NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) —The 5 Spot in East Nashville is now home to a stunning new mural of the iconic Dolly Parton.
A last-minute addition to the mural has been making waves. The work of Nashville-based painter and muralist Kim Radford is present throughout Nashville. Her mural of Dolly Parton started generating a lot of interest early on.
“I met with the guys [at The 5 Spot], I told them when I was coming, primed the wall a few days ago and started to draw Dolly and sketch in my design. And people were just immediately excited when they realized who it was. I was excited that they knew who it was. It was fun because it was young, old, black, white. People just really lit up when they saw it was going to be a Dolly mural right there.”
Before the mural was set to be completed, Dolly spoke to Billboard magazine in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement. In typical Dolly fashion, her support is straight to the point and sassy, “Of course black lives matter.”
The day before the mural was set to be completed, Radford listened to the interview and was inspired to add the quote to her art.
“It was just perfect. And the day before, I thought, I’ve got to finish this tomorrow and add that quote. Because a lot of people were talking about it and I just thought it would be perfect. And it was!”
Radford also said it was an honor to paint a mural of Dolly Parton.
“One thing about Dolly, it was incredible to paint such an icon like her, and just the fact that she represents such positivity. Especially with her quote, she had such sass, and I feel like it spoke a lot of the community and kind of decompressed the community in my opinion. She spoke out about in a way that most of us can relate to, just by saying of course, of course, black lives matter. It’s just an honor to be associated with her now.”
You can find more on Radford’s work on her website and on Instagram.
