Country music icon Dolly Parton is giving her two cents on the Beyoncé CMA snub controversy. “There’s so many wonderful country artists that, I guess probably the country music field, they probably thought, well, we can’t really leave out some of the ones that spend their whole life doing that,” Parton told Variety in an interview published Tuesday. Parton goes on to call Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album “wonderful” and says that the country music community “welcomed her.” “So I don’t think it was a matter of shutting out, like doing that on purpose,” she added. Despite this being Beyoncé’s first country album, Parton acknowledged her country roots. “She’s a country girl in Texas and Louisiana, so she grew up with that base,” Parton told the outlet. The “Crazy In Love” singer even paid homage to Parton on the album by covering her 1973 hit “Jolene.” While there has been quite the hubbub about alleged CMA nomination oversight, Beyoncé has yet to comment on the situation. Despite being somewhat green to the country scene, Beyoncé did perform at the 2016 CMA Awards alongside The Chicks.
