March 13:
Dolly To Appear At Dollywood For Opening Weekend
Dollywood has apparently confirmed Dolly will be on park this weekend for its 2019 season opening. Season passholders' preview day is Friday and the public opening day is Saturday. The park's website has posted the weekend's show schedule, which notes Dolly will hold two weather-permitting park tour parades both running from Showstreet Palace Theater to Heartsong Theater at 4:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The Festival of Nations' headliner Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba's "Cuba Vibra!" will perform in DP's Celebrity Theater. Other acts include Drumstruck from South Africa in Showstreet Palace Theater (drums will be at each seat for interactive segments of the show), De Temps Antan from Quebec, Canada, at the Backporch Theater, GoGaucho Dup from Argentina at The Valley Theater, and Atahualpa from Ecuador at the Showstreet Gazebo. Park regulars performing during the festival include The Kingdom Heirs at The Pines Theater, Wings of America at the Wings of America Theater and Heartsong, The Movie at the Heartsong Theater. In addition, master chefs will prepare international dishes in a special cooking show. For the first weekend, it will feature Chef Pepin from Cuba at the Market Square Demonstration Stage Saturday and Sunday. Thanks, Cody!

D.C. Imagination Library Program Examined
Voice Of America News this week took a deep dive into Dolly's Imagination Library affiliate in the Washington, D.C., area. Learn of the successes they found in the program here.

Dolly Covers 'Big Issue' UK Paper
Thanks to Mark for alerting me that Dolly is the current cover story of the British street paper Big Issue

Redknapp Coming To London '9 To 5'
Dolly's London production of 9 To 5: The Musical announced Tuesday that originally-planned star Louise Redknapp, who will play Violet, will join the cast March 25 to June 29. She had to miss the first month of performances due to injuries sustained in a fall on her way to rehearsal. Read more from Broadway World here.

March 12:
'I Will Always Love You' Certified For 8 Million Units
Arista Records on Monday had the RIAA re-certify Whitney Houston's cover of Dolly's composition "I Will Always Love You" for four million digital downloads sold over the past 26 years, bringing its total certification since release to eight times platinum for sales in excess of 8 million units. The recording was last certified in 1993 for 4 million physical singles sold, after being originally certified immediately after release for 3 million units sold in 1992.

March 11:
'9 To 5' Political Use Enters Spotlight On Campaign Trail
The Associated Press this week brought Dolly into the political battlefield by centering a story on candidates and campaign music with Elizabeth Warren's use of her workers' anthem "9 To 5." The writer noted the Democrat's use of the song to bring her on stage for the announcement of her presidential run "seemed to sum up the spirit of a candidacy built on giving workers a fairer shake." Yet, it quoted Dolly's manager, Danny Nozell, as noting neither Dolly nor her team had approved any request to use the song for political purposes, as it is their policy to deny any such requests. The story noted he did not respond to a question of whether Dolly would take any further action to seek candidates cease using her music, as other artists have done over the years, and that the Warren campaign, which has continued to use the song on the campaign trail, likewise declined comment. The piece noted that rather than seeking specific permission to use individual songs, campaigns and the venues where they host events usually apply for and receive a blanket license for playing copyrighted music at rallies which allows them to play just about any song that has ever been recorded and released. Dolly has never stopped candidates from using her music in the past. In fact, the 2008 campaign saw both Democratic primary candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin use "9 To 5" as their entrance and exit music at several campaign stops that year, and Donald Trump had a band play it at one of his inaugural balls for a dance with the First Lady. Read the article here.

'Very Best' Still In Top 15 Down Under
The "gold series" re-issue of The Very Best Of Dolly Parton (Australian Tour Edition) slips one to No. 12 in its 390th chart week on the Australian country albums chart since its original 2007 release, it was revealed Sunday.

'Down From Dover' Actress Recalls Working With Dolly
Actress Bellamy Young, who will star in the "Down From Dover" episode of Dolly's Netflix Heartstrings anthology series, beamed about working with her for People this week here.

