May 31:
Happy 46th Anniversary, Dolly And Carl!
Forty-eight years ago, Dolly and Carl Dean met at the Wishy Washy Laundromat in Nashville and 46 years ago they wed in Ringgold, Ga. The couple is still together today. Their anniversary brought many well-wishes on Wednesday, including even from the news blog The Huffington Post here.

Choir Doing 'Light Of A Clear Blue Morning'
The Westminster Choir from Rider University in Princeton, N.J., will lead off its annual performance in the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C., with a choral arrangement of Dolly's classic "Light Of A Clear Blue Morning," according to The Charleston City Paper here. They will perform it June 1 and 8.

May 30:
Dolly: Let Them Eat Ice Cream :)

Bluegrass Memories For Dolly, Dollywood

Dolly Sings For 'The Bachelorette'
In somewhat related news, Dolly and her theme park featured prominently in Monday's episode of The Bachelorette on ABC. This season's star took one of her suitors to Dollywood for a date and Dolly herself popped in to serenade them with a song she wrote especially for the episode. Next, she had some "girl talk" with the show's bachelorette before performing "From Here To The Moon and Back." The pair of guests also enjoyed Wild Eagle, the carousel and a dinner. Dozens of recaps are on the Web Tuesday, including The Los Angeles Times here and USA Today here. If you missed the episode, it is available for streaming from ABC's website here.

'Joyful Noise' Falls From Top 10
The charts were a little delayed due to the Memorial Day holiday, but word came Tuesday that Dolly's film Joyful Noise last week dropped out of the top 10 for DVD sales. In its third week, the set fell seven slots to No. 12. The DVD has sold approximately 640,000 units in its first three weeks of release: about 400,000 in its first week when it debuted at No. 1, about 140,000 in its second week at No. 5 and about 100,000 in its third week when it dropped to No. 12. The movie, however, stayed in the top 10 for rentals, slipping three to No. 7 for the week, and fell out of the top 20 best-selling Blu-ray discs, down from No. 16 in its second week. Its first three weeks of DVD release have added about $10 million in gross sales to its previous $31 million in box office ticket sales.

Dolly's Library Wins NY Award, Expands In U.K.
Dolly's Imagination Library early childhood literacy program was honored earlier this month by Reach Out and Read of Greater New York as one of this year's Literacy Champion Award winners, Electronic Urban Report noted here this week. In related news, West Yorkshire, England, is getting its first affiliate of the program, which is heading to Canterbury, The Telegraph And Argus reported here.

More '9 To 5' Shows Around The Country
Productions of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical continue to pop up all over. The Malibu Times in California note that it's the Malibu High School's spring musical here. A little ways away, San Jose's production earned a positive review from The Mercury News here. And The Willows Theatre in Burnsville, N.C., has slated a staging June 30-July 14.

May 28:
Terminally Ill Fan Talks Of Meeting Dolly
Dolly herself never publicizes the fact that she hosts meetings each year with terminally ill children, primarily in partnership with the Make A Wish Foundation and similar organizations, and that the events usually include a few terminally ill adults who are fans as well. The Chronicle Journal in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, over the weekend profiled one local resident who was fortunate enough to receive one of the adult visits recently with Dolly at Dollywood. Read her Leesa Roleck's story here.

Australian Chart Updates For Houston CDs
The late Whitney Houston's Ultimate, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," drops nine places this week on the Australian pop catalog albums chart to come in at No. 21, while her Greatest Hits falls 14 spots to No. 50 on the list.

Another '9 To 5' Production In N.C.
Thanks to Solomon for alerting me to another local production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical, which hits Hickory, N.C., thanks to the Hickory Community Theatre Sept. 7-23.

May 26:
Sevierville Dolly Competition Selects Winners
The winners of the world's only annual singing competition to use solely songs composed by Dolly, the Mountain Soul Vocal Competition, took place last weekend, and organizers on Friday issued a press release announcing the winners. Sarah Clapp from Corryton, Tenn., won first place in the 13 age and up category with "The Seeker," while Emmy Wells of Spring Hill, Tenn., performed "Leave That Cowboy Alone" for the first place 12 and under category.  The contest happens at the Sevierville, Tenn., Bloomin' BBQ & Bluegrass Festival and is hosted by the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce. Winners receive a cash prize, Nashville recording session and guitar autographed by Dolly herself. The winners are pictured at left with their guitars at Sevierville's Dolly statue on the courthouse lawn.

Irish Pop Chart Updates On Houston
The late Whitney Houston's Ultimate Collection, which features her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," loses another six places to No. 21 on this week's Irish pop albums chart, it was revealed Friday.

'9 To 5' Heads To Canada
Folks in the Drayton, Ontario, area of Canada will want to head to the Huron Country Playhouse, where Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical will be produced July 25 through Aug. 11, The London Free Press reported here.

More Dolly Pics Available
The first reader-submitted photos have been posted to the section of the site dedicated to Dolly's recent Dollywood Homecoming appearance thanks to uberfan David Schmidli and his family. Check them out here. If you'd like to submit your shots for possible publication, e-mail them here!

