Dolly traded in her butterfly wings today. I felt her leaving all week and I’ve been singing “Coat Of Many Colors” with I’m With Her and asking folks to pray everyday. I don’t even know why. She took my face in her hands and prayed over me once. I’ve never been the same since. Her prayers were maybe more powerful than mine or anyone else’s, because that prayer has had a very long rainbow colored halo and I hope it lasts me my whole life. I’m married to an agnostic Londoner, and I can’t help but laugh out loud when I think of the raptured audience at Glastonbury in the palm of Dolly’s hands, as she ended her once in a lifetime set by shouting “can I get an amen?!” The sound of two hundred thousand immediate British “AMENS” is something that causes me to burst into American hysterics at least once a week! Dolly had a way of deeply belonging to every one of us, and yet somehow still not being of this world. There’s really only one other person in human history I can think of who has held that light. I loved Dolly with all my heart. Before I met her, I loved her because she took a risk and accepted me (and all of us) for being gay in a time where she didn’t need to say anything. And she has been asked to comment and speak on MANY things over the years… choosing only to speak on that which brings love and mercy to real people, and shutting down any line of questioning that won’t. She never wavered on accepting anyone for who they were and who they were meant to be. After I met her, I loved her for being obscenely generous, whip smart and possessing the kind of otherworldly discernment I’ll never stop chasing. Dolly was the boss to beat all bosses and I’m one of the lucky few to experience that side of her. She was a musician’s musician, with expectations higher than the scariest roller coaster at Dollywood! A bona fide rockstar, a preacher and the quickest comedian I ever took a shot from. And yet I’m nobody and everyone all at once. Just a heartbroken Dolly fan at the end of the day with a head full of memories, prayers and songs left behind by a big breasted angel with a twinkle in her eye and the whole world in her hands. Thank you Dolly - you changed the whole world and never let it change you. Your faith is a light. You are the standard bearer. Put in a good word for us all with your god and help us in whatever way you can from where you most certainly are. Can I get an amen? 🦋 - @brandicarlile