Australian Tribute Show Takes Place
A tribute to Dolly's music was held Down Under over the weekend. Check out coverage from The Sydney Morning Herald here.

'Dumplin'' Soundtrack Sales Pass 23K
Although Dolly's Dumplin' Original Motion Picture Soundtrack fell back off the American charts last week, it still sold 500 copies for the week, SoundScan data showed, pushing its cumulative sales total to 23,200 units in the U.S. over the past 13 weeks.

March 9:
'Dumplin'' One Of UK's Top 10 Country Albums Of Year
Leading up to the annual Country 2 Country fest in London this weekend, Britain's The Official Charts Company on Friday revealed the 10 best-selling and most-streamed country albums of the past 12 months in the U.K., with Dolly's Dumplin' Original Motion Picture Soundtrack coming in at No. 7 even though it has only been available for 14 out of the 52 weeks reviewed. On this week's charts released Friday, the album falls out of the top 10 for the first time since release, dipping nine places to No. 15 country albums in its 14th chart week and falling out of the top 50 soundtrack albums chart, down from No. 49. The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe by Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt holds slips one to No. 5 British country compilation albums chart in its 130th chart week. Also on the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) holds steady at No. 8, while her Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) loses two to No. 20, Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) dips two to No. 11 and The Essential Dolly Parton falls four to No. 19.

Dollywood Preps For Opening Weekend Next Week
We're now just a week away from the season grand opening of Dollywood and its annual Festival of Nations. The park opens for season passholders on Friday and then the general public on Saturday. While no announcement has been made as of press time about whether or not Dolly will be making her usual appearances throughout the park to celebrate the first weekend of the year it is open, a park spokesperson teased the possibility that Dolly "might" be there in an interview live with WVLT's Kyle Grainger Friday on Facebook. Watch it here.

Dolly Meet-And-Greet Sells For $21K
A Dolly package featuring four tickets to various attractions, seats at her 50th anniversary Grand Ole Opry celebration and a meet-and-greet sold for $21,000 at the annual Evening of Elegance fundraiser for the Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation, WVLT reported here Wednesday. The charity, for which she has served for many years as honorary chair, supports healthcare in her native Sevier County, Tenn., and is named after the Methodist missionary doctor and reverend who delivered her in 1946. She usually donates a prize package to the event every year, which often includes a meet-and-greet.

Gretchen Peters Salutes Dolly, Loretta
In observance of International Women's Day, artist Gretchen Peters recounted how she was inspired by Dolly and Loretta Lynn in a piece for Tidal. Read it here.

March 7:
Dolly Signs With Sony/ATV To Administer Songwriting Catalog
Dolly's vast song catalog of several thousand compositions has a new administrator, Sony/ATV Music Publishing announced on Wednesday, revealing they have signed a deal with her to represent her songwriting publishing rights for North America and any other territories not currently represented by other subpublishing arrangements with other administrators. Dolly has owned her own publishing since 1968, when she and her uncle Bill Owens created Owepar, half of which she gifted to Porter Wagoner early on during their duet partnership. When she severed ties with Porter in 1976, she created a new publishing company, Velvet Apple Music, into which her Owepar catalog eventually was added, but she has maintained personal management of the company for her North American rights since then. Now, management of the Velvet Apple catalog will be assigned to Sony/ATV, which will be responsible for licensing her songs for other artists to record as well as for other ventures such as commercials and films. This gives the company control over her entire career of compositions, as it had already owned the publishing rights for the few songs she and her uncle had written in 1962 for Tree Publishing (Sony acquired that publisher in 1989) and the few hundred songs she had written, some with her uncle and some solo, for Fred Foster's Combine Music Group when she was affiliated with his Monument Records label from 1965 through 1967 (as Sony acquired that publisher in 1990). The arrangement, which now also gives them control of her 1968-2019 catalog of songs plus any written in the future, consolidates her publishing and recording under one company, as Sony also owns her albums and singles recorded for Monument from 1965 to 1967, RCA from 1968 to 1986, and Columbia/CBS from 1987-1995, basically her entire career recordings for that 30-year period except for her Trio albums. (The label does not control the albums that followed from 1996 to 1998 on Decca/Rising Tide and 1999 to 2005 on Sugar Hill as well as her first few Dolly Records recordings, but Sony has been the partner co-releasing and distributing her four most recent Dolly Records projects since 2014.) In a statement, Dolly said: "I am very excited to be working with Sony/ATV. They know my catalog and they know me. Get ready, you're going to be hearing a lot more from me!" Sony/ATV chairman and CEO Martin Bandier added: "Dolly Parton is a true musical icon and we are unbelievably excited to get the chance to work with her again. Her importance, influence and legacy as a recording artist is recognized the world over, but more than anything she stands out as an exceptional songwriter with a peerless catalog of songs, which we are honored to represent." Sony/ATV was created in 1995 by the merger of Sony Music Publishing with Michael Jackson's ATV, which he had purchased in 1985 and included most of the Beatles' biggest hits written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Sony bought out the Jackson estate's 50 percent interest in 2016 to become the company's sole owner.