May 25:
'Evening' Holds On In Video Charts
The Cracker Barrel-exclusive re-issue of the DVD/CD set Dolly: Live From London under the title An Evening With . . . Dolly remains at No. 3 on the June 2 Billboard music video DVD chart in its seventh week, it was announced Thursday. Songs from her film Joyful Noise remain on the sacred music tallies, with "Man In The Mirror" by Keke Palmer slipping one to No. 8 gospel digital songs for an eighth week and losing four to No. 49 Christian digital songs in its fifth week there, while falling off the gospel/Christian digital songs list, down from No. 50 in its fourth week; "Higher Medley" by Dolly, Queen Latifah and cast inches down one to No. 9 in its eighth week on gospel digital songs, "Here To The Moon And Back" by Dolly, Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan slides four to No. 15 for a seventh week on gospel digital songs, "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Palmer and Jordan holds steady at No. 12 for a seventh week on gospel digital songs and Latifah's "Fix Me Jesus" falls back off gospel digital songs, down from No. 25 for a fourth week. The Joyful Noise Soundtrack loses 20 places to No. 132 pop albums in its ninth week, 11 spots to No. 113 current pop albums for an 11th week, five to No. 21 independent label albums chart for a 13th week and one to No. 9 soundtracks for a 14th week. The collection gains three to No. 5 Christian albums in its 18th week there, one to No. 3 gospel albums in its 19th week there and four to No. 7 Christian and gospel albums in its 18th week there. The late Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," sold just over 7,500 copies for the week to fall 19 places to No. 52 pop but gain one to No. 2 pop catalog albums and No. 1 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. The Bodyguard soundtrack, which also features the song, falls off the top 200 pop albums chart, down from No. 182, and off the pop catalog albums tally, down from No. 33. The set falls seven to No. 19 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums and two to No. 12 soundtracks. In Canada, her Essential is No. 15 R&B and The Bodyguard is No. 24 R&B. The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, with Dolly on three songs, dips one on the bluegrass albums list to No. 13 for a 57th chart week. Overall, Carrie Underwood's Blown Away stays at No. 1 country but drops two to No. 3 pop with 54,000 copies sold in its third week, while Lionel Richie's Tuskegee remains at No. 2 country and loses six to No. 9 pop with 39,000 units moved in its eighth week.

More Dollywood Photos Posted
The first correspondent photos from Dolly's Homecoming appearances at Dollywood earlier this month have been added to that section of the website here, these coming from Harrell Gabehart.

Chasing Rainbows Winner Announced
Joe Corsello, a 52-year-veteran art teacher who currently works at the Immaculate Conception School in Morris, Ill., has been selected as this year's Dolly Parton Chasing Rainbows Award winner, his local newspaper, The Morris Daily Herald, announced here Thursday. The award goes annually to a former state Teacher of the Year who has overcome adversity to positively impact students' lives. Dolly will present the award to him next month at Dollywood.

Wild Eagle Up For Travel Channel Award
Dollywood's Wild Eagle wing coaster is up against three other twisty rides that take you upside down in The Travel Channel's most insane "Wrong Way Up" coasters competition. The winner will be announced July 22. Competing against the new ride at Dolly's park are Vortex at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio; Hydra the Revenge at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pa.; and Kraken at Sea World in Orlando, Fla. Cast your vote in the contest here.

Imagination Library Expands In Maryland
Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program in expanding in Maryland. Go Beach Comber reported here Thursday that the United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore will launch the program Tuesday in Salisbury to cover a four-county region there.

'IWALY' Used For Copyrights 101 Lesson
Thanks to Don for alerting me that TuneCore is using Dolly and her song "I Will Always Love You" as their real-world example of how copyrights work in relation to songs and recorded music. Watch the video from Vimeo here.

May 24:
'Coat' Inducted Into National Recording Registry
Dolly's personal favorite composition of her career, "Coat Of Many Colors," has been recognized by the U.S. Library of Congress as one of 25 selections added in 2011 to the National Recording Registry, it was announced Wednesday. Over the past decade, the Registry has accepted 350 recordings that are deemed to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" to America's history. Other notables inducted in the latest group included one of Dolly's heroes, Patsy Montana, with her 1935 track "I Want To Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart," in addition to what is considered one of the first rap songs, "Rapper's Delight" by Sugarhill Gang in 1979, the iconic "Purple Rain" by Prince, the recently-deceased Donna Summer's break-out hit "I Feel Love" from 1975 and the classic soundtrack of A Charlie Brown Christmas. "America's sound heritage is an important part of the nation's history and culture and this year's selections reflect the diversity and creativity of the American experience," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington in a press release. "These songs, words and natural sounds must be preserved for future generations." About Dolly's entry, the Library wrote: "Dolly Parton's autobiographical song, 'Coat of Many Colors,' affectionately recounts an impoverished childhood in the hills of Tennessee that was made rich by the love of her family. The song was instrumental in establishing Parton's credibility as a songwriter. Her voice uplifts the song with emotion and tender remembrances of her close-knit musical family. Parton has called "Coat of Many Colors" the favorite of her compositions because of the attitude and philosophy it reflects. Parton's prolific songwriting career has embraced many different musical styles, including pop, jazz and bluegrass, as well as country. Dolly Parton was voted the Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the year for 1975 and 1976, and the its Entertainer of the Year in 1978. She also was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999." The Library of Congress previously designated Dolly herself a Living Legend in 2004. See the full list of the 2011 honorees here.

