Jan. 30: Kenny: New Dolly Duet Is Don Schlitz Tune Kenny Rogers has revealed which song on his next album will be a new duet with Dolly. While in Canada for a concert last Friday at Casino Regina, he disclosed in an interview with CTV Morning Live that the song is called "You Can't Make Old Friends" and was composed by super-songwriter Don Schlitz, who penned Rogers' No. 1 hits "The Gambler" and "The Greatest." Rogers was also asked in the interview what is his favorite moment from his career, and he replied it was working with Dolly when they were playing massive arenas together. Watch the clip, posted Tuesday to YouTube by the interviewer, here.
Lulu Shares Dolly Stories Lulu Romans, who earlier this month released a new CD, At Last, featuring a duet with Dolly on "I Will Always Love You," gushes about how special and what a good friend Dolly is in an interview with The Nashville Bridgehere.
Congratulations To Jim Nabors At age 82, Jim Nabors, the actor and singer who made his feature film debut in Dolly's 1982 musical The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, on Jan. 15 married his partner of 38 years, Stan Cadwallader, Hawai'i News Now reported here Tuesday. The couple lives in Hawai'i but traveled to Seattle a few weeks after Washington state's marriage equality law went into effect. Congratulations!
Jan. 28: Just For Fun: Some 'Classical' Dolly
This video is nearly two years old, but I got such a big kick out of it that I thought I'd share it with everyone as tonight's top story. It's a performance by pianist/vocalist Todd Almond taken from a concert in New York City, and he calls it his "D.P. Bach mash-up." He performs a slightly altered melody and lyrics from Dolly's "Marry Me" and "Jolene," but as accompaniment he uses selections by Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach, who died about 200 years before Dolly was born. Check out the highly entertaining match up on YouTube here or in the media player above.
Publication: Dolly's Quotes Show Her Smarts, Coolness Online magazine Zimbo has compiled what it says are 26 Dolly quotes that "prove she's cooler and smarter than she gets credit for." Check them out here.
Aussie, British, Irish Charts Released The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 declines 11 places to No. 39 in its 256th week on the top 40 Australian country albums chart, it was revealed Sunday, while The Essential Dolly Parton falls back out of the top 40, down from No. 39 last week, its 54th Down Under. In the U.K., Whitney Houston's Ultimate Collection, with the late singer's version of Dolly's classic "I Will Always Love You," dips nine to No. 71 for 151st chart week. In Ireland, Houston's Ultimate Collection shoots up 46 spots to No. 48 on the top 100 pop albums chart.
Imagination Library Updates In Ohio, Maryland, Mississippi Dolly's Imagination Library could be her lasting legacy, the head of her charitable foundation said while in Middletown, Ohio, speaking about the program at an event sponsored by the Middletown Community Foundation, The Middletown Journal reports here. Down South, The Meridian Star reports here on a Power of the Purse fund-raising effort by the United Way of East Mississippi to launch the program there by collecting funds to cover books for 1,000 children a year. In Maryland, The Delmarva Times profiles the state's second chapter of the project, sponsored by the United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore, in a piece here.
More '9 To 5' Shows Pop Up Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical is heading to Georgia. The Fayetteville Citizen reports that the show will run at Legacy Theatre in Tyrone. Read more here. Meanwhile, The Irish Times gave a rundown of some of the British and Irish celebrities spotted at the Dublin performance of the show's British Isles tour here, and The Yorkshire Post previewed its York stop with an interview with actress Amy Lennox here.
