July 30: 'Very Best' Remains On Australian Chart The "gold series" re-issue of The Very Best Of Dolly Parton (Australian Tour Edition) gains one this week on the Australian country albums chart to No. 13 in its 358th chart week since its original 2007 release.
July 28: Dolly's Roger Miller Cover Released As Single
BMG/Warner Music Group on Friday released three singles from the upcoming Roger Miller tribute album, King Of The Road. Although the full collection doesn't come out until Aug. 31, tracks by Dolly (featuring Alison Krauss), Brad Paisley and Loretta Lynn were made available for download purchase this week. Get Dolly's version of "The Last Word In Lonesome Is Me" from Amazon here. In advance of the official release, Dolly shared the track on her official YouTube page Thursday here or in the media player above.
Dolly Plans Park Tours Next Weekend At Dollywood Dollywood has announced that during Dolly's visit to the park next weekend to announce its 2019 addition on the morning of Aug. 3, she will provide fans with two park tours, weather permitting. Each one is scheduled for 4 p.m. from Showstreet Palace Theater to Heartsong Theater on Friday, Aug. 3, and Saturday, Aug. 4.
'9 To 5' Sequel Gets Press Attention Again The news that Dolly, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda are working on a 9 To 5 sequel, first announced back in March and brought back up a couple of times since then as mentions of it make their rounds in the media, got a lot of press coverage again this week when Fonda mentioned it during a panel discussion being taped for an HBO documentary on her life. Check out a story on the update from People magazine here.
Overseas Chart Updates After three weeks back on top of the charts, giving the album a total of 27 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1, Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt this week lose the peak position on the British country compilation albums chart for The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe, which slips one to No. 2 in the album's 98th chart week. Also on the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) drops two to No. 9, Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) gains five to No. 8, and Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) remains steady at No. 14.
Big Dolly Party Returns To San Francisco The Fourth Annual Dolly Hoot party in San Francisco has been scheduled for 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 4 at the El Rio Bar. The event features live performances of Dolly's songs by guest artists, dancing, contests and Dolly drag appearances. Tickets are $5 each and proceeds benefit the Imagination Library. The Facebook event page is available here.
July 25: More Details On August Dollywood Appearance Dollywood on Tuesday confirmed, as had previously been reported here, that Dolly will be on park Aug. 3 at 11 a.m. in DP's Celebrity Theatre to announce its expansion for next year, also revealing that the new area will be called "Wildwood Grove." Unconfirmed reports from fans indicate that, as happened with this season's opening ceremony with Dolly, the first 1,100 season passholders at the front gate will receive wristbands to attend the announcement, but your webmaster has not seen verification of that plan yet. For those unable to make it in person, the appearance will be streamed live on Facebook, as was also previously reported here. The "biggest announcement ever" from the park has a Facebook events page here. Check out a brief story on the new area's name and Dolly's appearance announcement from WBIR here.
July 23: Dolly Returns To Charts Down Under Thanks to a "gold series" re-issue, The Very Best Of Dolly Parton (Australian Tour Edition) this week re-enters the Australian country albums chart at No. 14 to mark its 357th chart week since release. The Sony compilation was originally released in 2007 in the UK and Australia, going gold (100,000 units) in England (and eventually platinum, 300,000 units, in 2013). Its success sparked a second volume later in 2007. When she toured Australia in 2013, they were combined and re-issued there as a two-disc set called the "Tour Edition," which went platinum (more than 75,000 copies sold) Down Under. That set was recently reissued again.
Since the movie opens with a fight scene choreographed to Dolly's "9 To 5," the makers of Deadpool 2 this week released a music video of the song to promote the Aug. 21 release of the extended "Super Duper Cut" of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray. Watch it here or in the media player above. But that's not the only appearance of the song in recent days. Someone mixed the song to clips of the John Wick movies starring Keanu Reeves (which is appropriate since Reeves' mother made some of Dolly's stage costumes, including her famous bunny outfit for the cover of Playboy in 1978, which Reeves actually wore years later as a Halloween costume once as a teen-ager). Watch the clip here. Also, with police departments across the country taking part in the Facebook lip synch challenge, several have included the song in their videos, including the Zachary, Louisiana, Police Department here, Anchorage, Alaska, Police Department here and the Clackamas County, Oregon, Sheriff's Office here.