Audio Files From Dollywood Posted
Your Dollymania audio files from Dolly's recent Dollywood Homecoming appearances have been posted to that part of the website here.

'Bachelorette' Details, Quote Released
Dolly's appearance on ABC's The Bachelorette is coming up on Monday night, and this week Dollywood, where it was taped March 22, issued a press release about the episode. In the release, Dolly said: "Being a part of The Bachelorette at Dollywood and meeting Emily and her date was so fun. I'm just a big ole romantic anyway so we had the best time, and I can't wait to see how our Dollywood episode turns out!" The release, however, misidentifies one of the two songs she performs on the show, calling "From Here To The Moon And Back" from Joyful Noise as "Forever To The Moon And Back." In addition, read a preview story on the show from Stitch Kingdom here.

TV Station Reports On Uncle Bill
Knoxville station WBIR on Wednesday posted a profile on Dolly's Uncle Bill Owens, including appearances from Dolly herself. Watch it here.

May 22:
Interview Photos Posted From Dollywood
The final Dollywood Homecoming photos of Dolly by your webmaster have been added to that section of the website here, focusing on her outside interviews. However, that's not the end of our coverage. Audio files, pictures from correspondents for the site and images submitted by readers are still to come!

Meet-And-Greet Auction Concludes Wednesday
The next charity auction to get to meet Dolly is nearing its end. As of press time Monday night, bidding stood at $4,250 and 11 bids, with the next one available for submission $4,500. The Charity Buzz auction, to benefit the New York City affiliate of her Imagination Library literacy program, ends at 3 p.m. Eastern Wednesday. Check it out here!

Glastonbury Rumors Start Anew
It seems every year this rumor comes out, and so far it's been false every time, but word is again circulating on music blogs that Dolly will be one of the three headliners for this year's huge Glastonbury music festival in England, The Times Live in South Africa reported here Monday in a story noting Adele turned down an invitation to appear in this year's show. The festival is unique in that usually tickets go on sale and sell out before the headliners are announced each year. Its founder has repeatedly said getting Dolly to play it is one of his ultimate goals.

'Evening' Sales Figures Misreported
Coverage of Dolly's gold DVD award for her Cracker Barrel release An Evening With . . . Dolly continued this week, but some media outlets were incorrectly reporting the number of copies sold. The error could have come from the fact that the number of copies sold and the detail that it was certified as a DVD instead of a CD were missing from the press release that the restaurant issued on Friday heralding the achievement. As a result, both The Tennessean here and Knoxville television station WBIR here incorrectly stated it had sold 500,000 copies, the level for a gold CD, instead of that it had shipped 50,000 copies to stores nationwide, the minimum level for a gold DVD award. It has actually sold only about 38,000, with the balance of the total awaiting purchasers in stores since the awards are given for units shipped regardless of whether or not they have sold yet. If sales continue at the same pace they have been the past few weeks, the release should pass the actual 50,000-unit sales mark sometime around June 1.

'9 To 5' Makes Sacha Baron Cohen Movie
Thanks to several readers who wrote in over the past few days to alert me that they heard Dolly's "9 To 5" playing in Arabic during a scene in the film The Dictator, currently in cinemas. The cover version by Michelle J. Nasser appears on the film soundtrack and is available for downloading here.

More On Robin Gibb-Dolly Connection
News of the passing of Bee Gees member Robin Gibb has brought many mentions of Dolly, due to his co-writing her massive Kenny Rogers duet "Islands In The Stream" with his two brothers, and at least one article used Dolly to illustrate the story, with The Asheville Citizen-Times choosing a photo of Dolly being kissed on each check by a brother Gibb (Robin and Maurice) during an appearance on Good Morning America in 1984. See it here.

Knoxville Paper Talks Of Dolly's Mom, Census
The release of the 1940 Census gave the Knoxville News Sentinel an opportunity to look at the area's history, including some famous names contained in the report. A story on Monday focused on Dolly's mother, who had just had her first child and was living temporarily with her parents at the time. Read more here.

British, Aussie Chart Updates
The late Whitney Houston's Ultimate, featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," this week holds steady at No. 12 Australian pop catalog albums chart, while her Greatest Hits loses two to No. 36 on that same tally. Also overseas, The Little Willies' For The Good Times, with Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," falls off the 20-position U.K. country albums chart, down from No. 16 in its 18th week.