Dolly: Hopes Ohio Is Next For Statewide Library
North Carolina station WRAL on Wednesday shared a brief interview with Dolly from when she was on hand over the weekend in Raleigh to celebrate the statewide expansion of her Imagination Library program there and noted she hopes by this time next year Ohio will be the third state to have a statewide program. Watch the clip here.

CMT Celebrating International Women's Day With Dolly
CMT has announced why it is showing Dolly-centric programming on Friday of this week. As you may recall, it was first reported here a couple of weeks ago that they will be focusing on Dolly that day but that it wasn't known why. The network on Wednesday revealed that the programming choices are part of its special focus on female artists for Women's History Month and that they chose Dolly to represent women specifically for International Women's Day on Friday. As was previously reported here, the day will begin with a repeat of her Dolly & Friends: The Making Of A Soundtrack special on the recording of her Dumplin' Original Motion Picture Soundtrack at 8 a.m. Friday, with her guest spot on Reba being shown at 10 a.m. Then that evening her films Steel Magnolias and Joyful Noise air at 8 p.m. and 10:45 p.m., respectively (with repeats Saturday at 3 p.m. and noon, respectively). The channel will also feature music videos from female artists during its music video blocks during the day. Read more here.

March 6:
No '9 To 5' Noms At UK Olivier Awards
The Olivier Awards, the British equivalent of the Tony Awards, showed no love this week for Dolly's London production of 9 To 5: The Musical, currently running on the West End, the U.K. version of Broadway. The show had officially opened just a couple of days before the end of this year's eligibility period last month and was certified as one of 10 eligible new musicals for consideration for nominations (along with five musical revivals). However, when nominations were released on Tuesday there were no nods for lead actor and actress or supporting actor and actress in a musical, best new musical (only four of the season's 10 new musicals were nominated), choreography, costumes, sets, or achievement in music (similar to best score at the Tonys, although three of the Olivier's nominees were for musical scores and two were for original music used in non-musical plays). You may recall when Dolly's show originally opened on Broadway in 2009, it set a record for the most Drama Desk Awards nominations for any show in a single season with 15 (winning just one for best actress) but was nominated for only four Tonys: Best Original Score for Dolly as well as leading actress in a musical, featured actor in a musical and choreography (losing all four), with the cast famously wearing "We feel like bastards at the family reunion" t-shirts to Tony rehearsals in protest of the show's snub for Best Musical.

Spotify Examines Several Dollyisms
Spotify on Monday released a video of Dolly expounding on some of her famous "Dollyisms" on its Hot Country channel. Called "My Dolly State Of Mind," they promoted it as "priceless pearls of wisdom from the Queen of Country herself." Watch it here.

