Dolly Parton’s Welsh connections and her family’s roots in Machynlleth

Parton’s niece, Jada Star, had also previously spoken about the family’s Welsh connection.

She said the Owens side of the family, coming from Parton’s mother Avie Lee Owens, was believed to have come from Conwy.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales in 2024, Star, herself a singer, said discovering that part of the family’s history had been “really extraordinary”.

She said it was “a lot of fun” to discover her Welsh roots, and she and Parton were excited to share what they had learned.

“Getting to find out that side of our family is really extraordinary, especially with all the things we’re finding out about our connections with music, and how that’s always been with us, that’s really wonderful,” she said.

Star suggested that some of Parton’s music, and her own, may have been inspired by her Welsh roots.

Garner from Conwy archives service said the team were “intrigued” when they heard the suggestion that Parton’s ancestors may have hailed from Conwy.

Gary Jones, who was also involved, said the research was “put together using online resources on our public access computers”, but added they could not say for certain that Parton did not have familial links to Conwy.

“Our research took us back into the 18th Century on most branches of Dolly Parton’s family, which was as far as we were able to go using the resources we have, but having got to the 16th Century in Machynlleth, we were happy to stop our research at this point,” he said.