'Evening' Returns To Chart, 'Joyful Noise' Slips After several months of having fallen off of the chart, but lingering just a few positions past its No. 40 cut-off, the Cracker Barrel release An Evening With . . . Dolly this week re-enters the Billboard music DVD tally in the Feb. 2 chart at No. 39 to log a 34th week. Her Joyful Noise soundtrack falls out of the top 200 current albums chart, down from No. 194 for a 15th week, and loses five to No. 21 Christian albums for a 40th week there, nine to No. 43 independent label albums for a 21st week, two to No. 15 soundtrack albums chart for a 24th week, one to No. 4 gospel albums in its 54th week there and five to No. 22 on the combined Christian and gospel albums chart in its 41st week there. On the digital gospel sales chart, "From Here To The Moon And Back" by Dolly with Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan drops 14 to No. 21 for an 19th week, "Higher Medley" by Dolly, Queen Latifah and cast falls six to No. 17 for a 19th week, "Man In The Mirror" by Keke Palmer loses 11 to No. 25 for a 20th week and "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Palmer and Jordan falls back off the 25-position list, down from No. 19 in its 11th week. Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, featuring the late singer's cover of Dolly's title track, dips 13 to No. 111 pop in its 10th week and six to No. 97 current pop albums, gaining one to No. 17 R&B/hip hop albums, while her Greatest Hits, also containing the song, declines five to No. 21 R&B/hip hop catalog albums. Overall, Taylor Swift's Red remains at No. 1 country and No. 4 pop with 41,000 copies sold in its 13th week, while Florida Georgia Line's Here's To The Good Times holds on at No. 2 country and rises three to No. 18 pop in its seventh week.
Jones Talks More Of Dolly Collaboration Album George Jones told Billboard magazine a little more this week about his final album, on which he is starting work. Dolly had announced last year that she was writing some songs for him, and he elaborated that she is composing most of the tunes to be used on his farewell release. "I love Dolly, always have and I am so honored to be doing a project with her," he told the magazine. "She is writing most of the songs and we all know what a great songwriter she is. I am just waiting for her to tell me what to sing and when to sing it!" Read the full interview here.
Mountain Soul Vocal Competition Returns For 2013 The competition has started for the Ninth Annual Mountain Soul Vocal Competition, the world's only singing contest in which the contestants must sing songs composed by Dolly. The event is part of her hometown, Sevierville, Tenn.'s, annual Bloomin' Bluegrass and Barbeque festival in May. Contestants are asked to check the Dollymania.net list of songs Dolly has written and released over the years here to confirm the song is Dolly-composed. Entries must be postmarked by April 12. Potential contestants must send audition recordings on cassette, CD, VHS, or DVD performing. Changes this year are that no songs are off limits (previously, "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene" were prohibited) and you may submit two songs instead of just one. Twenty finalists in the 13-and-up category and 10 in the 12-and-under category will be invited to perform at the May 18 event. A winner from each category will receive cash prizes, a recording session in Nashville and a guitar autographed by Dolly. Entry forms will soon be available on the event website.
'9 To 5' Continues To Cross England, Ireland, U.S. Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical is getting lots of attention for its stop in Dublin while on tour in the British Isles. Both The Irish Timeshere and Heraldhere offered rave reviews on Thursday. Also celebrating its praises was the Tampa edition of Broadway Worldhere. The Spectrum, student newspaper for North Dakota State University, announced here that the campus theatre will perform the show there Feb. 21-23. And back to the U.K. tour, The York Press interviewed "Roz," actress Bonnie Langford, here.
Jan. 24: TV Personality's Passing Unearths Dolly Interview
Popular California public television personality Huell Howser passed away earlier this month (see his obituary from The Los Angeles Timeshere) and that prompted his official YouTube page to release some of his archival interview footage, including a seven-minute clip from the first episode of a 1980 program he hosted for a local CBS station in New York, Country Talk. The segment available on YouTube consists of an interview with Dolly including a tour of her then-new Fifth Avenue penthouse overlooking Central Park, a brief script reading from the then-yet-to-be-filmed 9 To 5 and a performance of her then-yet-to-be-recorded song "Wildflowers." Watch it in the media player above or by visiting YouTube here. You may also check out a little more detail from his TV station, KCET, here.
Get Coffee Table Book With Dolly Introduction Dolly provided the introduction for a coffee table book about her home state, My Homeland Tennessee, which the publisher is promoting this week. The project also profiles many other famous residents of the Volunteer State including Kathy Bates, Kenny Chesney, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake and more. Get it here!
Q-Bots Return To Dollywood, Add Splash Country Fans of Dollywood's Q-Bot ride and show reservation system will get at least another three years of the product and will be able to use a similar product at the adjacent Dollywood's Splash Country this year, it was announced Wednesday. Lo-Q, the company behind the technology, revealed it had inked deals with the park to debut a "Q-Band" for the water park for the 2013-2015 seasons and had renewed its Q-Bots for the main park through 2015. See the press release here.
Another Florida Production Of '9 To 5' Announced Stuart, Fla., is getting Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical, Treasure Coast Palm reported here Wednesday. The show will run Feb. 21 through March 3 at the StarStruck Theatre.
