Dolly had more than 100,000 people wrapped around her little finger Sunday at Glastonbury, one of Britain's largest music festivals. Media reports put the crowd between 100,000 and 200,000 (the event sold 135,000 official tickets) and said the crowd for Dolly's set was the largest of the three-day event, leaving the audiences at competing stages for the same time as her performance nearly completely empty, as Dolly's audience was likely the largest in the festival's multi-decade history. The crowd was reportedly the largest for which Dolly has ever performed during her career. (Previously, the likely largest crowd was when she brought in a record-breaking 77,000 when she headlined North Carolina's MerleFest in 2001.) The official BBC video is viewable in the U.K. only, but a fan-posted YouTube video from the television broadcast is available in the media player above or here. She performed several of her biggest hits, a few selections from the new CD and brought Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora on stage with her again to perform "Lay Your Hands On Me." Reviews were unanimously positive. Both The Guardian and The Telegraph gave her set five out of five stars here and here, respectively. Other reviews included The Central Somerset Gazettehere, The Daily Mailhere, The Mirrorhere and The Belfast Telegraphhere. The BBC covered the concert here and The Guardian covered some drag queens paying tribute to her in honor of the festival here. Even Metallica's Lars Ulrich said here he was a huge fan of Dolly's and would brave a hangover on Sunday to catch her set. Dolly did cause some controversy, though, as some accused her of lip-synching during the performance. The first to do so was a tweet from a national newscaster, who was immediately attacked by Dolly's celebrity defenders, including Boy George who tweeted that the newscaster was the one trying to fool people with her false eyelashes and Stephen Fry saying he believed the confusion was over digital delays associated with HD recording technology, and The Daily Mirror's reviewer saying he saw no lip-synching. A Dolly spokesperson released a statement: "No, she sings live. Some people don't know an amazing singer when they hear one." Coverage of the lip-synching controversy included The Mirrorhere.
RIAA Certifies Dolly's 100 Million In Album Sales While at the festival, Dolly was surprised with a special presentation from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which certifies gold and platinum albums in the U.S. Her manager presented her with a special RIAA plaque commemorating worldwide album sales in excess of 100 million units. Video of the presentation is available here.
Dolly Gets Third Week In U.K. Pop Top 10 With all of the publicity surrounding her Glastonbury appearance this weekend, Dolly had another great week of British sales for her Blue Smoke CD, which slips one spot to No. 7 in its third week on the U.K. pop albums chart, down from its two previous week at her career-best No. 6 spot on the tally. It should see a sales bump in the coming week following her Glastonbury headlining spot, which may give it a new peak position next weekend. While I haven't seen official numbers for its British sales for its second and third weeks, based on chart performance it has likely matched if not exceeded the approximately 60,000 copies it has sold in the U.S. in its first six weeks of release here. The album's U.S. import re-enters the top 20 British country albums chart at No. 20 while its British version, paired with a greatest hits CD, retains the No. 1 spot on the British compilations chart for a third week and gains one to No. 18 on the pop album downloads chart. Her The Tour Collection re-enters the country compilations chart at No. 17. Down Under, The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 loses four to No. 30 in its 336th week in the Australian top 40 country albums chart. Back in the U.K., Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) gains three to No. 7 in its 42nd week on the British country compilations chart, while her Original Album Series, Volume 1, released in 2011, slips one to No. 13 in its 3940th week back on the same tally with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony.
Dolly To Grace Cover Of 'Country Woman' Thanks to Tony for alerting me that Dolly is the upcoming cover girl for the August/September issue of Country Woman Magazine. Check it out here.
June 28: 'Home' Shows Up In GAC Top 5 Dolly's music video for "Home" from Blue Smoke makes an impressive debut this week on Great American Country's fan-voted GAC Top 20 Countdown, coming in at No. 5. You may vote once per day for the video here. In other chart news, Blue Smoke slides 41 places to No. 75 in its third week on the Irish pop albums chart, while Real . . . Dolly Parton drops 18 spots to No. 96 on the same tally and her "Jolene" falls off the top 100 pop singles chart in Ireland, down from No. 91 last week.
