Dolly Parton shared her thoughts about Beyoncé’s absence from the 58th CMA Awards nominees in a new interview.

The globally-beloved country star and her sister, Rachel Parton George, recently spoke with Variety as they published a new cook book together, Good Lookin’ Cookin’. During that interview, Parton was asked about Beyoncé’s omission from the list. Beyoncé released a record-breaking, country-themed album, COWBOY CARTER, earlier this year. Parton was featured on the highly-anticipated record, which included Beyoncé’s spin on the 1970s classic, “Jolene.”

“Well, you never know. 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 responded in her interview with Variety. “But I didn’t even realize that until somebody asked me that question. But it was a wonderful album. She can be very, very proud of, and I think everybody in country music welcomed her and thought that, that was good. So I don’t think it was a matter of shutting out, like doing that on purpose. I think it was just more of what the country charts and the country artists were doing, that do that all the time, not just a specialty album.”

Parton previously said when she heard Beyoncé’s reimagined rendition of “Jolene,” “Wow, I just heard Jolene. Beyoncé is giving that girl some trouble and she deserves it! Love, Dolly P.” Parton also appeared to call out haters of Beyoncé’s country album. The 2024 iHeartRadio Music Award Innovator Award recipient included legendary mainstays in the country genre on her album, in addition to some of its rising stars. COWBOY CARTER included Willie Nelson, Linda Martell, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts, to name a few.

Beyoncé is one of several major artists whose name did not appear on the CMA Awards list of nominees; however, the list does include some of the biggest singer-songwriters in country, including Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen and reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year Lainey Wilson, among others. See the full list of 58th CMA Award nominees here.

Natalie Cash