Dolly Parton has spent more than six decades becoming one of the most celebrated songwriters and performers in American music, and this year the Americana Music Association will honor her with its Lifetime Achievement Award. But before the global fame, the movie roles, the business empire and the timeless songs, there was a small Martin guitar given to a young girl with big dreams.
Parton will accept the honor via video at the 2026 Americana Honors & Awards, held at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium during AMERICANAFEST on September 16. The award recognizes artists whose careers have made an enduring impact on American roots music, and Parton’s legacy — from “Jolene” and “Coat of Many Colors” to “I Will Always Love You” and “9 to 5” — is built on the songwriting foundation she developed with that first instrument.
Parton has always favored smaller guitars. Throughout her career, she has played small-scale three-quarter acoustics and frequently performs with her custom Taylor GS Mini and Martin 5-18 Terz.
Her love of compact instruments traces back to her first guitar, a small Martin acoustic given to her by her uncle Lewis, a guitarist among the many musicians in her extended family.
“When he saw how serious I was about my music, he gave me his little Martin guitar,” Parton told Reverb. “It was my treasure.”
My plan was always to — when I got money, when I got rich and famous — have it fixed up.”
— Dolly Parton
By the time Parton left home at 18 to pursue her music career, the guitar had already seen years of use and was too worn to bring on the road. She left it in the loft of her family’s home, planning to have it repaired once she had the money.
“My plan was always to — when I got money, when I got rich and famous — have it fixed up,” she explained.
But the instrument was lost in a house fire.
“But the loft burned out of our house, and burned up my guitar, so I only have the neck of that one,” Parton said. “But I have collected little Martin guitars all through the years. I have some classic little guitars, especially the Martins, the baby Martins.”
Those smaller Martins became a fitting match for Parton’s distinctive songwriting style — an intimate sound that helped shape songs that would eventually become standards across country and pop music.
Among them was “I Will Always Love You,” the farewell song she wrote after her professional partnership with Porter Wagoner came to an end. Wagoner had played a crucial role in launching Parton’s career, inviting her to join his syndicated television program, The Porter Wagoner Show, in 1967 and helping her secure a record deal with RCA.
If it hadn’t been for Porter, I wouldn’t have written this song. It was kind of my goodbye song to Porter.”
— Dolly Parton
“If it hadn’t been for Porter, I wouldn’t have written this song,” Parton said of “I Will Always Love You.” “It was kind of my goodbye song to Porter.”
The song became one of Parton’s defining compositions, and decades later it reached an even wider audience when Whitney Houston’s recording for The Bodyguard soundtrack topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks. Parton’s decision decades earlier to retain her publishing rights — after declining Elvis Presley’s request for half the song’s publishing in exchange for recording it — ensured that she continued to benefit from one of the most successful songs ever written.
Now, as the Americana Music Association recognizes Parton’s extraordinary career, the story of her first guitar offers a reminder that before she became a country legend, she was simply a young songwriter holding a little Martin and dreaming about what music could become.
