July 30:
New Single, Lyric Video Debut

'Once Upon A Christmas' Coming On Vinyl
Dolly's vinyl renaissance continues in September with Friday's announcement that her 1984 holiday classic with Kenny Rogers, Once Upon A Christmas, the biggest-selling album of her career, will be reissued on green translucent 180 gram audiophile vinyl on Sept. 30 by the Friday Music Two label. Reserve your copy here! The month also sees the first-ever vinyl releases of Trio II and a two-LP set of bonus Trio tracks as Farther Along, and recently a 1977 concert appearance at New York's Bottom Line came out on vinyl under the title Country Girl In The Big Apple. Coat Of Many Colors saw a vinyl re-issue in February, as did Jolene a year ago.

Pure & Simple Tour Recorded For DVD
Dolly's Pure & Simple Tour rolls on this week, playing Kansas City Friday night and St. Louis Saturday before swinging through Columbus, Ohio, (where your webmaster will see it for a second time) on Tuesday night, Ft. Wayne, Ind., on Wednesday and Windsor, Ont., across the border in Canada on Thursday. Her sold out Red Rocks Amphitheatre show in Colorado on Wednesday night drew rave reviews, and attendees said she announced it was being taped for a future DVD release (although of her last three concerts that were filmed for planned DVDs – London, Glasgow, and Melbourne – only one, London, has actually been released, and that was from her tour nearly a decade ago). Reviews include 303 Magazine here, which called her "poised, charming, charismatic and really funny," and Hey Reverb here, which opined: "The cap on the show reminded Red Rocks of the mighty power of this timeless performer. For as much of a ham as she can be, Dolly Parton is no joke." A preview for St. Louis in The Riverfront Times gushed over her here, stating: "Dolly Parton was born when a rainbow arched down from heaven and touched a butterfly. She is exponentially better than any other being on Earth and is clearly a gift to humankind from something otherworldly." Her show earlier in the week in Utah earned praise from Salt Lake Magazine here and The Herald here. Meanwhile, her recent phone press conference garnered stories in advance of this weekend's shows in The Ft. Wayne News Sentinel here, St. Louis Today here and The Kansas City Star here.

Jeweler: Dolly Has Mae West's Rocks
Did you know Dolly owns most of Mae West's famous jewelry collection? That's according to a Boulder jeweler who has three of West's most famous pieces in his collection. Learn more from The Daily Camera here.

U.K. Chart Updates
Dolly's The Tour Collection slides one on this week's top 20 country compilations albums chart in the U.K., coming in at No. 18, while Emmylou Harris' 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 out of the top 20, down from No. 18 on the same list, and Ronstadt's own Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) re-enters the top 20 at No. 20.

'Dear Dolly' Gets CMT Debut
Newcomer Ruthie Collins debuted her new video, "Dear Dolly," on CMT Friday, and the network called it "a beautiful love letter" to Dolly. Check it out here or in the media player below.

July 27:
Dolly Ranks On Forbes' Biggest Country Earners
In a surprise announcement on Tuesday, financial publication Forbes magazine revealed Dolly appears on its annual list of country music's top earners, the "Country Cash Kings." On the list for the first time since it debuted in 2013, Dolly ranks at No. 13 out of the top 15 earners who were listed, thanks to $19 million in estimated earnings from album sales, songwriting royalties, endorsements, concert ticket sales and non-music business income from June 1, 2015, to June 1, 2016. Her inclusion was a surprise first because she did not tour during that time period (her 2016 tour started two days after the cut-off for the list, and her only concerts during the time period were a handful of charity shows for which she earned no income) and did not have a new album released, so nearly all of the stated income would have come exclusively from her non-music business interests: Dollywood and Dollywood's Splash Country, her dinner theatres (Dixie Stampede and Pirate's Voyage), the Dream More Resort, royalties for local productions of her 9 To 5: The Musical, and producer royalties for her NBC movie Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors. The inclusion was also a surprise because her business income for this year had no real reason to jump dramatically, so the magazine must have changed it methods for gathering the data upon which the list is based. The inclusion was also a surprise because past years when it was documented she should have been included saw her missing – for example, the magazine claims to use ticket sales numbers from Pollstar upon which the concert grosses are based for the list, but she was absent from the 2014 list (for June 1, 2013-June 1, 2014) when Pollstar had estimated Blue Smoke World Tour ticket sales alone of $23 million as of June 1, which would have put her around No. 11 or No. 12 on the 2014 list before adding in any income from businesses. Likewise, since the European leg of the tour, which Pollstar estimated generated about $10 million in gross ticket sales, was within the 2015 list's June 1, 2014-June 1, 2015 period, assuming her business income was anywhere close to what it was in the past 12 months, she would have ranked around No. 11 or No. 12 that year, too. The full 2016 list is available here and a profile of her Imagination Library charitable project appears in the magazine here.

