Kacey Musgraves paid tribute to Dolly Parton during her Middle of Nowhere Tour stop at Madison Square Garden on Monday night, pausing the show to reflect on Parton's death a week earlier at the age of 80. Musgraves told the crowd she was still processing the loss, describing Parton as "the closest thing we've ever had to royalty" and a "supernova of a person" whose influence made her own career possible.

During the New York performance, Musgraves covered Parton's 1980 classic "9 to 5" and again performed her own ballad "Rainbow", which she revealed at an earlier Boston show was directly inspired by Parton. Parton was laid to rest in a private Nashville funeral attended by immediate family on 28 August, with her memorial park describing a legacy built on a seven-decade career, philanthropy and influence on generations of artists.