Jan. 22: Dolly, Willie Re-Record 'From Here To The Moon' Dolly will have a new duet version of "From Here To The Moon And Back" with Willie Nelson on an upcoming duet album he is releasing later this year, the singer has announced. Thanks to Tony for finding a British story that The Telegraph actually published here about a month ago in which Nelson announced the project, Who All The Girls Are (a reference to his massive 1984 hit with Julio Iglesias, "To All The Girls I've Loved Before"), which will also feature collaborations with Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, Barbara Streisand and others. He revealed in the story that his Dolly duet will be her song that she originally wrote for the soundtrack to her 2012 movie Joyful Noise and performed in the film with Jeremy Jordan and Kris Kristofferson. No release date for the CD has been announced yet, although it apparently will come out sometime between the April release of his next solo album and the end of the year. Dolly and Nelson have a long history over the years. They previously had a top 10 duet with "Everything's Beautiful (In Its Own Way)," a track from Monument Records' swan song release, 1982's The Winning Hand, which paired Dolly's 1960s vocals with new instrumentation and new duet vocals by Nelson, Kristofferson and Brenda Lee. They later recorded an album cut together for Dolly's 1983 album Burlap & Satin, "I Really Don't Want To Know." They also appeared together in a 1989 television concert special with Kenny Rogers, Kenny, Dolly & Willie, and Nelson had a guest spot as himself in Dolly's 1991 television movie Wild Texas Wind in which they performed his hit "On The Road Again" together.
Jan. 21: British, Australian, Irish Charts Updated The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 slips two to No. 28 in its 255th week on the top 40 Australian country albums chart, while The Essential Dolly Parton loses one to No. 39 in its 53rd week Down Under, Sunday's charts showed. In the U.K., I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, with her cover of Dolly's title track, falls off the British top 100 pop albums chart, down from No. 94 in its ninth week, while Houston's Ultimate Collection gains three to No 62 for 150th chart week. In Ireland, Houston's Ultimate Collection drops 13 places to No. 94 on the top 100 pop albums chart.
Dolly's Birthday Wishes Continue Additional birthday wishes for Dolly's 67th appeared on Saturday. The Huffington Post celebrated the occasion with two galleries: one here exploring her best quotes and one here exploring her best looks. Pal Carrie Underwood tweeted her well wishes here: "Happy birthday to the beautiful and talented @Dolly_Parton! May your day be filled with laughter and may your birthday wishes come true!"
Dolly Pinball Play Available In Chicago Want to play a vintage Dolly pinball machine? Conde Nast Traveler reports that one is offered at Logan Hardware, a vintage vinyl store in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood that operates a free arcade museum where anyone may go play for free on the games offered, which include one of the 7,350 Bally machines produced in 1979 bearing Dolly's likeness and themes. Read more about the store from the magazine here.
Critic Loves Lulu's Album, Dolly Collaboration Here's a great review of Lulu Romans' disc At Last, which calls her collaboration with Dolly on "I Will Always Love You" the project's "crème de la crème." Read more from Music News Nashvillehere.
Jan. 19: HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DOLLY! A big happy 67th birthday for Dolly on Saturday! In observance of the occasion, a columnist for the LGBT blog After Elton offered an opinion on her five best performances/career achievements. Check them out here!
