She Returned to It for Her Final Milestone Birthday
“Light of a Clear Blue Morning” had become even more closely connected to Dolly during the final year of her life.
On January 13, 2026, she announced a new recording featuring Lainey Wilson, Miley Cyrus, Queen Latifah, and Reba McEntire. Proceeds from the single and its music video would support pediatric cancer research at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee.
The rendition arrived shortly before Dolly’s 80th birthday on January 19 and marked 50 years since she had written the original. David Foster played piano, while The Christ Church Choir joined the powerhouse group of female voices behind Dolly.
“I wrote ‘Light of a Clear Blue Morning’ during a season when I was searching for hope, and fifty years later that message still feels just as true,” she explained in the official announcement.
She called the recording her way of shining some of her blessings forward. It was a perfect description of how Dolly moved through the world, a world that is still sensing her presence in a unique way, according to her posthumous post’s comment section.