May 21:
More Dollywood Pictures, Interviews Available

In Memoriam: Robin Gibb
Another pop icon with a strong connection to Dolly has died. Bee Gees member Robin Gibb on Sunday lost a lengthy battle with cancer at the age of 62, it was announced. The trio of Robin with his twin brother Maurice, who passed away in 2003, and older brother Barry wrote the biggest hit of Dolly's career, "Islands In the Stream." The single biggest-selling song of 1983 nationwide, the duet with Kenny Rogers sold more than 2 million copies in the U.S. alone in just three months, hitting No. 1 on the U.S. country and pop charts for two weeks each and adult contemporary chart for four weeks. To this day, it remains Dolly's biggest-selling song and one of the biggest-selling country singles of all time. The song also went 10-times platinum in Canada for a Diamond certification after spending a record-breaking nine weeks at No. 1 on that nation's pop charts, silver in Great Britain after reaching No. 7 pop and gold in New Zealand.

May 19:
Dolly 'Excited' By Gold DVD Award
Dolly has issued a statement responding to her latest gold certification, this one for her CD/DVD set An Evening With . . . Dolly. "I'm thrilled that so many fans are listening to my songs and taking a look behind-the-scenes of my European tour," she said in a press release that Cracker Barrel issued on Friday. "I had a wonderful time performing in London and I think the audience did too. It's exciting to be able to share my experiences with Cracker Barrel fans. And I have to tell you, I'm even more excited that An Evening With...Dolly earned the first Gold in the Cracker Barrel exclusive music program. That's just icing on the cake." As Dollymania.net on Monday night was the first anywhere to report, the release was certified May 11 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping to Cracker Barrel stores 50,000 copies of the collection, the minimum number for a DVD to qualify for the award. The press release noted the honor was the first gold award for the restaurant's music division and the first American gold award for Dolly Records, which had previously received a gold DVD certification in Australia for selling 7,500 copies of Dolly: Live From London, the set which was re-issued in Cracker Barrel under the title An Evening With . . . Dolly. The press release also stated Dolly Records had received a gold record in the U.K., but there have been no announcements of any gold Dolly Records releases in Great Britain, so that statement could be in error. The press release also claimed the set was certified just four weeks after its April 2 release, but the RIAA dated the certification May 11, which is just a couple of days shy of six weeks after its release. In related news, SoundScan data show the CD/DVD collection sold another 4,494 copies nationwide through Sunday, a 1 percent increase from the previous week, bringing its total sold in its first six weeks of release to 38,698.

More Dollywood Shots Posted To Site
The next images of Dolly at her Dollywood Homecoming last weekend are now available in that section of the site here. More to come!

Irish Chart Update On Houston CD
Ultimate Collection by the late Whitney Houston, including her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," falls five spots to No. 15 on this week's Irish pop albums chart, it was revealed Friday.

May 18:
In Memoriam : Donna Summer

'Evening' Stays On Chart, 'Noise' Rises
An Evening With . . . Dolly, the Cracker Barrel-exclusive re-issue of the DVD/CD set Dolly: Live From London, holds steady for a second week at No. 3 on the Billboard music video DVD chart in its sixth week, it was announced Thursday. While Adele manages to recapture the No. 1 spot, George Harrison falls to No. 2, the position Dolly held for the first four weeks of her collection's release. Elsewhere on the May 26 numbers, Dolly's film Joyful Noise continues to rebound, with "Man In The Mirror" by Keke Palmer rising three to No. 7 gospel digital songs for a seventh week and re-entering the Christian digital songs at No. 45 for a fourth week and gospel/Christian digital songs at No. 50 for a fourth week, "Higher Medley" by Dolly, Queen Latifah and cast gaining four to No. 8 in its seventh week on gospel digital songs, "Here To The Moon And Back" by Dolly, Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan gaining two to No. 11 for a sixth week on gospel digital songs, "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Palmer and Jordan inching up four to No. 12 for a sixth week on gospel digital songs and Latifah's "Fix Me Jesus" re-entering gospel digital songs at No. 25 for a fourth week. The Joyful Noise Soundtrack gains 37 to No. 112 pop albums for an eighth week, 18 to No. 102 current pop albums for a 10th week and six to No. 16 independent label albums chart for a 12th week, holding steady at No. 8 soundtracks for a 13th week. The collection dips two to No. 8 Christian albums in its 17th week there, one to No. 4 gospel albums in its 18th week there and three to No. 11 Christian and gospel albums in its 17th week there. The late Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," sold just under 12,000 copies for the week to rise eight spots to No. 33 pop and remain steady at No. 3 pop catalog albums and No. 2 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. The Bodyguard soundtrack, which also features the song, falls 26 to No. 182 pop, loses nine to No. 33 pop catalog albums, gains one to No. 12 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums and remains steady at No. 10 soundtracks. In Canada, her Essential is No. 94 pop and No. 9 R&B, while The Bodyguard is No. 13 R&B. The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, with Dolly on three songs, re-enters the 15-position bluegrass albums list at No. 12 for a 56th chart week, while The Little Willies' For The Good Times, with Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," falls back off the 75-position country albums chart, down from No. 75 in its 12th chart week. Overall, Carrie Underwood's Blown Away stays at No. 1 country and pop with 120,000 copies sold in its second week, while Lionel Richie's Tuskegee remains at No. 2 country and gains three to No. 3 pop with 71,000 units moved in its seventh week.