Glastonbury Coverage Continues With European Tour The U.K. continues to be abuzz over Dolly and her Glastonbury festival appearance before 200,000 fans on Sunday. To celebrate, The Official U.K. Charts Company released a list here of Dolly's top 10 digital downloads in Britain, and it contained several surprises. As would be expected, "Jolene," her biggest British hit (it was a top 10 pop single there) is No. 1 and her signature numbers "Islands In The Stream" and "9 To 5" are No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. However, her new album is doing so well that "Home" and "Blue Smoke" are No. 6 and No. 9, respectively, and an old cover song that most Americans don't know she ever sang since she only did it as an album cut, "Harper Valley PTA," comes in at No. 10. Other classics were "I Will Always Love You" at No. 4, "Here You Come Again" at No. 5, "Coat Of Many Colors" at No. 7 and "Love Is Like A Butterfly" at No. 8. The Telegraph offered a list of Dolly's 30 best songs here. Radio Times released an online version here of its Lily Allen interview with Dolly that had come out a few days ago in its print edition. York Press reviewed her Leeds show here. Fans tell me Richie Sambora sat in with her band at her first O2 Arena concert in London to join in on her cover of the Bon Jovi hit "Lay Your Hands On Me," which the Bon Jovi guitarist co-wrote. Finally, Glastonbury openers Kaiser Chiefs performed their own Dolly tribute with a cover of "9 To 5" to kick off the festival viewable here.
Katy Perry Enjoys Dollywood Visit Pop songstress Katy Perry dropped by Dollywood this week, several media outlets reported. Check out coverage from Perez Hiltonhere.
'9 To 5' A Top Work Anthem LGBT channel Logo's New Now Next website this week counted down the top "working girl" anthems and ranked Dolly's "9 To 5" at No. 2, surpassed only by the network's own RuPaul at No. 1 with "You Better Work." See the entire list here.
June 27: 'Blue Smoke' Approaching 60,000 Copies Sold In U.S. Dolly's Blue Smoke dips out of the top 20 country albums this week, slipping two places to No. 22 in its sixth week, the July 5 Billboard tallies revealed on Thursday. It also loses 13 spots to No. 125 current albums and 35 spaces to No. 172 pop. Based on chart position and other album sales for positions near it, the collection likely moved about 2,000 copies for the week, giving it cumulative sales of about 59,000 units in the U.S. since release. Her 2012 Cracker Barrel DVD/CD set An Evening With . . . Dolly inches down one to No. 27 in its 45th week on the top 40 music DVD chart. Linda Ronstadt's Duets, featuring her 1977 top 10 country hit with Dolly, "I Never Will Marry," falls out of the top 200 current albums list, down from No. 186 current albums in its 10th week. Willie Nelson's To All The Girls, featuring a duet with Dolly on "From Here To The Moon And Back," re-enters the top 50 country albums tally at No. 44 for a 21st week. (His Band Of Brothers debuts at No. 6 pop and No. 1 country with 37,000 sold thanks to a QVC concert to promote it. The debut extends Nelson's record for the most top 10 country albums over Dolly's second place ranking with 47 versus her 43 – although for some reason Billboard only counts 42 of her entries, and it would be 44 if you include The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, which was officially credited as "various artists." Merle Haggard is No. 3 with 40 top 10 albums.)
Blue Smoke World Tour Nears U.K. End Dolly's Blue Smoke World Tour continues in the U.K. this week, hitting London's O2 Arena Friday and Saturday before her Glastonbury Festival debut on Sunday and the U.K. closing date in Nottingham on Wednesday. Then she heads to Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Those in Britain unable to attend Glastonbury will be able to watch her performance on BBC 2 that evening as well as streaming online at bbc.co.uk/glastonbury, The Telegraph reported here. And The Nottingham Post is running a contest to win a meet-and-greet at her concert there here. In other coverage, The Times of London reported on her fashion sense (for subscribers only) here, Never Undressed posted a similar fashion article here, The Mirror offered a quiz of whether a quote is from Dolly or goddaughter Miley Cyrus here, The Telegraph shared five things Dolly taught us here and Music Week noted here it has a 12-page Dolly tribute in its new online edition. Fan meetings at her Manchester and Leeds shows were covered by The Manchester Evening Newshere and The Telegraph and Argushere. In Glastonbury coverage, Somerset County Gazette noted here that people whose cars break down on the way will be treated to a Dolly impersonator to entertain them as they wait for repairs, and The Guardian asked several of the festival's performers whose set they're most excited to see, with Dolly being the most common answer here. Finally, her Cardiff, Wales, performance was reviewed by The Evening Posthere and Stereoboardhere.
