June 25: 'Coat Of Many Colors' 50th Anniversary Vinyl Coming Vinyl album monthly subscription service Vinyl Me Please on Thursday revealed here this quarter's country genre selections that will be produced in limited editions guaranteed for its members and then sold to the public if any copies are remaining and that one of them is a Dolly classic. A 30th anniversary edition of Reba's For My Broken Heart on magenta galaxy vinyl is July's title, followed a 50th anniversary edition of Dolly's Coat Of Many Colors on clear rainbow splatter vinyl for August, and Emmylou Harris' Pieces Of Sky (which contains her 1975 cover of "Coat Of Many Colors") on gold nugget vinyl for September. Subscriptions for the service are sold on a one, three, six, or 12-month basis, guaranteeing you the title in your preferred genre for each month for that length of time. Reba's album, which will ship in mid-July, is available for sign-ups now, while Dolly's will be automatically ordered for those who sign up for three months or longer now in the country genre or for those who sign up with a one-month membership starting July 27, and Emmylou's will be available for one-month memberships starting Aug. 26.
June 24: Dolly Welcomes Carly Pearce To Opry
The Grand Ole Opry on Tuesday announced former Dollywood performer Carly Pearce had been invited to be its newest member and shared a video filmed last week where Dolly herself surprised her during an interview to extend the official invitation. Watch it here or in the media player above.
Two Dolly Songs Up For Emmy Consideration Variety reports here that Dolly has submitted two songs for consideration for this year's Emmy nominations for best song written for television: "When An Angel Knows Your Dream" from the finale of her Netflix film Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square and "I Still Believe," from her CBS holiday special A Holly Dolly Christmas. Her Netflix film is also a critic favorite to snag a nomination for Best Television Movie, for which she had previously been nominated twice. Nominations will be announced July 13.
Watch Tina Fey And Karen From Accounting Do Dolly Pedestrian pitted SNL alum Tina Fey from her new streaming series Girls5Eva and drag queen Karen from Finance from RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under for which provided the better Dolly impersonation. Check out clips they compared here.
Library Movie Heading To Stream July 9 Dolly's Imagination Library has announced that their recent documentary The Library That Dolly Built will be released for rental July 9 through major streaming services including Apple TV, Amazon Prime and Google Play. In related news, Australia has gotten its first statewide chapter, with the government of New South Wales investing $8 million in partnership with the local United Way to offer it to all children in the state there, 10 First News reported here.
U.S. Chart Updates Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" holds steady this week at No. 20 Christian streaming songs on the June 26 Billboard Christian streaming songs chart released Tuesday and loses seven to No. 22 Christian digital song sales.
June 19: Dolly's 'Greatest Hits' Gets U.K. Silver Certification Dolly earned yet another sales award from BPI, which issues British silver, gold, and platinum album plaques, with her 1982 RCA Greatest Hits collection passing the silver award mark on June 11 for selling 60,000 copies since its 1992 re-release in the U.K. (A different compilation CD released by Sony's Camden label in 2002 under the same name Greatest Hits was certified silver in 2013.)
'People': Dolly One Of Reasons To Love America People magazine this week issued its list of "100 Reasons To Love America in 2021," and Dolly came in at No. 3, thanks to her involvement in creating the No. 2 item on the list, the COVID-19 vaccine. Dewayne "The Rock" Johnson was No. 1. Check out the entire list here.
Charlie Daniels CD Has Old Dolly Duet Wal-Mart this week announced an exclusive posthumous Charlie Daniels duets album, Duets, coming to the store July 16 featuring several artists including Dolly. Although all media reports I've seen have stated it is a new album consisting of previously-unreleased recordings, that is not true. It is a re-issue of his 2007 duets album Deuces, which featured the Dolly collaboration, plus six bonus tracks that appear to have been previously unreleased (but don't include Dolly).
Dolly Shot Included In Hollywood Warhol Exhibit A new photo exhibit of Andy Warhol images opened last week at the Neuehouse in Hollywood, Calif., and continues through July 9 featuring at least one image of Dolly with artist Keith Haring standing poolside in 1985.
U.S., U.K. Chart Updates Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" inches up one this week to No. 20 Christian streaming songs on the June 19 Billboard Christian streaming songs chart released Tuesday and five to No. 15 Christian digital song sales. Overseas, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe loses two spots to No. 8 on the British country compilations albums chart, it was announced Friday. Elsewhere on the compilations tally, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 gains one to No. 10 (while it falls eight to No. 97 streaming albums), Emmylou 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 Linda Ronstadt) dips four to No. 12, Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) drops three to No. 18 and Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) falls out of the top 20, down from No. 18. Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1) loses five to No. 20 Americana chart.
June 9: 'There Was Jesus' Earns K-Love Song Of The Year Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" over the weekend was named Song of the Year at the K-Love fan-voted Christian music awards. In addition, the track gains two to No. 20 on the June 12 Billboard Christian streaming songs chart released Tuesday and one to No. 20 Christian digital song sales.