Dollywood Weekend Coverage Continues
Yet more Dolly Homecoming shots from Dollywood have been added to that section of the site in your continuing official Dollymania.net coverage. See them here!

'Hollywood To Dollywood' Release Is Back On
Its release was slightly delayed due to some last-minute contract details that had to be worked out, but everything is now finalized with the fan documentary Hollywood To Dollywood, I'm told. The film follows twin brothers Larry and Gary Lane on a cross-country journey to get a script in Dolly's hands with cameos by actors Leslie Jordan, Chad Allen, Beth Grant and Ann Walker plus Oscar-winning writer Dustin Lance Black (and even your own webmaster). The picture, which includes several Dolly recordings including two that have never before been commercially available, has been shown at dozens of film festivals and won more than 20 awards over the past year. The new DVD release date is June 1, and all pre-orders will receive a free film poster with their order. In addition, 10 percent of each order is donated to Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program. Get your copy here!

Pirates Voyage Holiday Details Emerge
Dolly had announced at her Dixie Stampede Pigeon Forge 25th anniversary appearance last week that her Myrtle Beach, S.C., Pirates Voyage dinner theatre would be adding a holiday show this year, and the details of the production were released Thursday. About the $1.5 million show, Dolly said in a press release: "Christmas has always been a special time for me and my family, and our Christmas shows at Dixie Stampede have been a Christmas tradition for families in Myrtle Beach. I wanted to make sure we captured the best of what you remember from our Dixie Christmas show and then spiced it up with a little pirate adventure! I absolutely love it, and I can't wait for this Christmas in Myrtle Beach!" The special holiday show, running November through early January, will feature Captain Scrooge joining the Crimson and Emerald pirate captains as they take on A Christmas Carol, complete with the Spirit of Christmas taking them to Christmas past, Christmas present and Christmas future. Christmas toys come to life and perform acrobatics overhead, while a Nativity with wise men and live animals that seem to walk across the lagoon convinces Scrooge to mend his ways and let all of the pirates compete for a Christmas treasure.

Another '9 To 5' Heads To N.C.
Another local theatre company is taking on Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical. WECT reports that Thalian Association in Wilmington, N.C., will open its new season with the production starting Sept. 27. Learn more here.

May 17:
Dollywood Coverage From The Weekend Continues

'Noise' Still In Top 5 DVDs
Dolly's latest film remained in the top five for last week's home video sales, it was announced Wednesday. The previous week's No. 1 debut, Joyful Noise slipped four spots to No. 5 in its second week on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart, The Hollywood Reporter reported here. New releases The Vow and Underworld: Awakening debuted at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, while Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Thor came in at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.

May 16:
Dollywood Homecoming Pictures Begin
The first gallery of images from Dolly's weekend Homecoming appearances at Dollywood has been posted in your official Dollymania.net continuing coverage. Check it out here.

Dolly's 'Bachelorette' Airs May 28
The air date for Dolly's episode of The Bachelorette has been revealed. Knoxville News Sentinel columnist Terry Morrow announced it will be seen on ABC May 28. See what Dolly had to say about her guest appearance on the program in his column here.

Tenn. First Lady Plugs Library
Tennessee First Lady Crissy Haslam is out and about promoting Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program. Check out a story about her appearance in Jackson, Tenn., from The Jackson Sun here.

Nephew's Roadside Fight Makes News
Dolly's nephew and head of security, Bryan Seaver, was involved in a roadside altercation two months ago on I-40 west of Knoxville that made the news this week. The Knoxville News Sentinel reported on the incident here. The incident remains under investigation.

May 15:
Cracker Barrell DVD Certified Gold
An Evening With . . . Dolly has shipped 50,000 units to Cracker Barrel stores nationwide for sale, resulting in its certification as a gold longform video on May 11, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced on Monday. The DVD/CD set, a re-issue of her original 2008 Dolly: Live From London collection, had sold 34,204 copies as of its fifth week of release, and as of today it has likely sold about 40,000 copies, meaning about 10,000 unsold copies are waiting for purchasers at the chain's 612 stores, as gold and platinum awards are for units shipped regardless of whether or not they have sold. It marks Dolly's 27th gold or platinum award from the RIAA but her first ever video award for U.S. sales and her first RIAA award since a gold digital sales certification of her duet "When I Get Where I'm Going" with Brad Paisley in 2006.

Dolly Appearance Video Posted

ABC Teases Dolly's 'Bachelorette' Appearance

May 14:
Dolly Wraps Up Latest Dollywood Stop
Dolly continued her Homecoming appearances at Dollywood on Saturday, popping into her Kinfolks show and the James Rogers show, singing "Red White And Bluegrass" at both. She also toured the park again on Saturday afternoon. Look for continuing coverage here throughout the next week with photo galleries, audio files and a video report all coming soon! Photo at left from Dolly's Saturday Kinfolks appearance is © copyright 2012 T. Duane Gordon/www.dollymania.net. May not be reproduced without prior written consent. Click on the thumbnail for a larger view. More to come!