Aussie Diver Covers Dolly's 'Dumb Blonde' 2008 Australian Olympic gold medalist diver Matthew Mitcham, who at the time was just the second openly gay Olympic competitor from Down Under, this week posted a cute video to YouTube of him singing Dolly's first country chart single, 1967's "Dumb Blonde," accompanying himself on a ukulele. Making the song even more impressive, he ends it by singing the lyrics in several other languages. Watch it here or in the media player below. In somewhat related news, band Legends of Country has released a free download of a Dolly tribute song called "Turn To Dolly." Check it out from Soundcloud here. Thanks, Wayne!
June 25: Dolly: New Children's Music To Benefit Library Coming Soon A new, presumably download-only, children's album is coming from Dolly! Her Imagination Library early childhood literacy project on Tuesday released to parents of Imagination Library children a free download of her song "I Believe In You" that she wrote for Dollywood's Penguin Playhouse production of The Little Engine That Could and noted that 11 additional songs will soon be coming for purchase, with 100 percent of sales going to support the free book program. Look for more details as they are released!
Revamped Dolly Website Launched Dolly's staff on Tuesday unveiled a completely re-designed entertainment website for her at Dolly Parton Entertainment.com featuring not only sections on her tour, music, bio, and store but also segments on her movie and television appearances from years past, her theatrical endeavors and even her slot machines. Visit it here!
European Updates From Blue Smoke World Tour The Blue Smoke World Tour's European leg continues to burn up the media overseas. Wales Online reviewed her Cardiff engagement here and The Yorkshire Evening Post reviewed her Leeds show here while The Birmingham Mail gave her concert in that city five out of five stars here. A writer in The Guardian shared how she could come out as a Dolly fan now that she's seen as hip here, and Time Out London teased a story on Dolly's "wit and wisdom" in its current issue here, while The Radio Times teased its interview (and photo shoot) that singer Lily Allen conducted with Dolly here (an excerpt from which is available in The Expresshere, among other publications). And back on our side of the pond, American Songwriter caught up with her and quizzed her on her songwriting craft here.
June 23: Dolly Keeps Career-High No. 6 U.K. Pop Position Dolly's career-best chart position on the British tallies continues this week, as Blue Smoke retains its No. 6 U.K. pop position in its second week of release overseas. The album also retains its No. 1 country compilations position but slips seven spots to No. 19 digital downloads. In Ireland, the album descends 13 places to No. 34 pop, while Real . . . Dolly Parton gains 12 to No. 78, and her "Jolene" slides six on the pop singles chart there to No. 91. Down Under, The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 gains two to No. 26 in its 335th week in the Australian top 40 country albums chart, also being certified platinum for passing more than 70,000 units sold, becoming her first platinum CD Down Under. Back in the U.K., Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) rises one to No. 10 in its 41st week on the British country compilations chart, while her Original Album Series, Volume 1, released in 2011, also moves up one to No. 12 in its 39th week back on the same tally with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony.
Tour Receives Great Reviews Overseas Dolly's Blue Smoke World Tour continues to heat up Europe. Her Glasgow engagement received four stars from The Scotsmanhere, while her Manchester concert received five-out-of-five stars from both The Manchester Evening Newshere and Click Manchesterhere. Finally, outdoor theatre group Canopy returns to Glastonbury this year with its "Dolly Birds" show, a tribute to Dolly featuring three characters claiming to believe they are Dolly's "lost daughters'" hoping to meet her. Check out a story from The Western Daily Presshere. The trio ambushes unsuspecting audience members with a capella Dolly numbers.