Jan. 18: 'Joyful Noise,' 'Evening' Sales And Chart Updates Dolly's Joyful Noise soundtrack improved its sales for the week and bounced up on some charts, the Jan. 26 Billboard tallies released Thursday showed. The title improved its sales numbers by 7 percent for the week, moving 1,786 copies for a cumulative total of 124,636 units since release. This allowed it to re-enter the top 200 current albums chart at No. 194 for a 15th week, hold steady at No. 16 Christian albums for a 39th week and rise 10 to No. 34 independent label albums for a 20th week, one to No. 13 soundtrack albums chart for a 23rd week, two to No. 3 gospel albums in its 53rd week there and two to No. 17 on the combined Christian and gospel albums chart in its 40th week there. The album's charted tracks on the digital gospel sales list all also rose: "From Here To The Moon And Back" by Dolly with Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan up 10 to No. 7 for an 18th week, "Higher Medley" by Dolly, Queen Latifah and cast up seven to No. 11 for an 18th week, "Man In The Mirror" by Keke Palmer up six to No. 14 for a 19th week and "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Palmer and Jordan re-entering the 25-position list at No. 19 in its 11th week. Although not on the 40-position music DVD video chart, the Cracker Barrel release An Evening With . . . Dolly was the week's 44th best-selling music DVD title, according to SoundScan, losing 9 percent of its sales to 204 copies moved during the week for a cumulative total of 53,878 sold since release. The late Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, with her cover of Dolly's title track, inches up one to No. 98 pop in its ninth week, three to No. 91 current pop albums and one to No. 18 R&B/hip hop albums, while her Greatest Hits, which also contains the song, re-enters the pop catalog albums chart at No. 78 and R&B/hip hop catalog albums chart at No. 16. Overall, Taylor Swift's Red remains at No. 1 country and dips one to No. 4 pop with 49,000 copies sold in its 12th week, while Florida Georgia Line's Here's To The Good Times gains one to No. 2 country and five to No. 21 pop in its sixth week.
Estate Of 'Whorehouse' Director Sues Universal The estate of the late director Colin Higgins says the filmmaker is due more money from one the two pictures in which he directed Dolly. His estate was among several Hollywood types whose attorneys on Wednesday filed class action lawsuits against the major film studios over home video royalties. According to The Hollywood Reporterhere, the suits allege that the studios have been basing payments on home releases of various films on just 20 percent of the revenue generated instead of basing it on actual total revenue generated by sales. When the home video market took off in the 1980s, the studios initiated the 20 percent rule as the basis for future royalties on home video releases and wrote that into all future contracts, but the lawsuits argue that the films in question were produced and released under older contracts that called for future royalties to be based on 100 percent total revenue. Suits were filed by Higgins' representatives against Paramount Pictures for his 1978 Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase comedy Foul Play and against Universal Pictures for his 1982 musical The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas starring Dolly and Burt Reynolds. Identical suits were filed against 20th Century Fox by director Stanely Donen over his 1975 picture Lucky Lady and the estate of Charles Bronson over his 1975 film Hard Times. All suits were filed as class actions to seek for additional actors, directors, producers and others in the industry to join and sue over other films made prior to the institution of the 20 percent rule. Higgins died in 1988 and in his short career only directed three films: the two listed above and 1980's 20th Century Fox blockbuster 9 To 5 also starring Dolly.
Jan. 16: Say 'Happy Birthday, Dolly!' Via The Web Want to send Dolly your best wishes for her 67th birthday on Saturday? Well, her management has made it possible, setting up a Webdoc page for fans to create their personalized online cards for her happy day. Check it out, and add yours, here.
Reba Puts Out Call For Dolly Guest Spot Dolly is among the dream guests Reba would like on her new ABC show, Malibu Country, she tells The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, although she'd really like for it to be a 9 To 5 reunion with Dolly and Jane Fonda appearing together, since her co-star Lily Tomlin, who plays Reba's mother in the series, would complete the trio from the film. Her top guest choice is Tomlin's Big Business co-star Bette Midler. She'd also like William Shatner and Alec Baldwin to join her. Read the full interview here.
More On Lulu Romans Release Tuesday's release of At Last by Lulu Romans, which features a Dolly duet on her classic "I Will Always Love You," garnered the attention of Billboard magazine this week. Read the article here. Also, check out a piece from the album's producer on his Mr. Nashville blog here.
North Dakota's First Lady Promotes Library North Dakota First Lady Betsy Dalrymple continues her promotion of reading and Dolly's Imagination Library, television station KXMB reports here.
Jan. 15: Dolly: Lulu's Singing 'Gave Me Chills' Lulu Romans' new CD, At Last, a covers albums of standards, hits stores on Tuesday featuring a duet with Dolly on her classic "I Will Always Love You," and Dolly is praising the set. "I have known and loved Lulu since the days of Hee Haw," she said. "I have always known she was a great singer; but I did not know how great until she did this album. Hearing her sing my song "' Will Always Love You' gave me the chills. And being able to sing with her on it really got the goose bumps going. I am so proud of her. Hope you enjoy our version of the song." Get the album here!
