Dolly Parton Mourns The Loss of Her ‘Beloved Uncle Bill Owens’

Dolly Parton is mourning the loss of her Uncle Bill Owens, the man who came to Nashville with her in the 1960's to make her musical dreams come true.

Dolly posted to Instagram, "I've lost my beloved Uncle Bill Owens. I knew my heart would break when he passed, and it did. I'll start this eulogy by saying I wouldn't be here if he hadn't been there. He was there... there in my young years to encourage me to keep playing my guitar, to keep writing my songs, to keep practicing my singing. And he was there to help build my confidence standing on stage where he was always standing behind me or close beside me with his big ol' red Gretsch guitar." ⁣
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She continued, "He was there to take me around to all of the local shows, got me my first job on the "Cas Walker Show.” He took me back-&-forth to Nashville through the years, walked up-&-down the streets with me, knocking on doors to get me signed up to labels or publishing companies. It's really hard to say or to know for sure what all you owe somebody for your success. But I can tell you for sure that I owe Uncle Billy an awful lot.⁣"