By Greg K.
Special To Dollymania
View photos from the night's performances here. Program illustration by Bryant Hoven.

I had the fortune of being able to attend the Chelsea Mountain Boys tribute to Dolly, "A Chest Full of Dolly" in New York City on May 17, 2001. My parents and I with a standing room only crowd of New Yorkers filled the small nightclub in midtown NYC.

The show kicked off at 8:30 with the audio recording "The Letter" from My Tennessee Mountain Home. This was followed by almost 30 singers from the NYC area and two from Washington D.C., all backed by the band Chelsea Mountain Boys.

The crowd was enthusiastic for the just over two-hour performance. The Chelsea Mountain Boys themselves were adequately talented and tuned. At times, they were so good that they rivaled Dolly's own "Blue Mountain Angels." The band gave a bit more upbeat and spunkier version to some of Dolly songs, but never lost sight of the original tune.

One musician and singer, Neill C. Furio, gave an unusual version and sound to the Dolly-Porter hit "Fight and Scratch;" yet the audience loved it. One quarter of the way into the show, a dead on Dolly look alike walked into the club and took her position off to the side. Dressed in a curly blond wig and tight-fitting capris, Jonona looked the part of an early 1970s Dolly.

The wonderful thing about the "Salute to the Fairy Godmother of Country Music," was that each singer had his or her own interpretation and way of singing the Dolly song that he or she chose to sing. It was sort of like karaoke night, but all in homage to Parton. I stood in awe yet again at how beautiful Dolly's melodies and lyrics are, so much so that others can sing them sounding vocally quite different, yet the song doesn't lose a thing. In fact, to hear others sing the songs only made me realize just how great the songs are. In addition, the universality of these songs stood out to me. Here I stood nearly 800 miles away from the native home of Dolly Parton, but these singers felt these lyrics and made them their own, sharing this emotion with the audience. This was perhaps what made the evening so splendid.

A few treats were in store for the audience. We first learned that despite the fact that Ms. Parton was not there in person, a camera was filming the entire show and would be sent to her. The second treat was the raffling of several autographed Dolly items, the money going to the Dollywood Foundation. Then after an intermission, Chal Pivik, the bandleader, informed us that Steve Buckingham had come in. He was indeed visible, standing off to the side of the stage. Later, I myself would go over and meet him. The last surprise was that during the intermission, Steve had handed Chal his cell phone to hear Dolly herself on the other end. She sent us her regret in not being able to attend but sent us all a "big hello." Chal then went on to read a letter that Dolly had written to him of a similar nature, saying she was truly honored by this tribute.

Most of the material covered at the show was either current or from the late 60s through mid 70s. A good time was had by all and it was clear that everyone enjoyed the evening. The evening ended with an energetic version of "Marry Me" which went right into a hand clapping "9 to 5" (the only pop song sung). To quote Dolly's song "Rhinestone," "New York City ain't no kind of place for a country girl with a friendly face," but on this evening, NYC was the place for Dolly's friendly face and songs.

Dollymania contributor Greg K. and Dolly producer Steve Buckingham outside of the nightclub Downtime. For more photos from the night's performances here.

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