CMT: Trio Among Top 10 Trios CMT.com on Monday offered its opinion on the top 10 best country music trios in history, and of course "The Trio" made the cut. The supergroup consisting of Dolly, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris – which released two albums plus several individual album cut songs – was among fellow legends such as The Carter Family, contemporaries such as The Dixie Chicks and Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, and newcomers such as The Band Perry and Lady Antebellum. Read the full list here.
Jan. 14: Chart Ups And Downs Revealed From Overseas The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 holds steady Down Under this week at No. 26 in its 254th week on the top 40 Australian country albums chart, while The Essential Dolly Parton dips seven to No. 38 in its 52nd week on the tally there, Sunday's charts revealed. In the U.K., I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, featuring the late singer's cover of Dolly's title track, falls another 13 places to No. 94 pop in its eighth week on the British top 100 pop albums chart while Houston's Ultimate Collection rises 23 to No. 65.
Jan. 12: 'Evening' Passes 53.000 Copies Sold It's been several months since I've seen a SoundScan sales report that divulged the updated figures for the Cracker Barrel-exclusive CD/DVD set An Evening With Dolly, a re-issue of her 2009 Dolly: Live From London release. A new list came to my attention Friday, which showed the set moved 224 copies nationwide last week, making it the 48th best-selling music DVD for those seven days (missing the 40-position Billboard published music DVD chart by just 79 units). Since release, the collection has sold 53,674 copies at Cracker Barrels.
Lots Of '9 To 5' Stories Today Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical got lots of attention around the world on Friday. Flecking Records reviewed the Glasgow stop on the show's U.K. tour here, while The York Press previewed its upcoming performance there with a piece here. Stateside, Tampa, Fla., area residents have two current productions to choose from: The Tampa Tribune's Hernando Today noted its local production in Hudson's Show Palace Dinner Theatre here, while Tampa Bay Weekly said here that it's at the City Theatre in St. Petersburg about an hour away. Also, The Tuscaloosa News reported on the local Actors Charitable Theatre performance here.
Different Whitney Title Makes Irish Chart Two Whitney Houston albums featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You" switched places this week on the Irish pop albums chart. I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston fell out of the top 100, down from No. 81, while The Ultimate Collection re-entered the top 100 at No. 81.
Jan. 11: 'Joyful Noise' Songs Fail To Get Oscar Nominations Neither of Dolly's eligible songs from the film Joyful Noise, "From Here To The Moon And Back" or "He's Everything," made the final five when Academy Award nominations were announced Thursday morning. Most of the songs touted by critics as those most likely to receive nominations, including Dolly's "Moon" ballad, were missing from the list. The two most-expected to be there, "Suddenly" from Les Miserables and Adele's theme from the Bond flick Skyfall, were included, but the other three were pretty much wild cards: I didn't see "Before My Time" from Chasing Ice on anyone's list near the top, and "Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from Ted and "Pi's Lullaby" from Life Of Pi tended to show up less frequently on most lists than Dolly's song did, and none of those three nominees made the Golden Globes' top five either. Dolly previously received two Oscar nominations for Best Song: "9 To 5" and "Travelin' Thru."
'Joyful Noise' Has Mixed Chart Results This Week Although it lost sales ground for the week, down 21 percent to 1,672 copies sold (122,850 cumulative total since release), the Jan. 19 Billboard charts showed Dolly's Joyful Noise soundtrack gaining a little more chart ground. The CD rises four to No. 44 independent label albums for a 19th week and re-enters the soundtrack albums chart at No. 14 for a 22nd week. It slides one to No. 16 Christian albums in its 38th week there, two to No. 5 gospel albums in its 52nd week there and three to No. 19 on the combined Christian and gospel albums chart in its 39th week there. The album's charted tracks on the digital gospel sales list all dipped: "From Here To The Moon And Back" by Dolly with Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan down six to No. 17 gospel digital songs for a 17th week, "Higher Medley" by Dolly, Queen Latifah and cast down three to No. 18 for a 17th week, "Man In The Mirror" by Keke Palmer down three to No. 20 for a 18th week and "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Palmer and Jordan off the 25-position list, down from No. 22 in its 10th week. Kenny Rogers & Dolly's Once Upon A Christmas is officially off the charts, since the holiday charts are no longer updated at this point in the new year. Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, featuring the late singer's version of Dolly's title track, gains 26 to No. 99 pop in its eighth week, 12 to No. 94 current pop albums and one to No. 19 R&B/hip hop albums. Overall, Taylor Swift's Red remains at No. 1 country and drops two to No. 3 pop with 69,000 copies sold in its 11th week, while Carrie Underwood's Blown Away gains one in its 36th week to return to No. 2 country and remains steady at No. 22 pop.
