Land O' Lakes Artist's Hand-Painted Guitar, Signed by Dolly Parton, Raised $2,500 for Hudson Nonprofit

A guitar painted at a kitchen table in Land O' Lakes ended up in Dolly Parton's hands, and the money it raised at auction went to a Hudson nonprofit that cares for adults with severe developmental disabilities.

Bert Swartz, a retired Pasco County Libraries employee, spent 40 to 45 hours hand-painting a guitar inspired by Parton's 1971 song "Coat of Many Colors," the ballad about a coat Parton's mother stitched together from rags when the family had little else. Swartz turned the same idea into art on wood, patch by patch, color by color.

The project could have ended there, a labor of love with no audience beyond friends and family. Instead, Swartz heard Imagination Library president Jeff Conyers on NPR and decided to reach out. That contact led to Kathy Brown, Parton's longtime assistant, who arranged for the guitar to reach Parton herself. Brown later told Swartz that Parton "looked through every one" of the submissions she received before choosing which ones to sign.

Parton signed it. The guitar went to auction through Julien's Auctions in November 2024, and it sold for $2,500. Every dollar went to The Angelus, a nonprofit based at 12413 Hudson Ave. in Hudson that operates five group homes on 17 wooded acres and provides lifelong housing and individualized care for roughly 40 non-ambulatory adults with developmental disabilities, many of whom are nonverbal and require full-time support.

A story that resurfaced after Parton's death

The connection between a Land O' Lakes hobbyist and one of country music's biggest names stayed a quiet local footnote for months. It resurfaced this month after Parton died last month at age 80, when local media outlets revisited the guitar and the persistence it took to get it in front of her.

Getting a signature from a star of Parton's stature is not something that usually happens through a cold email. Swartz's path ran through Conyers, then Brown, then Parton's own Imagination Library team in Tennessee, the same organization behind the free book-mailing program that has sent titles to millions of children, including many in Pasco County. Brown's detail about Parton personally reviewing the submissions was the moment that made the project real for Swartz, according to local news reports.

The Angelus has not said publicly how the guitar funds were spent. What is confirmed is the amount raised and the source, a single hand-painted instrument that traveled from a Pasco County home studio to Nashville and back before it ever reached the auction block.

Swartz has not said whether another commemorative piece is in the works. For now, the guitar belongs to whoever placed the winning bid, and the story of how it got signed is the part locals are still passing around.

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