In Memoriam: Jimmy C. Newman Grand Ole Opry member Jimmy C. Newman died on Saturday. He was 86. Early in his career, the singer stepped aside one night on the Opry to let a little 13-year-old girl from East Tennessee to take the stage, allowing Dolly to make her Opry debut. Read his obituary from People magazine here.
Opry Touts Nettles-Underwood Dolly Collaboration Although the Grand Ole Opry posted the video over a week ago, a clip of Jennifer Nettles and Carrie Underwood singing Dolly's "9 To 5" went viral over the weekend. Watch it here.
June 20: 'Blue Smoke' Stays In Top 20 For Fifth Week Dolly manages to remain in the top 20 country albums for the fifth week of her new Blue Smoke CD, the June 28 Billboard numbers released on Thursday showed. The album dips six places to No. 20 country, 41 digits to No. 112 current albums and 59 spots to No. 137 pop. Given that the No. 16 country album sold 5,000 copies, it is likely Dolly moved about 4,000 units for the week, which would give her cumulative U.S. sales of this title in the 57,000 range since release. Her 2012 Cracker Barrel DVD/CD set An Evening With . . . Dolly drops five to No. 26 in its 44th week on the top 40 music DVD chart. Linda Ronstadt's Duets, with her 1977 top 10 country hit with Dolly, "I Never Will Marry," descends 20 spaces to No. 186 current albums in its 10th week.
Blue Smoke World Tour Rolls On The European leg of Dolly's Blue Smoke World Tour continues to roll through Great Britain this week. Another review from Glasgow is available from Scotland Nowhere and a shot backstage from The Daily Record has been posted here. In related news, Pop Matters listed its opinion of the 11 best Dolly tracks in a countdown here Thursday.
New Dolly Calendar Delayed A Few Weeks The new Dolly 2015 calendar that had been planned for a June 1 release has been pushed back to July 15. Reserve yours here!
Dollywood Releases New Game App For Coaster Dollywood on Thursday released a new mobile phone game for their FireChaser Express roller coaster. Download it here!
Stevens Releases Memoir With Dolly Recollections Although a press release issued Thursday claimed it doesn't hit stores until next week, Ray Stevens's memoir Ray Stevens' Nashville actually came out about three months ago and features some stories of his producing several of Dolly's first Monument Records pop singles in the mid-1960s before they shifted her to country music. Get a copy here!
McCarthy Shows Some Dolly Love On Magazine Cover Comedienne Melissa McCarthy is this month's Rolling Stone cover girl, but Dolly also makes an appearance because McCarthy is wearing a vintage Dolly tee for her cover shot.
June 18: Glastonbury To Feature Dolly Flash Mobs For 'Jolene'
Fans heading to the Glastonbury Festival, with Dolly headlining the "legends" spot this year on June 29, are encouraged to learn the official "Jolene" choreography for a sanctioned flash mob that will pop up every time the song is played anywhere during the festival. The project, approved by Glastonbury's organizers, was put together by The Theatre and Circus Arena and Common People Dance Project. Participants will pretend to ride a horse as they "gallop" to their positions during the song's opening and then dance together to the chorus each time it's played. Watch choreographer Fez's instructional video on YouTube here or in the media player above. In related news, The Herald Scotland gave her first night in Glasgow five stars here, comparing her to God. The Daily Record talked with lucky fans who won a contest to see her soundcheck before the show here. And My SS News posted the entire transcript of her media Q&A teleconference on her new album from a few weeks back here.
June 17: 'Blue Smoke' Three Times As Popular Overseas As In U.S. Sales figures for Dolly's Blue Smoke in Great Britain were released Monday in Billboard's coverage of the weekend chart updates overseas, noting that the disc sold 20,000 copies in the U.K. during its first week, compared to 37,000 copies in the U.S. during its first week. Given that the U.S. has five times the population of the U.K., to give you an idea of scale, 20,000 in sales there is equivalent to 100,000 in sales in America based on population, or in other words it was almost three times as popular there as it was here in its first week. As was previously reported, the No. 6 pop debut in the U.K. is her highest-ever charting album in that country. In related news, her Aberdeen show was reviewed in The Evening Expresshere and an interview (with audio) was published by Scotland Nowhere in advance of her Tuesday and Wednesday night engagements in Glasgow. Finally, back in the U.S., although CMT removed her video of "Home" off the album from its eligible songs to vote for its weekly countdown, competitor GAC has added it for voting here.