'Variety,' 'Reporter' Think Dolly Will Get Emmy Nom Two Emmy watchers have both predicted Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square will nab Dolly's third Emmy nomination for Best Made for Television Movie. The critics picking The Hollywood Reporter's choices here and Variety's choices here have both chosen the Netflix musical and Amazon's Sylvie's Love and Uncle Frank, HBO's Oslo and Lifetime's Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia as the five films most likely to get nods. Nomination voting runs June 17-28 with nominations announced July 13.
U.K. Chart Updates Overseas, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe dips three places to No. 6 on the British country compilations albums chart, it was announced Friday. Elsewhere on the compilations tally, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 loses two to No. 11 (while it rises 10 to No. 89 streaming albums), Emmylou 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 Linda Ronstadt) falls two to No. 8, Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) dips one to No. 15 and Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) inches up one to No. 18. Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1) remains at No. 15 Americana chart.
June 4: Dolly Announces New Dollywood HeartSong Lodge & Resort
Dollywood on Thursday revealed plans for a second resort hotel, dubbed the HeartSong Lodge & Resort, which will be built adjacent to the park's DreamMore Resort & Spa and kick off a 10-year, half-a-billion-dollar investment in expanding Dolly's theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. The new resort, which will boast 302 rooms and be themed after the surrounding beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains, is expected to open in two years and is named after the song she wrote for her 1994 live album recorded at the park and a corresponding video presentation of the same name the park has shown over the years since then.
The park released a video announcement (available here or in the media player below) of Dolly and Dollywood President Eugene Naughton revealing plans for the expansion that they filmed when she was last on the park grounds about three weeks prior. Dolly also took the opportunity to briefly discuss her involvement in developing the Moderna vaccine, Covid-prevention changes to the park's operations, her upcoming branding products (which she said in addition to her perfume coming next month will also soon include wigs and cosmetics), and recording a "country bluegrass album" that may be released later this year or early next year. She also conducted a Q&A with the park's Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations Pete Owens, which is viewable here or in the media player above. In addition to the park's video announcement, interviews she had conducted were released Thursday by Knoxville News Sentinelhere and Travel and Leisurehere.
In a statement, Dolly explained: "I'm always dreaming and coming up with new ideas and things I want our guests to experience. We wanted to talk about this last year, but with everything going on, we knew we needed to pause because it just wasn't the right time to do it. Things are looking brighter and with the popularity of the Smokies soaring, there are more people than ever wanting to visit our area. I'm so proud of this place that we've been able to build here in the Smokies. I always dreamed of accomplishing two things with Dollywood. I wanted to give jobs to the folks who live here and I wanted to give visitors another reason to come and experience the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. We celebrated our 35th season last year, so I think it is fair to say we've been able to do that. I'm so happy with what we are doing to make sure our guests have a great season this year, and being able to announce the new HeartSong Lodge & Resort is just one more way we're going to be able to help families reconnect, explore and discover together. I truly believe the natural beauty of the Smokies and the warmth of this special place will inspire every guest to nurture the 'heartsong' within them."
The new resort will bill itself as a "reimagined lodge" with high ceilings, exposed beams and natural layered textures. The five-story building will feature themed suites and loft rooms tucked into the dormers, a four-story window in the atrium, two-story eternal flame fireplace, acoustics music room inspired by Dolly, indoor and outdoor pools, and an outdoor cove with family gathering space, firepit, and screened in porch. A two-story events center will have 26,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space for gatherings of up to several hundred guests with a 7,500-square-foot ballroom and 2,500-square-foot junior ballroom. The building will also feature a 195-seat signature restaurant, 40-seat private dining room, lobby lounge, Wildflower Market Grab and Go Eatery, and Honeysuckle & Pine Storied Goods Mercantile shop.
When DreamMore was first announced, Dolly explained that she had always wanted the park to feature resort hotels and kept pushing her partners, Herschend Family Entertainment, to add them. They finally agreed and DreamMore was originally to be announced in 2008 but the Great Recession halted those plans, pushing the announcement to 2013 after the economic recovery and the opening to 2015. At the time, she added it was intended to be the first phase of several resort hotels to eventually be built on the property if the first turned out to be successful. Since then, it has remained almost always fully booked, and Dolly let the cat out of the bag in several interviews in late 2019 that the second resort would be announced in 2020. Unfortunately, the pandemic delayed that announcement for more than a year until this week.
The park's Flower & Food Festival closes Monday and is followed by the Summer Celebration June 25-July 31, Harvest Festival Sept. 24-Oct. 30 and Smoky Mountain Christmas Nov. 6-Jan. 2. Renderings and videos courtesy Dollywood. Photos by Curtis Hilbun. Courtesy Dollywood.
U.S. Chart Updates Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" gains one to No. 22 on the June 5 Billboard Christian streaming songs chart released Wednesday, while losing three to No. 21 Christian digital song sales.