Overseas Chart Updates
The late Whitney Houston's Essential, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," this week drops off the 50-position Australian pop albums chart, down from No. 44 last week. Also Down Under, her Ultimate loses three to No. 12 catalog albums and Greatest Hits falls 14 to No. 34 on that same tally. Also overseas, The Little Willies' For The Good Times, featuring Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," dips four to No. 16 country in its 18th week on the U.K. albums charts.

Chenoweth Channels Dolly In Concert
Thanks to Manuel for alerting me to some Dolly connections in Kristin Chenoweth's current concert tour. He attended her Berkley, Calif., show and says during her Dolly tribute number "What Would Dolly Do?" she stops mid-song to consult with a pre-recorded Dolly on screen discussing what she should do about the guy in the song, followed by her back-up singers holding up Dolly cut-out masks over their faces during the chorus. Then at the concert's end, she came back on stage for an encore of "I Will Always Love You" accompanied only by a guitar in an arrangement very similar to Dolly's 1974 original version.

May 12:
Dolly Homecoming Comes To Dollywood
Dolly made her annual Homecoming appearance at Dollywood on Friday to kick off the annual tourism season in Pigeon Forge and to recognize American armed forces in advance of Memorial Day. Her first appearance, featuring a performance of "Color Me America," came in the Kingdom Heirs show, where she brought on stage former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch, who now serves as the Imagination Library spokesperson for the state of West Virginia. Next, she was seen under a tent outside of her Chasing Rainbows Museum where she took the unusual step of holding her local television interviews outside instead of indoors, as fans watched four back-to-back interviews. Then she popped in at the Dreamland Drive-In show for a performance of "Red White and Bluegrass" before a park tour. The day concluded with her annual parade through Pigeon Forge. She returns to the park on Saturday for show appearances and a scheduled park tour at 4 p.m. Check out coverage from WCVB here, Volunteer TV here and WLOS here. In addition, Sevier County News reports here that the parade was filmed for Operation Pigeon Forge: A Family's Story, a Great American Country (GAC) program to air this summer following one family as a member ships out for overseas duty. Photo at left from Dolly's Friday interviews is © copyright 2012 T. Duane Gordon/www.dollymania.net. May not be reproduced without prior written consent. Click on the thumbnail for a larger view. More to come!

'Evening' Sales Another 4,500 Copies
Dolly's An Evening With . . . Dolly sold another 4,446 units at Cracker Barrels last week, a 13 percent drop from the previous week's sales, bringing its cumulative total for the five weeks since its release to 34,204. The week's No. 1 music video DVD from George Harrison moved nearly 22,000 copies, while Adele lost 3 percent for a No. 2 finish with about 10,000 units and Whitney Houston lost 5 percent at No. 4 with about 2,100 copies sold.

Irish Chart Update
Whitney Houston's Ultimate Collection, featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," rises four places to No. 13 on the Irish pop albums chart, it was announced Friday.

May 11:
Dolly Returns To Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
Dolly on Thursday celebrated the 25th anniversary of her Dixie Stampede dinner theatre chain's flagship restaurant in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., appearing during the venue's pre-show entertainment portion of its first performance of the evening. She received flowers and a plaque from the mayor and city manager as well as spoke about the venue's birthday and sang "Red, White, and Bluegrass" for the fans present. The appearance was supposed to be a surprise, and most media outlets kept the secret, but Knoxville Volunteer TV on Thursday morning let the cat out of the bag with a report here, although I understand the show had already been sold out for a couple of weeks. She will be at Dollywood on Friday and Saturday for various other surprise appearances in addition to scheduled park tours at 4 p.m. each day and her annual Pigeon Forge parade down the Parkway at 6 p.m. Friday. WBIR reports here they'll have her on Live at Five at Four for an interview. Then on Saturday night, Knoxville gay bar Club XYZ (1215 North Central) on Saturday night kicks off its annual unofficial Dolly party, Night of 1,000 Dollys, which is not affiliated with Dolly or the park in any way. A drag cast performs at 11:30 p.m., with the Dolly look-a-like contest at about midnight. Photo at left from Dolly's Thursday night appearance is © copyright 2012 T. Duane Gordon/www.dollymania.net. May not be reproduced without prior written consent. Click on the thumbnail for a larger view. More to come!