Cosmetics Leader Wants To Paint Dolly's Face The creative director for cosmetics company MAC dreams of working with Dolly and Cher, Yahoo Beauty notes in an interview here.
June 16: 'Blue Smoke' Hits No. 6 Pop In Great Britain As was reported here several days ago as the likelihood it would happen, the official British albums charts released on Sunday confirmed Dolly's Blue Smoke debuts at her highest-ever charting U.K. album, coming in at No. 6 pop and No. 12 digital downloads. In a statement, Dolly said: "I am glad that people are enjoying the music from my new Blue Smoke album. It feels great to be in the Top 10. It's always an honor to know the fans spend their hard earned money on my music. Thanks everybody!" As was previously noted here, it's her third title for the pop top 10 overseas, with previous entries being in 2011 when Better Day went to No. 9 and 2007 when The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 went to No. 8. (Her complete British top 40 pop albums are listed here.) Rather than be in the top 20 country albums, where the U.S. import racked up several weeks, this version debuted at No. 1 on the U.K. country compilations chart because it is paired with a greatest hits CD (although the British charts decided to let a similar Johnny Cash CD with new material and a greatest hits collection to chart on the regular country charts). In other countries, the album debuts at No. 21 pop in Ireland, where Real . . . Dolly Parton re-enters the top 100 at No. 100, and her "Jolene" re-enters the pop singles chart there at No. 85. Down Under, The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 dips two to No. 28 country in its 334th week in the top 40 Down Under, while The Essential Dolly Parton falls back out of the top 40, down from No. 38 for a 78th week. Back in the U.K., Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) loses five to No. 11 in its 40th week on the British country compilations chart, while her Original Album Series, Volume 1, released in 2011, gains one to No. 13 in its 38th week back on the same tally with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony.
Tour Reviews, Interviews Continue Overseas Meanwhile, her Blue Smoke World Tour continues across Europe. In Newcastle, she noted she was on antibiotics for a chest infection, joking that a chest cold for her was like a giraffe with a sore throat. Reviews of that engagement are available from The Journalhere and The Chroniclehere, which gave it five out of five stars. Her Dublin show was reviewed by The Irish Independenthere and Heraldhere, while her Cork performance is reviewed in The Evening Echohere. Interviews came from The Telegraphhere and Chroniclehere. Back stateside, The Philadelphia Enquirer reviewed the CD here.
June 13: 'Blue Smoke' Passes 50,000 Copies Sold Dolly's Blue Smoke last week sold about 4,000 more copies to pass the 50,000 mark to approximately 53,000 units moved since its release four weeks ago, meaning it has surpassed the 52,000 copies that her previous release, Better Day, has sold since its release in 2011. On the June 21 Billboard charts, Dolly's album slips five digits to No. 14 country, 29 spaces to No. 78 pop and 24 spots to No. 71 current albums. (As the No. 13 country album sold 5,000 and the No. 16 one sold 3,000, Dolly's likely sold around 4,000 for the week at No. 14.) Her 2012 Cracker Barrel DVD/CD set An Evening With . . . Dolly descends eight to No. 21 in its 43rd week on the top 40 music DVD chart. Linda Ronstadt's Duets, with her 1977 top 10 country hit with Dolly, "I Never Will Marry," drops 24 places to No. 166 current albums in its ninth week and falls back off the top 200 pop albums tally, down from No. 200 in its sixth week.
Dublin Review Praises Dolly's Concert The Telegraph gave Dolly's Dublin show on her Blue Smoke World Tour four out of five stars, noting if she can make a clunky Bon Jovi song sound profound is an impressive performer. Read the full review here.