Dolly Opening iHeartMedia's Pride Special iHeartMedia on Thursday announced Dolly will open their Can't Cancel Pride special by welcoming viewers to the 9 p.m. Friday program on iHeartRadio stations, Roku Channel, iHeartRadio's TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook, PrideRadio.com, and iHeartRadio app. The hour-long show will remain on demand on YouTube, Facebook, Roku Channel, Revry, and iHeartRadio through month-end. Others appearing on the show include Brandy Carlisle, Kylie Minogue, Leslie Odom Jr., Years & Years Olly Alexander, Bebe Lexia, Brothers Osborne, P!NK, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Elton John and more. CMT Radio with Cody Alan premiered what appears to be part of Dolly's appearance on Facebook here Thursday and in the media player below.
June 2: Full-Sized Dolly Perfume Coming July 28 Dolly's full-sized Scent from Above fragrance will debut on HSN July 28, beauty industry publication WWD reported here this week. In addition to the previously announced eau de parfum, the article noted her Scent Beauty line will feature another eau de parfum (for a total of two), a body cream, an eau de toilette, and a body mist and that they will be available in Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Scent Beauty's website and an Instagram store. Prices will range from $40 to $65. The line will expand to international sales and may also expand to include other products such as hair mists and home fragrances. A male scent is also expected to be developed. Dolly also wrote a song for the launch, "Scent from Above," so I expect we'll hear her perform it as she promotes the products. She added that she's also working on new music and other projects to come out at the end of the year.
Dolly Talks Make-Up, Clothes With WSJ Wall Street Journal Magazine interviewed Dolly this week about her style and make-up habits. Read it here.
Early Songs Compilation Heading To Vinyl Goldenlane Records has announced a colored vinyl release of Dolly's 1959 Goldband single and 1962 Somerset recordings titled Early Dolly which Amazon shows coming out July 23. Pre-order here.
Study: Imagination Library More Powerful With Another Program The American Academy of Pediatrics this week published a new study from Cincinnati Children's Hospital researchers showing the impact of the very successful Dolly Imagination Library literacy program and the very successful doctor-office-based literacy program Reach Out And Read were both increased when offered together in a combined effort. The study is available here.
UK Chart Updates Overseas, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe loses the top spot on the British country compilations chart, it was announced Friday, sliding two to No. 3. Elsewhere on the compilations tally, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 dips one to No. 9 (while it holds steady at No. 99 streaming albums), Emmylou 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 Linda Ronstadt) slips four to No. 6, Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) falls nine to No. 14 and Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) drops three to No. 19. Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1) remains at No. 15 Americana chart.
'9 To 5' Tour Snags West End Lead The British touring company of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical have made their first casting announcement, with West End's Violet joining the company for all but the first two and last two shows currently scheduled in the tour that starts in August across the pond. Broadway World reports here that Dolly said in a statement: "I am so proud that 9 to 5 will be coming back soon to theatres all across the UK. Louise has been wonderful since she led the show in the West End and we're all so excited to give audiences the best night out after we have all waited so long!". The article added that Dolly Records and Sony Music are planning to re-release the 2008 9 To 5: The Musical Original Broadway Cast Album to coincide with the tour.
Dollywood on Thursday revealed plans for a second resort hotel, dubbed the HeartSong Lodge & Resort, which will be built adjacent to the park's DreamMore Resort & Spa and kick off a 10-year, half-a-billion-dollar investment in expanding Dolly's theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. The new resort, which will boast 302 rooms and be themed after the surrounding beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains, is expected to open in two years and is named after the song she wrote for her 1994 live album recorded at the park and a corresponding video presentation of the same name the park has shown over the years since then.
The park released a video announcement (available 
In a statement, Dolly explained: "I'm always dreaming and coming up with new ideas and things I want our guests to experience. We wanted to talk about this last year, but with everything going on, we knew we needed to pause because it just wasn't the right time to do it. Things are looking brighter and with the popularity of the Smokies soaring, there are more people than ever wanting to visit our area. I'm so proud of this place that we've been able to build here in the Smokies. I always dreamed of accomplishing two things with Dollywood. I wanted to give jobs to the folks who live here and I wanted to give visitors another reason to come and experience the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. We celebrated our 35th season last year, so I think it is fair to say we've been able to do that. I'm so happy with what we are doing to make sure our guests have a great season this year, and being able to announce the new HeartSong Lodge & Resort is just one more way we're going to be able to help families reconnect, explore and discover together. I truly believe the natural beauty of the Smokies and the warmth of this special place will inspire every guest to nurture the 'heartsong' within them."
The new resort will bill itself as a "reimagined lodge" with high ceilings, exposed beams and natural layered textures. The five-story building will feature themed suites and loft rooms tucked into the dormers, a four-story window in the atrium, two-story eternal flame fireplace, acoustics music room inspired by Dolly, indoor and outdoor pools, and an outdoor cove with family gathering space, firepit, and screened in porch. A two-story events center will have 26,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space for gatherings of up to several hundred guests with a 7,500-square-foot ballroom and 2,500-square-foot junior ballroom. The building will also feature a 195-seat signature restaurant, 40-seat private dining room, lobby lounge, Wildflower Market Grab and Go Eatery, and Honeysuckle & Pine Storied Goods Mercantile shop.