'Evening' Slips To No. 3
In its fifth chart week, the Cracker Barrel exclusive CD/DVD set An Evening With . . . Dolly, a re-issue of her Dolly: Live From London set, slips from the No. 2 spot it has held since its release. The fall was due to the George Harrison DVD Living In A Material World landing at No. 1, which pushed longtime chart-topper Adele to No. 2 and Dolly to No. 3. Elsewhere on the Billboard May 19 charts, renewed attention to Dolly's film Joyful Noise thanks to its DVD release prompted four songs from the movie to re-enter the gospel digital songs sales chart: "Man In The Mirror" by Keke Palmer at No. 10 for a sixth week, "Higher Medley" by Dolly, Queen Latifah and cast at No. 12 for a sixth week, "Here To The Moon And Back" by Dolly, Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan at No. 13 for a fifth week and "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Palmer and Jordan at No. 16 for a fifth week. The Joyful Noise Soundtrack re-enters at No. 149 of the top 200 pop albums chart for a seventh week, No. 120 current pop albums for a ninth week, No. 22 of the independent label albums chart for an 11th week and No. 8 soundtracks for a 12th week. The collection shoots up 42 spots to No. 6 Christian albums in its 16th week there, 18 places to No. 3 gospel albums in its 17th week there and 58 digits to No. 8 Christian and gospel albums in its 16th week there. The late Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," sold just under 11,000 copies for the week, which dropped it 13 to No. 41 pop, two to No. 3 pop catalog albums and one to No. 2 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. The Bodyguard soundtrack, which also includes the song, loses 47 to No. 156 pop, 18 to No. 24 pop catalog albums, seven to No. 13 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums and four to No. 10 soundtracks. The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, with Dolly on three tracks, falls back off the 15-position bluegrass albums list, down from No. 12 in its 55th chart week. The Little Willies' For The Good Times, featuring Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," re-enters the 75-position country albums chart at No. 75 to garner a 12th chart week. Overall, Carrie Underwood's Blown Away debuts at No. 1 country and pop, while Lionel Richie's Tuskegee slips one to No. 2 country and three to No. 6 pop in its sixth week.

May 10:
'Joyful Noise' Debuts At No. 1
Dolly was at the top of last week's home video sales, it was revealed Wednesday. Her film Joyful Noise debuted at No. 1 on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart, The Hollywood Reporter reported here, selling more DVDs and Blu-ray Discs combined than any other title in the past week. The week's other new releases, New Year's Eve and Haywire, debuted at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively. Dolly's flick with Queen Latifah came in at No. 2 on the Blu-ray only chart, since just 23 percent of its first-week sales were on Blu-Ray compared to nearly 50 percent of that chart's No. 1 Haywire's and 19 percent of its No. 3 New Year's Eve's. The report did not disclose how many copies of the film were sold in its first week. In related news, a couple more reviews of the film came out Wednesday. Isthmus gave it a "C" here, repeating the sentiment I've seen in a couple of other reviews that it is made up of two movies: one good (the music sequences) and one bad (the plot and script). Likewise, Hollywood Chicago offered a similar take on it here.

Fla. High School Readies '9 To 5'
Another high school is doing Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical. Tampa Bay Online reports here on Riverview High School in Riverview, Fla., performing it May 18-20 and 24-26.

Off To Dollywood!
Your webmaster is about to head off to the true happiest place on earth: Dollywood! Dolly will be making "surprise" appearances around the park on Friday and Saturday as well as park tours at 4 p.m. each day, weather permitting. In addition, her 27th annual Homecoming Parade through Pigeon Forge takes place at 6 p.m. Friday. The parade starts at traffic light No. 6 and ends at traffic light No. 3. She'll also make a surprise appearance somewhere in Pigeon Forge but not on the park grounds Thursday night, teased Terry Morrow of The Knoxville News Sentinel here.Watch for complete coverage of that appearance and others here on Dollymania.net!

May 9:
Watch Dolly's Lifetime Interview

May 8:
'Joyful Noise' Blu-ray Contest Winners Announced
Congratulations to the winners of Warner Brothers' contest with Dollymania.net to give away five copies of the Blu-ray and DVD Combo Pack with UltraViolet Digital Copy of Dolly's film Joyful Noise! The winners are Dan Krolow of Wittenberg, Wisc.; Brian Matthews of Endicott, N.Y.; Dorothy Patterson of Hiawassee, Ga.; Ruth Bryan of Liberty Township, Ohio; and Justin Frazier of Gray, Tenn. Thanks to Warner Brothers for providing the prizes. They will be shipped to each of the winners shortly. If you don't have your copy of the movie yet, get it here! Also, check out another review, this time from Blog Critics.org here.

Remember Dolly On Lifetime Tuesday
Don't forget to watch Dolly Tuesday morning on Lifetime's 7 a.m. Eastern morning show, The Balancing Act, featuring perhaps her final spot to air from the An Evening With . . . Dolly Cracker Barrel interviews she conducted last month.

May 7:
'Evening' Just Below 30K In Sales
An Evening With . . . Dolly, the Cracker Barrel-exclusive CD/DVD re-issue of Dolly: Live From London, sold 5,146 copies the previous week to retain its No. 2 position on last week's music video DVD chart, the sales totals revealed. That was a 31 percent drop from the week before and brings its four-week total sales to 29,738.

Paper: Dolly's UT Commencement Ranks High
With college graduations coming up over the next few weeks, The Washington Post compiled excerpts from what it considered the eight funniest commencement speeches of all time over the weekend and included Dolly's 2009 address to the University of Tennessee. Read more here.