Latest On '9 To 5' In Indiana, North Carolina, Britain Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical will hit Indianapolis, Ind., next month thanks to the Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre, The Flyer Group reported Thursday here. Thanks to Solomon for alerting me that the summer stock at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, N.C., will take on the show June 7-15 (auditions Feb. 23). And The Liverpool Daily Post interviews the actress playing Judy in the U.K. touring production here.
Imagination Library Notes From N.C., Fla. Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program has launched in Macon County, N.C., The Macon County News reported here. In related news, Clearlight, the student newspaper at Clearwater High School in Florida, published a review of Dolly's new book Dream Morehere Thursday, noting several times that all proceeds from its sales will go to support the Library.
Lulu Promotes New CD With Dolly Track Dolly pal Lulu Romans chats with The Examinerhere about her new CD, At Last, which features a duet with Dolly on "I Will Always Love You." The album hits stores Tuesday.
Jan. 8: Chenoweth Tries Out 'I Will Always Love You'
Oh the things you'll see at a drag queen's party! Stumbled upon this video on YouTube that female impersonator Elaine Lancaster posted on Friday. Even though the image is sideways, there's nothing wrong with the sound as Broadway darling Kristen Chenoweth belts out a stellar rendition of Dolly's signature song, "I Will Always Love You." Chenoweth, a major Dolly fan who has been mentioned as her favored choice to play her if the musical story of her life ever makes it to Broadway, previously paid homage to Dolly by recording her song "Change" as well as tribute number, "What Would Dolly Do?" on her first country album, 2011's Some Lessons Learned. View the video in the media player above or by visiting YouTube here.
Dolly Talks To Chicago Paper About Book Another brief Dolly interview to promote her recent book Dream More appeared Monday in Chicago's Sun Times. Take a read here.
'9 To 5' Hits Tuscaloosa This Weekend Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical is heading to Alabama. AL.com reports that the show will play The Actor's Charitable Theatre in Tuscaloosa Jan. 11-14. Learn more here.
Jan. 7: Two Dolly Titles Gain Down Under The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 rises three places this week to No. 26 in its 253rd week on the top 40 Australian country albums chart, while The Essential Dolly Parton improves four to No. 31 in its 51st week Down Under, Sunday's charts showed. In Great Britain, I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, featuring her cover of Dolly's title track, drops another seven spots to No. 81 pop in its seventh week on the British albums chart while Houston's Ultimate Collection re-enters at No. 86.
Florida Celebrates '9 To 5: The Musical' The Show Palace Dinner Theatre's production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical in the Tampa Bay, Fla., area got rave reviews over the weekend by The Tampa Bay Times. Read more here. The show plays there through Feb. 24.
Jan. 5: Report: Dolly May Open Stampede In Destin Five years after Dolly "stampeded" out of Florida, she may be heading back, according to one report. The Destin Log reports that a large L-shaped collection of lots in the Florida Panhandle coastal city recently sold for $4.25 million to a company named World Choice Investments LLC, which is the same name as the partnership which the Dollywood Company uses to manage and operate its Dixie Stampede and Pirate's Voyage dinner theaters. The publication notes that the Realtor, city and county officials involved have met with the prospective developers and won't release any details but expect to announce "exciting news" in the "next few weeks." Read more here. Stampede's flagship operates in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., with other venues in Branson, Mo., and Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Branson show operates under the Stampede name, while the Myrtle Beach show rebranded as Pirate's Voyage in 2011. An Orlando, Fla., Stampede opened in 2003 and closed abruptly in January 2008.
Dolly CD Sales Updates Updated SoundScan numbers this week confirmed the sizeable increase that the HBO airing of Joyful Noise had on its soundtrack sales, and the sizeable drop that the end of the holidays had on sales of Dolly and Kenny Rogers' Once Upon A Christmas. For the most recent week, the film soundtrack increased sales 70 percent to 2,112 copies to shoot up from the 68th best-selling soundtrack CD to the 27th best-seller for the week, increasing its cumulative total since release to 121,178. The Christmas CD, on the other hand, saw a 73 percent decrease in sales to 2,043 copies, bringing its SoundScan total since 1991 to 838,334, although it has sold about 3 million units since its original release.