Houston Press Cites Dolly's Best Songs The Houston Press on Thursday offered its readers a list of Dolly's 10 best songs. Take a read here.
Logo Says Dolly Crushes On Jolene In honor of gay pride month, Billboard this week compiled its top 10 great gay moments in music, but LGBT network Logo's New Now Next website thinks they missed a few great moments and came up with its own list here that includes "Jolene" as "the closest thing to a gay country love song" because of how much Dolly focuses on Jolene's beauty.
June 12: 'Blue Smoke' Looks For Top 10 British Pop Debut Dolly has already logged her career-high U.S. pop albums position with Blue Smoke, and now it appears she'll also set a career record in the U.K. The Official British Chart Company on Wednesday released preliminary numbers for this weekend's charts overseas, and they expect Dolly's CD to debut at No. 6 on the pop albums chart. For several weeks following its U.S. release, Blue Smoke was on the British country albums chart based solely on imports from America, hitting No. 4 country, although it did not sell enough copies to break the top 100 pop albums list. She has only made the pop top 10 in the U.K. twice before: in 2011 when Better Day went to No. 9 and 2007 when The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 went to No. 8. In related news, the Blue Smoke World Tour's Belfast show from Tuesday garnered positive reviews from The Belfast Telegraphhere and Newsletterhere.
Book Habits, Library Expansion Covered Overseas Also overseas, Dolly spoke with the BBC about her love of books here and Optometry covered the addition of Braille books to the British division of her Imagination Library early childhood literacy program here.
Two Dolly Tracks On 'RS' 100 Greatest Country List In celebration of its new country music issue, Rolling Stone magazine recently released its critics' list of the 100 greatest country songs of all time, and Dolly logged two entries: "Coat Of Many Colors" at No. 73 and "Jolene" at No. 9. See the full list here.
June 11: Dolly On Bristol Sessions Tribute Disc
Dolly was announced Tuesday as a participant in a new project, Orthophonic Joy: The 1927 Bristol Sessions Revisited, due in stores in October to feature new versions of songs from "The Bristol Sessions," the 1927 tracks regarded as the first major recordings of country music. In addition to Dolly, the 16-song set will feature contributions by Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Marty Stuart, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers and Ashley Monroe. It is produced by Dolly pal Carl Jackson. In addition, a national talent competition will be held to select one unsigned or independent band or performer to sing the final track for the collection. Learn more about the contest here and watch a promotional video announcing the project here or in the media player above. Coverage of the announcement included The Roanoke Starhere and Tricities.comhere.
'Blue Smoke' Probably Lower Than No. 50 Pop, No. 10 Country Preliminary sales data released Tuesday indicate that Dolly's Blue Smoke will likely fall out of the top 50 pop albums tally and top 10 country list when the full chart is released later this week for its fourth week of sales. The Hits Daily Double Building Chart did not have it in the top 50-sellng albums of the week, which cut off at 5,615 copies and had 10 country titles, suggesting she's probably out of the top 50 pop and top 10 country. It was No. 9 country and No. 49 pop in its third chart week, having sold 5,000 copies that week to bring its cumulative total to 49,000.
More Great Liverpool Reviews For World Tour Dolly's Blue Smoke World Tour continues this week in Europe, with a show in Belfast Tuesday night and one in Dublin Wednesday night. Her opener for this leg of the tour, in Liverpool, garnered 10 out of 10 stars from The Liverpool Echohere (although they reported here that some fans had trouble getting out of a private parking lot they had used near the venue) and So So Gay gave it 4.7 out of 5.0 here. An interview in advance of Saturday's Newcastle engagement made Chronicle Livehere and comments comparing the criticism of Miley Cyrus's sexual image with her own when she branched out into pop music – wearing revealing clothes and posing for the cover of Playboy -- from her previously-reported interview with The Sunday Times was repeated in several media outlets on Monday and Tuesday, including Pop Crushhere.
'Hollywood To Dollywood' Continues To Garner Attention The Dolly fan film Hollywood To Dollywood is the feature display through July 25 at The Hollywood Musuem's "Real to Reel" tribute for influences on LGBT cinema. The movie is also available for free viewing through June 16 (with a 10-question interview to update everyone on where the Lane Twins and Leslie Jordan are now) on LGBT network Here TV.
