RuPaul and Dolly Parton Take Over Salon Wall in New Mural

A beauty salon in North Carolina has paired RuPaul with country music singer and songwriter Dolly Parton, and it's just the type of unity this country needs most right now.

According to WSOL, a likeness of the queer ally and buxom queen of country music Parton has graced the wall outside the Beauty Parade salon in West Asheville since 2018. Recently, though, owner Terra Marshall called upon muralist Gus Cutty to update the mural by adding the iconic drag queen to his earlier artistic creation. The response has been decidedly positive, with even RuPaul giving a big seal of approval to the mural.

"Gorgeous!" RuPaul tweeted. "I hope it's real."

"Dolly & me," he later posted to Instagram, giving a shoutout to the muralist for his superb work recreating the icon duo.

Marshall explained she's always been a big fan of Parton, having "loved her for years." When she decided she wanted to pair her love of Parton with her salon, she commissioned Cutty to paint the mural first of Parton alone. It turned out Cutty was just as much a fan of Parton as Marshall. It took the creative a mere four days "working 9 to 5" to complete the original job, using only a picture on his phone as a guide.

"We get at least 10 visitors a day, probably upwards of 50 or 60 during the weekends," Marshall said of the original painting. "So, the new addition is definitely going to bring probably even more."

The latest pairing had been generating a good deal of attention in the town, as Cutty and Marshall kept secret the new Parton partner until the very end. Marshall had even been soliciting guesses the salon's Facebook page. Nobody got the correct answer before the unveiling, but judging from the reaction of RuPaul and others online, the pairing is proving popular with the public. One excited fan claimed she joined Twitter just to leave a comment about the mural.

The pairing of Parton and RuPaul is certainly one fans of both stars have been demanding over the years. Many have asked why Parton has yet to appear as a celebrity judge on RuPaul's Drag Race. While both are dear friends and have appeared together publicly in the past, scheduling issues have prevented Parton's participation to date.

"To just calm everybody down we do ask Cher, we do ask Madonna, we do ask Liza, we do ask Dolly, we ask everybody, and scheduling is always the conflict," judge Michelle Visage explained earlier this year, later noting how "it took years to get Gaga, but we got her."

While Parton has yet to make a public statement on her painted pairing with RuPaul outside the Beauty Palace, she did make clear she's a big fan of the performer.

"You know I love you," Parton told Ru in a video message last year. "You know if I hadn't been a girl, I'd have been a drag queen." Ru also interviewed Parton for a Marie Claire cover story in 2020.

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