Folk 'Supergroup' Covers Dolly's 'Jolene' Another cover of Dolly's classic "Jolene" is heading to stores next week. "Folk supergroup" The Living Sisters are releasing a six-song EP of cover tunes as their second project together, including an a capella version of Dolly's most-covered composition. Get Run For Cover next Tuesday from Vanguard Records on CD format here, digital download album here (digital download of the single track only here) and vinyl album here.
British '9 To 5' Cast Member Offers Interview Check out an interview with Bonnie Langford, the former Doctor Who companion who is playing Roz in the British touring version of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical, courtesy The Liverpool Echohere. In related news, folks in the Manistee, Mich., area will want to know that the Manistee Civic Players will hold auditions Sunday and Monday for their production of the show, according to The Ludington Daily Newshere.
Irish Chart Update I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, featuring her cover of Dolly's title track, falls 30 places this week to No. 81 in its seventh week on the top 100 Irish pop albums chart.
Jan. 4: 'Christmas' Falls, 'Noise' Rises On Several Charts The first full week of sales following the first HBO airing of Dolly's most recent theatrical release sees the soundtrack shoot up on several charts (the previous week's charts only reflected one day of sales after its cable premiere). However, since holiday music sales tend to drop off on Christmas Eve (the first day of this chart week's sales), Dolly and Kenny Rogers' 1984 holiday opus drops off most of the charts for the year. In the Jan. 12 Billboard numbers, the
Joyful Noise soundtrack re-enters the independent label albums chart for an 18th week at No. 48 and the Christian albums chart at No. 15 for a 37th week. It gains a dozen digits to No. 3 in its 51st week on the gospel albums chart and shoots up a massive 55 places to No. 16 on the combined Christian and gospel albums chart to mark a 38th week there. "From Here To The Moon And Back," the Dolly-penned track she performs with with Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan and which is often touted as a possible Oscar nominee this year from the film, rises 12 spots to No. 11 gospel digital songs for a 16th week on that tally, while three other tracks from the CD re-enter that chart: "Higher Medley" by Dolly, Queen Latifah and cast at No. 15 for a 16th week, "Man In The Mirror" by Keke Palmer at No. 17 for a 17th week and "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Palmer and Jordan at No. 22 for a 10th week. Kenny & Dolly's Once Upon A Christmas falls off the 200-position pop albums chart, down from No. 187 in its 21st week; off the 25-position country catalog chart, down from No. 13 in its 83rd week; and off the 50-position pop catalog albums chart, down from No. 49 in its 16th week. It hangs on at the holiday albums list, gaining two to No. 46 in its 53rd week there. Dolly's "Hard Candy Christmas" dips four to No. 36 in its 18th week on the holiday digital songs chart. The late Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, featuring her cover of Dolly's title track, dips 26 to No. 125 pop in its seventh week, 21 to No. 106 current pop albums and five to No. 20 R&B/hip hop albums. Her Greatest Hits falls back off the R&B catalog albums chart, down from No. 22 the previous week. Overall, Taylor Swift's Red remains at No. 1 country and pop in its 10th week, while Jason Aldean's Night Train gains three to No. 2 country and slips two to No. 20 pop in its 11th week.
Dolly's Book Becomes Librarian's Pick Of The Week Dolly's new book Dream More is this week's book of the week selection by the public library serving West Salem, Wis., The Courier Life News reported by publishing the library's review of the tome here on Thursday.
'Hollywood' Reviewed, Probst Show Air Date Scheduled Also on Thursday, DVD Talk posted a review of the Dolly fan documentary Hollywood To Dollywood. Read it here. In addition, the film's stars tell me that their appearance on NBC's The Jeff Probst Show to promote the project has been scheduled for next Thursday – and don't forget they appear on The Hallmark Channel's Marie with Marie Osmond on Monday.
Sorry for the delay in reporting this, but back about four months ago, The American Chestnut Association released the studio recording of "O Chestnut Tree," the song Dolly wrote to honor her Uncle Bill Owens' work restoring the tree to the American forests. The tune, which she performs with Bill, is available as a free download from the organization's 
Lulu Romans' new CD,