U.S., U.K. Chart Updates
Dolly's July 22 Sioux Falls, S.D., show made it to No. 36 on this week's Boxscore chart from Billboard released Tuesday. Over 84 percent of the 5,978 seats were sold and the venue's gross was $489,924. Elsewhere on the Aug. 6 charts, Don Henley's Cass County, featuring the Dolly duet "When I Stop Dreaming," re-enters the top 50 country album charts at No. 50 for a 37th week on the tally. Overseas, Dolly's The Tour Collection re-enters this week's top 20 country compilations albums chart in the U.K., coming in at No. 17. Emmylou Harris' 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) holds steady at No. 18 on the same list.

Dolly's Tour Continues On The Road
The Pure & Simple Tour made its way to Orem, Utah, on Tuesday, with The Salt Lake City Tribune previewing the show here. She heads to the Denver area Wednesday at Red Rocks before moving on to Missouri for performances in Kansas City on Friday and St. Louis on Saturday. And The Edmonton Sun looked at her sold out engagement in that city – and other artists selling out that new Canadian venue – with a piece here.

Dollywood Adds New Open Dates
Dollywood in recent days announced that crowds have been so large thus far this season that extra days are being added. The Splash Country water park adds five days Aug. 15-19, keeping it open daily through Aug. 21 and on weekends through Labor Day. Dollywood's main theme park, normally closed most Tuesdays during winter, will be open on Tuesdays, Dec. 6 and 13, during Smoky Mountain Christmas.

July 21:
Pure & Simple Tour Resumes, Rolls On
Dolly opened the second leg of her Pure & Simple Tour in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Tuesday night, following up in Hinckley, Minn., on Wednesday before heading over to Sioux Falls and Deadwood, S.D., on Friday and Saturday. I'm told the Iowa performance was the same as most of her first leg engagements with the exception of switching the places of "Here You Come Again" and "Two Doors Down" in the set list and the absence of her optional second encore, "He's Alive"/"Hello God." She told the audience she had spent the past several days filming the role of the town tramp with big hair and overly done make-up for Christmas Of Many Colors. As on the first leg, she blew her nose often and joked about her need for Kleenex. She also had a minor wardrobe malfunction with some sparkles that began to come off her outfit and required someone to come cut them off. The Gazette had a review here and KCRG covered the show here. Thanks to Matt Legg for the recap and photo at left!

Dolly License Plate Coming For Tenn.?
Dolly's Imagination Library appears to be offering a charitable license plate for Tennessee residents to support her early childhood literacy program in the state. A page on the program's website here that was shared around Facebook on Wednesday noted the plates would add $35 to the cost of one's tags, $15.375 of which goes to the Dollywood Foundation. It explained that 1,000 need to be ordered before they will be produced and a counter on the site showed just over 100 commitments at that time, but later in the evening the page was gone, apparently having become password-protected.

July 18:
Dolly Replaces Cancelled Canadian Show
Dolly has announced a Sept. 10 concert in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Canada at the Essar Centre. Tickets go on sale via the venue's box office at 10 a.m. Friday and will run $89.50 and $129.50 Canadian. The show replaces her previously-announced charity concert in Foley, Ont., cancellation of which was announced by organizers last week.

Dolly Makes 'Taste' Hottest List
Taste Of Country this week issued its annual list of the "40 hottest artists over 40" and Dolly came in at No. 23. Check out the list here.

July 16:
Dolly Cancels Foley Fundraiser Show
Dolly's Pure & Simple Tour resumes Tuesday, starting its second leg in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but up north one date has been lost. The Parry Sound reports that due to "unforeseen circumstances," Dolly's Sept. 10 benefit show at the Foley, Ont., Fairgrounds has been cancelled. Refunds will be given. Learn more here.

The Post Chats With Dolly
The Washington Post recently chatted with Dolly about her Pigeon Forge empire here and offered a video report on her newest dinner theatre here.

U.K. Chart Updates
Emmylou Harris' 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) re-enters the top 20 U.K. country compilation albums tally, it was announced Friday, coming in at No. 18, while her Original Album Series, Vol. 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony) also re-enters the tally, coming in at No. 20, and Ronstadt's own Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) falls back out of the top 20, down from No. 20.

July 15:
'Coat' Sequel Starts Shooting But No Emmy Nods
Principal photography began Thursday on NBC's sequel to Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors, Dolly Parton's Christmas of Many Colors: Circle Of Love, in Georgia. According to reports, Dolly was sighted in the area. Emmy nominations were also released on Thursday and, unfortunately, the massively-successful television movie, the most-watched film on television in six years, failed to receive a nomination. Vanity Fair almost correctly predicted the Best TV Movie nominations earlier in the week here: Confirmation, All The Way, Sherlock: The Abominable Bride and Luther. They missed A Very Murray Christmas, thinking instead that The Dresser would get a nod. However, the publication chose Dolly's film for its "should be nominated (but won't be)" pick.

Dolly Chats With 'The Guardian'
Dolly recently gave a wide-ranging interview with Britain's The Guardian newspaper here to promote her new album talking about the possibility of working with Jack White, her LGBT fans, what instruments she plays, her long-shelved dance album and more.

How Dolly Got To Cedar Rapids
The Des Moines Register offered a little behind-the-scenes information on how Dolly's tour chose to come to rival city Cedar Rapids. Read the piece here.

Dolly Remembers Pat Summitt
The University of Tennessee on Thursday celebrated the life of legendary coach Pat Summitt, and Dolly provided a prerecorded tribute message which WBIR posted here. A shorter text version of her remarks was also released to the media: "Even though Pat and I would not be considered best friends, we had a special bond. We were both proud of the fact we were born and raised Tennessee girls and proud of each other's success. She was not only a great inspiration to me, but to every woman every where. She was loved and respected...and obviously so talented. Pat will live forever in our hearts, our memories and in the record books. Glory to you Pat Summitt. Respectfully and lovingly, Dolly"

'Idol' Winner Wants To Sing With Dolly
Final American Idol winner Trent Harmon told Digital Journal that Dolly is his dream duet partner. Read more here.

July 12:
Five More Concerts Add Ala., Fla., Texas Shows
Five new dates for the final leg of Dolly's Pure & Simple Tour were announced on Monday across Alabama, Florida and Texas: Nov. 16 in Huntsville, Nov. 26 in Tampa, Nov. 27 in the Miami area, Nov. 29 in Pensacola and Dec. 5 in Houston. The additions raise the number of dates for this leg of the tour to 13 and the total for the entire tour to 62 dates. The other legs have all been 16-17 dates, and a couple of interviews noted this would be a 67-date tour, so I'd expect perhaps another four or five concerts are still to be added. Tickets for Huntsvillle at the Von Braun Center Arena go on Ticketmaster presale at 10 a.m. Central time this Thursday, while VIP packages start at 10 am. Wednesday and general public sale start at 10 a.m. Friday. Tickets for the Tampa show in the Amalie Arena go on presale for AEG and Ticketmaster at 10 a.m. Eastern next Thursday, July 21, while VIP packages start at 10 a.m. next Wednesday, July 20, and general public sales start at 10 a.m. next Friday, July 22. The Miami-area date at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla., shows no presale information but has a public sale time of 10 a.m. Eastern next Friday, July 22. The Pensacola Bay Center show has American Express presales and VIP seats on sale at 10 a.m. Central next Wednesday, July 20, AEG, venue, radio and Ticketmaster presales starting at 10 a.m. next Thursday, July 21, and general public sales starting at 10 a.m. next Friday, July 22. The Houston engagement at NRG Arena has VIP tickets and Ticketmaster and local presales starting at 10 a.m. Central time this Thursday with public sales beginning at 10 a.m. this Friday. In other news, Taste Of Country over the weekend shared some shots from Dolly's New Jersey show. Check them out here.

'The Hits' May Be Wal-Mart Exclusive For U.S. Fans
For U.S. customers, the double-CD version of Dolly's Pure & Simple album with The Hits might be a Wal-Mart exclusive, Dollymania.net has learned. Wal-Mart is currently showing the album with the 22-song track listing (the 10 announced songs, two bonus tracks, and 10-song bonus greatest hits CD) as a "Wal-Mart exclusive." Although it appears outside of North America the 22-song version will be the standard release – with the exception of the U.K., which is getting a BBC Music release of her Glastonbury Festival live concert set instead of The Hits – all U.S. retailers are only showing the 10-song version at present with the exception of Wal-Mart. Thanks, Tony!

July 9:
'The Hits' Companion CD, Bonus Tracks Confirmed
Additional details have come to light about Dolly's upcoming album Pure & Simple. The version of the album announcement press release issued by Sony's Masterworks imprint posted to the label's website differed from the version released by Dolly's publicist and Sony Music Nashville, noting that the album "will be available for purchase at all physical outlets and digital/stream platforms as a 22-track edition – containing the 10-track 'Pure & Simple' album plus two bonus tracks on the first disc, and a 10-song selection of hits and catalog tracks." The press release reveals the bonus tracks are "Mama" and "Lovin' You," which the official Pure & Simple Tour books had included in the previously-published 12-song track list for the album. The track listing for the second CD, titled The Hits, was also included in the release and confirmed in various international versions of the project as listed on iTunes France, Japan and Australia (the U.K. version includes the previously-announced live CD from her Glastonbury set, and current listings for all U.S. and Canadian retailers just show the 10-track version announced by Dolly's team on Thursday – and since the Masterworks press release did not specify the U.S. and Canada, it hasn't officially been confirmed yet that the double-CD version will be sold stateside). Dolly's official website on Friday began offering preorder bundles of the CD with additional exclusive memorabilia here. Amazon.com added advance order pages for the CD here, digital download here and import version (although it doesn't specify which country) here. Thanks, Tony and Tim! The track list for The Hits is as follows: