For nearly five decades, Reba McEntire looked at Dolly Parton as far more than another country music star. Dolly was someone Reba admired before they ever became friends, someone whose career proved that a woman from a rural Southern background could build a life far beyond the expectations placed upon her. As Reba’s own career grew, that admiration never disappeared. If anything, it became stronger, because Reba began to understand just how difficult it was to accomplish what Dolly had already done.
Years later, Reba revealed that there had been moments when admiration turned into something even more valuable: Dolly became someone she could call when she needed advice.
One of those moments came in the early 1990s.
Reba was already a major country star by then, but success did not mean she had all the answers. Her career was expanding rapidly, expectations were growing, and the decisions surrounding her music and professional future were becoming increasingly complicated. At some point during that period, Reba found herself needing the perspective of someone who understood what it felt like to build a career at that level.
The person she thought of was Dolly Parton.
There was no text message, no direct-message button, and apparently no private number sitting conveniently in Reba’s phone. Reba later recalled that she knew Dolly was staying at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, so she did something that sounds almost unbelievable in today’s world: she simply called the hotel and asked to speak with Dolly Parton.
Reba was somewhere around Bakersfield at the time, while Dolly was in Las Vegas. When someone at the hotel asked who was calling, Reba identified herself.
Eventually, Dolly came to the phone.
And in typical Dolly fashion, even the beginning of the conversation came with humor. Rather than greeting Reba with some formal celebrity introduction, Dolly jokingly wanted to make sure she was actually speaking with the real Reba McEntire.
That small moment says a great deal about their relationship.
These were two women who would eventually become legends in the same genre, but when Reba reached out, she was not calling as a rival or even as an equal looking for professional validation. She was calling someone she respected enough to ask, “What do you think I should do?”
Reba has said that she has reached out to Dolly for advice and that she has always wanted to learn from her. That feeling remained even after Reba herself became one of the most successful entertainers in country music. To Reba, Dolly had already traveled roads she was still learning how to navigate.
That humility is important.
By the early 1990s, Reba had already earned major awards, scored hit records, and built a recognizable identity of her own. She did not need Dolly’s permission to be successful. What she wanted was perspective.
Dolly represented something larger than chart success.
She had learned how to protect her songwriting, how to make bold business decisions, how to move beyond country music without abandoning it, and how to remain unmistakably herself while entering television, movies, business, and philanthropy.
For a performer like Reba, who would eventually follow a similarly broad path, Dolly’s experience was invaluable.
Reba’s respect for Dolly had actually begun much earlier.
The first time Reba remembered seeing Dolly in person was on September 17, 1977, the night Reba was preparing to make her Grand Ole Opry debut. Reba had expected to perform two songs, but she was told that one of them would have to be removed because Dolly Parton had unexpectedly arrived.
Instead of being upset, Reba was thrilled.
She later recalled seeing Dolly walk by in a black outfit decorated with rhinestone butterflies and thinking that she looked almost like an angel. Reba was too overwhelmed even to properly introduce herself. She simply watched as one of the women she admired most passed through the room.
That memory makes their later phone conversation even more meaningful.
The young woman who once stood against a backstage wall staring in awe at Dolly Parton eventually became successful enough to call her directly for advice.
But Reba never seemed to lose that original sense of admiration.
Even decades later, when asked what she did during the limited time she had with Dolly, Reba explained that she preferred to listen. She did not want to spend all of their time talking about herself. She wanted Dolly to speak because, in Reba’s view, Dolly had knowledge and experience worth learning from.
That may be one of the most important parts of their friendship.
It was never simply about two famous women appearing together for photographs.
There was mentorship inside it.
Reba has described Dolly as wise, generous, deeply connected to family and community, and someone whose example carried lessons that reached far beyond music. Even after Reba had accumulated decades of her own experience, she still spoke about Dolly as someone from whom she could continue learning.
Over time, the two women had more opportunities to work together.
Dolly appeared on Reba’s television series, giving them an entire week together on set. Reba later described that experience as precious because it allowed her far more time with Dolly than their busy careers usually permitted.
Then, in 2021, something happened that Reba had wanted for years.
Dolly joined her on a new recording of “Does He Love You?”
For Reba, who had admired Dolly since before her own career truly began, finally hearing their voices together carried enormous emotional weight. She later admitted that while working on the music video, she felt like the biggest Dolly Parton fan in the room. Even after decades of success, Reba could still become that young Oklahoma singer watching one of her heroes walk past backstage.
That says something important about Reba herself.
Many people assume that once someone becomes successful, admiration disappears. The stars become colleagues, and the mystery is gone.
That never seemed to happen between Reba and Dolly.
Reba continued to see Dolly as someone whose career offered lessons about ambition, resilience, generosity, and remaining true to yourself.
And Dolly, in turn, was willing to answer the phone.
Sometimes mentorship is not a formal arrangement. There is no contract, no official title, and no announcement that one person has become another person’s guide.
Sometimes it is simply one experienced woman answering the phone when another woman needs help.
That is what makes the story of Reba calling Dolly in the early 1990s so memorable.
Reba McEntire was already famous.
She already had hit songs.
She already had awards.
But she still understood something many successful people eventually forget: there is always someone you can learn from.
Years later, when Reba talked about Dolly, she rarely sounded like someone trying to compete with her. She sounded like someone grateful that their paths had crossed.
Dolly had shown Reba that a country singer did not have to remain inside one narrow definition of success. A woman could sing, act, build businesses, make people laugh, protect her values, and continue reinventing herself without surrendering the qualities that made audiences love her in the first place.
Reba would eventually build a career containing many of those same elements.
She became a recording legend, a television star, an actress, a businesswoman, and a mentor to younger performers.
Perhaps that is why the private advice she once sought from Dolly matters so much.
The most valuable thing Dolly gave Reba may not have been one dramatic sentence that changed everything overnight.
It may have been something larger.
Dolly showed Reba what was possible.
She showed her that success did not require abandoning where you came from. She showed her that longevity depended on more than hit records. She showed her that generosity and ambition could exist together, and that even after reaching the top, a person could still make time for someone who called asking for help.
For nearly fifty years, Reba McEntire carried those lessons with her.
And when she looked back on Dolly, she still spoke with the admiration of someone who knew she had been fortunate enough not only to meet one of her heroes, but eventually to learn from her.
Reba became a legend in her own right, but she never forgot the woman she once called from Bakersfield because she needed advice — and Dolly Parton answered.