'Jolene' Gets Redhead Honor The second annual National Redhead Day UK was held a few days ago in Manchester and Dolly won an award. Her "Jolene" was named Best Ginger Lyrics song, The Mirror noted here.
Tomlin Talks About Dolly Lily Tomlin has a great interview in Pride Sourcehere that touches on her new television show with Jane Fonda, a desire for Dolly to guest on it, and what happened to the long-wished 9 To 5 sequel.
June 9: Blue Smoke Tour Hits England, Heads To Ireland The European leg of Dolly's Blue Smoke World Tour kicked off Sunday night in Liverpool, England, and The Liverpool Echo reported here on the city's preparations for her visit. The Guardian reviewed the show with three out of five stars here. The tour next hops over to Northern Ireland Tuesday, and Ireland Wednesday and Thursday before heading back to England for her Newcastle concert on Saturday. In related news, the European release of her album Blue Smoke combined with a new The Best Of collection hit stores there on Monday. Check out a television commercial here and a review from The Scotsmanhere. And The Sunday Times profiled Dolly and Dollywoodhere.
Dolly's Library Gives Out 1 Millionth U.K. Book While in the U.K. getting ready for the tour, Dolly celebrated her early childhood literacy program Imagination Library's British successes by handing out its 1 millionth book, its first Braille title overseas for a visually-impaired child. Read the BBC's report here.
Overseas Charts Updated Keeping with the across-the-pond theme, Dolly's Blue Smoke falls off both the British and Australian country albums charts, in the U.K. dropping out of the top 20 from No. 14 in its third week based solely on U.S. imports prior to this week's actual release there and Down Under dropping out of the top 40 from No. 36 in its 17th week since being released there prior to that first leg of her tour. Also in Australia, The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 inches up one to No. 26 country in its 333rd week in the top 40 Down Under, while The Essential Dolly Parton re-enters the top 40 at No. 38 for a 78th week. Back in the U.K., Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) dips four to No. 6 in its 39th week on the British country compilations chart, while her Original Album Series, Volume 1, released in 2011, slips six to No. 14 in its 37th week back on the same tally with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony.
California Home Makes The News Again Another story on Dolly's Idyllwild, Calif., home being listed for sale with two other homes of hers in the state was covered by the local Press Enterprisehere.
Simpson Touts Dolly Inspiration In 'Forbes Forbes magazine spoke last week with Jessica Simpson on her $1 billion product empire and she cited Dolly as the source of her inspiration to encourage her to keep on working. Read it here.
June 6: 'Blue Smoke' No. 9 Country, No. 49 Pop In Third Week With about 5,000 copies sold in its third week, and 49,000 in cumulative sales, Dolly's Blue Smoke remains in the top 10 country albums and top 50 pop albums this week, it was revealed in the June 14 Billboard charts released Thursday. The set dips two places to No. 9 country, 13 spots to No. 49 pop and a dozen digits to No. 47 current albums. It falls off the 25-position Internet sales chart, down from No. 16. Her 2012 Cracker Barrel DVD/CD set An Evening With . . . Dolly rises two on the top 40 music DVD chart to No. 13 for a 42nd week. This week's Chart Beat list of concert ticket sales put Dolly's fundraising show in Knoxville at No. 37 for the week with gross sales of $452,000 and 98 percent of the 8,803 available tickets sold. Linda Ronstadt's Duets, with her 1977 top 10 country hit with Dolly, "I Never Will Marry," gains 23 points to No. 142 current albums in its eighth week and re-enters the top 200 pop albums tally at No. 200 to log a sixth week.
Classic Performance DVD Coming In August A new Dolly DVD is coming out later this summer. While not much is known, the set features 1970s performances (presumably either from Dolly or The Porter Wagoner Show) and is titled Early Morning Breeze. The Aug. 12 release is 44 minutes long and the cover art notes that in addition to the title track it also includes "Jolene," "I Will Always Love You," "Coat Of Many Colors," "Dumb Blonde" and "Gypsy, Joe And Me," plus more. Amazon shows two order pages for it here and here.
