded across Tennessee’s political divide.

Why This Matters to You

Parton’s seven-decade career made her one of the most recognized entertainers in American history, from hits like “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” and “I Will Always Love You” to crossover film roles in 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. Beyond music, she built a philanthropic footprint few celebrities match: her Imagination Library has mailed free books to children for decades, she funded children’s hospital initiatives, and she donated $1 million toward Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine research. She also built Dollywood, the Smoky Mountains theme park that draws millions of visitors to East Tennessee each year and anchors much of the region’s tourism economy.

If the renaming goes through, Nashville International would become one of the largest U.S. airports named for an entertainer rather than a politician or military figure — a fitting bookend, supporters say, for a state whose identity is deeply tied to Parton’s own. Parton first arrived in Nashville in 1964, fresh out of high school in East Tennessee, beginning the six-decade relationship with the city that the airport proposal now seeks to formally honor. The Sept. 17 authority meeting is the next concrete step; travelers shouldn’t expect new signage anytime soon, since any change would require the Authority to formally amend its naming policy first.