In 1991, the “Fancy” singer lost eight bandmates, whom she honored with the album “For My Broken Heart.”

How Dolly Parton stepped up after Reba McEntire’s band died in plane crash

In 1991, the “Fancy” singer lost eight bandmates, whom she honored with the album “For My Broken Heart.”

By Rance Collins

August 30, 2026 3:38 p.m. ET

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Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire in 1985. Credit:

- In March 1991, Reba McEntire lost eight members of her band in a plane crash.

- To help, Dolly Parton offered up her own band for the “Fancy” singer.

- The pair continued to collaborate on projects for decades, including on the television series *Reba* and McEntire’s album *Revived Remixed Revisited*.

When Reba McEntire needed a friend, Dolly Parton was there.

Among the outpouring of tributes to the late Queen of Country Music was another enormously successful, cross-genre appeal artist — someone who herself might have a claim to the country “Queen” title.

“I’ll never forget the first time I met you and I’ll never forget our last conversation. I hold it with love in my heart. I will always love you, Reba,” the “Fancy” singer wrote in part on Instagram.

The pair crossed paths on numerous occasions over the years, be it when Parton guested on the *Reba* sitcom in 2005 or when the two sang “Does He Love You” on McEntire’s *Revived Remixed Revisited *album in 2021.

But the most significant moment for McEntire came years earlier, following one of the greatest tragedies of the *Tremors* star’s life.

Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton in 2017.

Rick Diamond/Getty

On March 16, 1991, after a concert in San Diego, eight of McEntire’s bandmates were killed in a plane crash. The “Cathy’s Clown” artist has paid homage to the musicians on numerous occasions, including in a 2024 Instagram post in which she listed their names: Chris Austin, Kirk Cappello, Joey Cigainero, Paula Kaye Evans, Jim Hammon, Terry Jackson, Tony Saputo, and Michael Thomas. Also written in the photo McEntire posted were words referencing the song and album — *For My Broken Heart —* she released in the wake of their deaths: “I guess the world ain’t gonna stop... for my broken heart.”

The *Little Rascals* actress received an outpouring of support from her fellow country stars, including Vince Gill and, of course, Dolly Parton, she told Garden & Gun earlier this year.

“It was really hard for me to get back onstage, but Vince Gill called and said, ‘Buddy, I’ll be there for you.’ Dolly Parton said, ‘Here, take my band.’ It was such a gift to see how many people stepped forward to help, and to reassure, because so many of us had hearts that were broken.”

Reba McEntire pays tribute to longtime friend Dolly Parton after her death

Dolly Parton through the decades: See her remarkable life and career in photos

While McEntire “didn’t know if [she] was going to be able to continue,” the tragedy showed her “how precious life is,” she told PEOPLE in 2022.

“From that I learned that you need to take it one day at a time and be very grateful for the things that you have. Tell folks in your life how much you love and appreciate them,” she said.

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That same year, Reba revealed Parton’s unusual preference for communication.

“Well, you don’t call Dolly, you fax her. And you fax your people and your people talk to her people,” McEntire told Apple’s Southern Accents Radio.

Parton’s goddaughter Miley Cyrus echoed this factoid in 2022.

“Every time I coordinate and kind of communicate with Dolly it’s still through fax,” she explained during an interview with Seth Meyers, pointing out the irony that the two had appeared in a T-Mobile commercial together. “We *do *use the phone, but she does a fax, and then someone scans the fax, and then they put it into a text message, and then that gets sent to me.”

Cyrus said she appreciated how “not casual” the messages were, and how much time the “Jolene” singer took in her communications, including personally signing the faxes, before relating another humorous tale.

“She also made me a demo one time where she talks about being super high-tech, but it was all through a cassette, which then she voice-memoed onto a flip phone, which someone then put on to the iPhone, which then got sent to me,” Cyrus said.

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