'Ultimate' Re-Enters U.S. Country Albums Chart
The 2003 compilation Ultimate Dolly Parton re-enters the 50-position country albums chart this week, Billboard revealed Tuesday, coming in at No. 44 for a 50th chart week on the March 9 tallies. Meanwhile, Dolly's Dumplin' Original Motion Picture Soundtrack falls back off the soundtracks albums chart and the folk/Americana albums chart, down from No. 16 and No. 21, respectively, in its seventh chart week.

Ronstadt Doc At Tribeca Film Fest Features Dolly
The Tribeca Film Festival has announced that a new documentary on Linda Ronstadt which features interviews with Trio partners Dolly and Emmylou Harris as well as Don Henley and Jackson Browne will premiere during the April 24-May 5 event in the lower Manhattan neighborhood. Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice will be followed with a performance by Sheryl Crow, Billboard reports here.

March 4:
North Carolina Celebrates Statewide Imagination Library

'Very Best' Gains On Chart Down Under
The "gold series" re-issue of The Very Best Of Dolly Parton (Australian Tour Edition) gains two to No. 11 in its 389th chart week on the Australian country albums chart since its original 2007 release, it was revealed Sunday.

March 2:
'Dumplin',' Trio Hold On In British Charts
In its 13th week on the charts across the pond, Dolly's Dumplin' Original Motion Picture Soundtrack inches down one to No. 6 on the British Country Albums chart and falls 25 places to No. 49 on the top 50 British Soundtrack Albums chart. The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe by Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt holds steady at No. 4 British country compilation albums chart in its 129th chart week. Also on the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) holds steady at No. 8, while her Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) dips two to No. 18, Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) holds steady at No. 9 and The Essential Dolly Parton gains three to No. 15.

Win Autographed Dolly Children's Book
The Dollywood Foundation on Friday announced a contest to provide one winner an autographed 50th anniversary edition of Imagination Library favorite The Very Hungry Caterpillar, released last fall with a special afterward by Dolly herself. The winner will receive one retail copy of the book signed by both Dolly and author/illustrator Eric Carle. Entries will be accepted here through 5 p.m. Eastern March 19 with the winner selected on or about March 20.

Dolly On SkyArts TV Show Next Week
British satellite television channel SkyArts has announced that Dolly will appear on the second series of Brian Johnson's A Life On The Road, where the ACDC member talks with other artists about their careers. The show airs at 9 p.m. next Friday, March 8. Check out a clip the network posted Friday on Facebook here.

March 1:
See Dolly At North Carolina Fundraiser This Saturday
Although the event and Dolly's participation were apparently announced locally in October, word just made the larger media world on Thursday for a gala featuring Dolly this weekend in North Carolina. According to WRAL, Dolly will participate in a presentation and perform during a gala at the Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh on Saturday to celebrate Smart Start's 25th anniversary and the organization expanding Dolly's Imagination Library early childhood literacy program statewide. Other performers include Bull City Syndicate and Imagine Circus. Tickets for the black-tie-optional gala, available here, are $125 each general admission including food and drink.

Miley Talks Dolly With Michelle Visage
Dolly goddaughter Miley Cyrus was this week's guest judge on the season premiere of Rupaul's Drag Race and chatted with co-host Michelle Visage about her life in the What's The Tee podcast, including about her relationship with her famous godmother. Check out a summary of the talk from Too Fab here and listen on iTunes here.

Steve Buckingham Tells Music Students About Dolly
Former longtime Dolly producer Steve Buckingham recently visited Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., to discuss Dolly's process in the studio and the impact of her music. A recap of his guest lecture in music professor Lydia Hamessley's class is available here.

Dolly Signs With New Publicist
Dolly this week officially signed with True Public Relations and its agent, Marcel Pariseau, after having him work with her for the past year on her PR, Music Row first reported here and Billboard confirmed here. On Friday, Pariseau will relocate from LA to Nashville, according to the reports.