Overseas Chart Updates
Whitney Houston's Essential, featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," appeared about to drop off the 50-position Australian pop albums chart, but the collection gains two this week to No. 44. Also Down Under, two other collections with the song remain on the catalog albums tally: Ultimate slips one to No. 9 and Greatest Hits rises two to No. 19. Also overseas, The Little Willies' For The Good Times, with Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," holds steady at No. 12 country in its 17th week on the U.K. albums charts.

May 5:
Get Your 'Joyful' Contest Entries Submitted
You still have a few days to get your entries in for the Dollymania.net contest with Warner Brothers to give five lucky winners free copies of the Blu-ray and DVD Combo Pack with UltraViolet Digital Copy of Dolly's film Joyful Noise. Entries are limited to one per e-mail address, but it's available for U.S. addresses only and no P.O. boxes. The entry deadline is Sunday night. Enter here. In related news, Monsters & Critics gave the DVD release three out of five stars here, and Seattle Post Intelligencer offered two-and-a-half stars here. Both publications praised Dolly's chemistry with co-star Queen Latifah and the music, but they said the remainder of the film is lackluster.

Irish Chart Update
Whitney Houston's Ultimate Collection, which includes her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," rises three places to No. 17 on the Irish pop albums chart, it was announced Friday.

May 4:
'Evening' Remains At No. 2
Dolly's Cracker Barrel-exclusive An Evening With . . . Dolly spends its fourth consecutive week at No. 2 on the Billboard music video DVD chart, it was revealed in the May 12 numbers released Thursday. Elsewhere on the charts, the Joyful Noise Soundtrack with Dolly rises three spots to No. 21 gospel albums in its 16th chart week and re-enters the 50-position Christian albums list at No. 49 and 75-position Christian and gospel albums tally at No. 66 in its 15th week on both. Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," sold another 14,500 copies to rise two to No. 28 pop and one to No. 1 pop catalog albums and No. 1 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. The Bodyguard soundtrack, also featuring the song, gains seven to No. 109 pop and 10 to No. 6 pop catalog albums, holding steady at No. 6 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums and No. 6 soundtracks. The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, featuring Dolly on three tracks, re-enters the 15-position bluegrass albums list at No. 12 in its 55th chart week. Overall, Lionel Richie's Tuskegee remains at No. 1 country and dips two to No. 3 pop in its fifth week with 8,000 copies sold, while Lee Brice's Hard 2 Love debuts at No. 2 country and No. 5 pop with 46,000 units moved in its first week.

Another 'Joyful' Mini-Review Posted
The San Francisco Chronicle weighs in on Dolly's film Joyful Noise, which hit DVD and Blu-ray this week. The paper says here the film is "Weird, with lots of cornpone dialogue, but it makes a happy ruckus." (And remember to enter our contest here to win one of five free Blu-rays of the film.)

'9 To 5' Heads To Bay Area
Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical is heading to Concord, Calif., Broadway World reports here. The show will be performed there May 21 through June 23.

May 3:
Auction: Meet Dolly, Support NYC Library
A new charity auction has launched to meet Dolly and support her Imagination Library expansion in New York City. The winner and a guest will receive a photo with Dolly, accommodations at a Dollywood Cabin, passes to Dollywood and tickets to Dolly's Dixie Stampede dinner theater. Dates for the prize, which will take place sometime within the next year, will be determined in the future based on Dolly's availability. As of press time, bids were up to $1,800 with the next minimum bid being $2,050. The auction ends at 3 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, May 23. Check it out here. Thanks, John!

Latest On 'Joyful Noise' DVD
The DVD and Blu-ray release of Dolly's latest film, Joyful Noise, continued to get noticed in the press this week. The Amarillo Globe News noted the release here and called it a "charming underdog film." AOL's The Boot country music blog took the opportunity to share its favorite Dolly one-liners here. Lead actor Jeremy Jordan was celebrating, as the day the discs hit stores this week he also scored a Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his work is the Disney production Newsies. And you still have a few days to enter the Dollymania.net contest with Warner Brothers Entertainment to win one of five free Blu-ray Combo Packs of the film. Entries will be accepted here through Sunday night. Limit of one entry per e-mail address. Due to restrictions by Warner Brothers, only U.S. residents may enter and you must provide a street address, no post office boxes.

'9 To 5' Used At Runner's Funeral
I've never thought of Dolly's "9 To 5" as a somber funeral song, but a hairdresser who died during this year's London Marathon, and whose passing resulted in more than £1 million being raised for charity in her memory, was remembered with the tune at her services this week. The British media reports that the song was played at the funeral for 30-year-old Claire Squires. Read more from The Irish Independent here.

May 1:
Win One Of Five Free 'Joyful Noise' Blu-ray Combos
The big day is here with the arrival on DVD and Blu-ray of Dolly's film Joyful Noise, and you can win a free copy. Thanks to Warner Brothers Entertainment, Dollymania.net is pleased to give five lucky readers a free Blu-ray Combo Pack with UltraViolet Digital Copy. Enter here through Sunday night to be considered in the drawing. Winners will be announced next Monday night. In related news: