PHOTO COURTESY OF THOMAS GRADY PHOTOGRAPHY

Member Logan Steiner performs a solo at River City Mixed Choir’s summer 2026 concert.

On Aug. 25, many across the country mourned the death of American singer-songwriter, actress, and businesswoman Dolly Parton. Yet, for Omaha’s River City Mixed Choir (RCMC), her influence in both music and messages of self-love has had a predominant impact on their performances and community.  

“There are a couple of characters that the LGBTQ+ community just sort of have grabbed as their own and she is one of them. Even as not a member herself of the community, she’s just been such a strong ally of queer people through her entire career, and she also has these incredible life lessons which are just be yourself,” Creighton University’s Vice Provost of Faculty and Academic Affairs, Dr. Barron Breland said.  

Breland, who also serves as the Dean of Creighton’s graduate school, is the current acting Artistic Director of the RCMC. With over 180 members, the RCMC was one of the first Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses to showcase gay and lesbian singers. Their present-day membership is comprised of members across the LGBTQ+ community and their allies.  

“One of the things that our director, Dr. Breland, shared a few years ago in an introduction to a concert, especially when we’re seeing things like legislation being passed to limit rights of marriage rights, trans-rights, stuff like that, is that our presence on that stage, if you think about it, in Red Nebraska is a protest. We are there despite what’s going on in the world around us,” RCMC Chorus President John Porter said. “And some people, that I know, are singing on that stage that their family doesn’t know their real identity. But they’re on that stage without family in the audience or friends in the audience, just because they want to perform. And just being on that stage, I think, is important for the community to see us” 

Over the course of the RCMC’s 43 seasons, Parton has had a constant appearance in the group’s repertoire. Some of their performances include their rendition of her song “9 to 5” at their 2026 Pride Month concert, “Express Yourself: An 80s Celebration,” and “Hard Candy Christmas” which they have performed numerous times for their annual holiday performance.  

“We always have joked about it every time we sing it, but I would say every other holiday show we’ve sung ‘Hard Candy Christmas.’ And people [would] say, ‘Oh my God, you’re singing it again,’ but it really just tells the story of ‘No matter how hard it gets, I’m going to be fine,’” Porter said.  

The RCMC continues to include her songs within its upcoming 2027 performances including the “Measure of a Life” concert on Apr. 18 and “A Heartland Hoedown” on Jun. 26, both at the Holland Performing Arts Center.  

“We sprinkled Dolly in where Dolly does best,” Porter said.  

Nevertheless, to Breland and Porter, who not only find value in the music she has created, also echo the significance in her humanitarian contributions. Along with the various donations and establishment of community institutions in which Parton has advocated for the care and love of all humanity, according to the RCMC’s Executive Director Katie Kresha, the simple way she carried herself daily continues to have a profound relation to the messages the chorus hopes to share and reinforce.  

“In addition to her music and her advocacy, I think Dolly always managed to have fun and not take life too seriously, which is also a great fit for our chorus. She had a freedom and confidence in who she was, regardless of what other people told her she should be. So many of our chorus members have that in common with Dolly and can feel that in her music,” Kresha said via email.  

From concerts that advocate the importance of awareness and unity against targeted hate and suicide to the performances that are meant to be in celebration and bring communities together, the RCMC has expressed that Parton’s songs have been a great fit for many of these topics due to her authenticity and genuine feeling she incorporates into her music.  

“What makes Dolly Parton’s music incredible is the authentic nature of her storytelling. You can be a great storyteller but when the stories you are talking about are yours, there’s a compelling nature to that…She would sing about her challenges, I mean [in] the big song Jolene, there was a real woman that she was nervous about losing her partner too,” Breland said. “So, audiences can tell when the stories you’re telling are really coming from you. That’s what makes the music selection for River City Mixed Choir so interesting because we have these great stories to tell about perseverance, about grit and about what it means to survive…It makes the storytelling so authentic and so personal which speaks to an audience…” 

Parton’s impact on the community can especially be seen in the reaction of the RCMC’s audience according to Kresha.  

 “I think the love for Dolly transcends all boundaries, which makes her a hit with audiences. So many of our patrons of all ages have a connection to Dolly and her music, whether directly or through a loved one, that she can always make our audience smile and sometimes even tear up a bit. What I love about Dolly is that her music often moves folks from just feeling emotions into action, because she lived her life by that example,” Kresha said via email.  

Her impact even left a permanent imprint on the hearts of her listeners, especially for Porter, who not only grew up in Appalachia, near Parton’s childhood home, but was across the street from Vanderbilt University, the hospital where Parton had passed.  

“I was basically like a few blocks away from where she died, which really hit me hard…So it was, I think, maybe serendipity for me to be there where Dolly passed, on the day she passed. And it inspired me to do something I never thought I would do. I actually went and got a tattoo. And my friends are like, ‘Well, you could do it when you get home.’ It’s like, yeah, but I’m in the place where Dolly passed, on the day that Dolly passed. And there’s a tattoo shop beside her hotel that’s opening next month. So, I think all of these things have aligned and I just need to do it. So, I got a tattoo,” Porter said.  

In a similar manner, perhaps with the help of Parton’s influence, the RCMC has had an impact on their community right here in Omaha as well.  

“We’ll get messages that people finally decide to come out after they come to one of our concerts or they have not been getting along with a particular member of their family since they came out and they dragged them, unwillingly, to a concert and that person had their eyes open just a little bit more just by seeing what beauty can be created and what it means to have such a strong community,” Breland said.  

As the choir continues to prepare for their upcoming performance on Dec. 5, “Tied Up with Strings,” at the Holland Performing Arts Center, they continue to provide a place of creativity, self-expression, and unity with each rehearsal and performance.   

“[The] RCMC is a welcoming space for the LGBTQ+ community, with many members describing the chorus as being their chosen family. Many members have described the chorus as being the first and sometimes only space they’ve had that is centered around queer people, allowing them to come and be their true selves,” Kresha said via email. “Members have shared that they have finally found the courage to come out to their family for the first time, because they had a queer community to support and guide them through the experience. Singers spend more than 300 hours together rehearsing in a season and we are often performing music that tugs at your emotions, creating a lot of opportunities for authentic connections to form.”