Travis Attends Dolly Concert In Oklahoma Country star Randy Travis made a rare public appearance last week at Dolly's final U.S. concert on her Blue Smoke World Tour in Oklahoma, People magazine reported here, including a photo of the two at the show with fellow singer Janie Frickie. The 55-year-old has remained mainly in seclusion since a stroke last year.
Story Of The Dolly Logo Ever wonder where the "Dolly" signature logo came from? Back To Country tells the tale of Michael Manoogian designing the iconic script here and includes some alternate logos he proposed.
'Islands In The Stream' Makes Top Duets List Rolling Stone recently took a readers' poll of the greatest duets of all time, and Dolly and Kenny Rogers's "Islands In The Stream" came in at No. 7, according to Entertainmenthere.
June 4: Dolly May Still Be In Country Top 10 This Week Preliminary sales data released Tuesday indicate that Dolly's Blue Smoke could remain in the top 10 country albums and top 50 pop albums for its third week. The Hits Daily Double sales chart showed the CD sold 4,889 copies to be No. 10 country and No. 49 pop and giving it cumulative sales of about 50,000 units since release. As has been previously noted here, the Soundscan totals on which Billboard bases its official albums charts vary a little, so it might be a little higher or a little lower on the final tallies when they are released Thursday. In related news, the album's video for "Home" is on this week's Video Shootout on AOL's The Boothere and her recent concert in Oklahoma was reviewed in The Dallas Observerhere. Dolly is interviewed by Songwriter Universe about the new album here, and eARTh magazine profiled her here.
More Pictures Posted From Richmond The four remaining galleries of pictures from Dolly's Richmond, Ky., fundraising concert have been added to that section of the site here.
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery Impersonator Christina Bianco had said last year that she was working on a Dolly impression but was such a huge fan she was scared to perform it in public. Well, she's added it to her act. A clip is on YouTube of her performing several clips of songs, including both Dolly and Whitney Houston doing "I Will Always Love You," here and appeared on The Queen Latifah Show to do "Natural Woman" in several voices, including Dolly's, here.
Jack White's Dolly Ties Cited Dolly's connections to Jack White were mentioned by Rolling Stone in a story about his Nashville work here.
Whoopi Pays Tribute To Dolly With Oprah Whoopi Goldberg was on Oprah's Master Class this week and explained she learned how to treat fans from watching Dolly, adding: "I saw what Dolly did and how, how well even on days she didn't want to be bothered, how she was. You have to never forget that without the people who are coming up and asking for autographs or pictures, you don't have a career. They make it possible to have the life you have."
June 2: More Photos, Stories From Blue Smoke World Tour The first two galleries of shots from Dolly's Richmond, Ky., concert on Tuesday have been posted to the site here with more to come from that concert and some reader-submitted images from some other shows. The U.S. leg of the Blue Smoke World Tour concluded on Saturday, and her European leg begins next Sunday. In related news, Patheos had a story on the Kentucky concert here. In addition, the album the tour is promoting made The Advocate's weekly "Hot Sheet" here, Kenosha News reviewed the CD here, and she was interviewed by Attitude magazine to promote the CD and tour, an excerpt from which appeared on Contact Musichere about her desire to find a challenging dramatic film role for which she would ditch the wigs and make-up.
Overseas Chart Updates For 'Blue Smoke,' Emmylou Releases Dolly's Blue Smoke loses another seven places to No. 14 in its third week on the British country albums chart based solely on import sales of the American version of the set prior to its actual release in the U.K. On the other side of the world, the album falls another dozen digits to No. 36 in its 17th week on the Australian top 40 country albums tally, while The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 inches down one to No. 27 country in its 332nd week in the top 40 Down Under, while The Essential Dolly Parton drops off the top 40, down from to No. 39 in its 77th week. Back in the U.K., Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) rises one to No. 2 in its 38th week on the British country compilations chart, while her Original Album Series, Volume 1, released in 2011, gains one to No. 8 in its 36th week back on the same tally with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony.