Dollywood Announcement To Stream Live Dollywood has revealed it will stream Dolly's Aug. 3 announcement from the park of its 2019 expansion, calling the 11 a.m. event "our biggest announcement ever." Check out the Facebook events page for it here.
Asheville Area Gets Dolly Mural A huge Dolly mural has been painted on the side of a building in West Asheville, N.C. Check out a story on the new local attraction from WLOS here.
Overseas Charts Updates Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt this week earn a 27th non-consecutive No. 1 week for The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe on the British country compilations albums chart, remaining steady in the album's 97th chart week. The Deadpool 2 soundtrack with Dolly's "9 To 5" falls off the top 50 U.K. soundtrack albums chart, down from No. 33 in its eighth week. Also on the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) holds steady at No. 7, Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) drops one to No. 13, and Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 loses four to No. 14.
July 18: Dolly To Return To Dollywood In August Dollywood last week began teasing the major park expansion coming in 2019 with a rainbow-tinted plant theme and the phrase "We're planting the seeds for something big in 2019." The notice says hints will be coming over the next few weeks and encourages the hashtag usage of #dw2019. Dolly is expected to be on park on Aug. 3 to formally announce the expansion plans. She will also be taking some meetings on park Aug. 4, so additional appearances that day may take place as well.
Watch Reese's Dolly Interview Online Reese Witherspoon's new on demand interview series, Shine On With Reese, premiered with its Dolly episode Tuesday on a Hello Sunshine Video On Demand channel on AT&T's DirecTV (channel 1112), DirecTV Now and U-Verse (channel 1530). The show garnered much attention, including a piece from People magazine here. AT&T is offering the episode for free streaming here.
Hear Roger Miller Cover Rolling Stone magazine last week teased the first song from the Aug. 31 Roger Miller tribute project coming out from BMG, King Of The Road, by offering streaming audio of Dolly's contribution to the project, "The Last Word In Lonesome Is Me" with Alison Krauss. Take a listen here and reserve your copy of the two-CD collection here!
Seeking '9 To 5' Stories The guys behind Hollywood To Dollywood are now working with an LA production company to cover all things 9 To 5. They're seeking stories of inspiration or empowerment that movie brought out in people's lives as well as rare memorabilia or anything else related to the film, musical, or television series. Send your information to stillworking9to5@gmail.com.
Overseas Chart Updates Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt this week earn a 26th non-consecutive No. 1 week for The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe on the British country compilations albums chart, remaining steady in the album's 96th chart week. The Deadpool 2 soundtrack with Dolly's "9 To 5" loses four to No. 33 on the U.K. soundtrack albums chart in its eighth week. Also on the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) falls four to No. 7, Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) drops two to No. 12, and Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 inches down one to No. 10.
Mag Reports On 'Secret' Dolly TV Projects Gossip magazine Closer Weekly last week reported a source had confirmed three "secret" Dolly projects being developed for television in addition to her series of Netflix movies: first, a series she'd executive produce about a Southern female preacher called Sister Love; second, a series she'd star in about a grandmother who inherits a mansion called Southern Belle-Heir which she'd like to feature goddaughter Miley Cyrus as her granddaughter; and third, another holiday-themed movie for NBC. Read more here.
Welcome Little Dolly! Thanks for understanding the lack of updates the past week, as your webmaster was out of town for the birth of his daughter, named Dolly, of course!
July 11: Rock Hall Of Fame Features Dolly Pinball The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland this week announced a new exhibit which features Dolly. "Part Of The Machine: Rock and Pinball" opens Wednesday in the Main Exhibit Hall of the museum and includes playable pinball machines dedicated to artists including Dolly and her 1979 Bally machine as well as Elton John, Guns N' Roses, Alice Cooper, KISS, and The Who. The display also features related memorabilia including the dress Dolly wore which inspired the backglass art of her pinball machine, the drum set of Peter Criss from KISS, the guitar on which The Who's Pete Townshend composed "Pinball Wizard," Alice Cooper's electric chair prop from his 1971 tour and an Andy Warhol piece titled "Little Electric Chair." Attendees will receive a limited number of complimentary tokens upon entry to the Hall of Fame to play the pinball machines and will be able to purchase additional tokens for a fee. Those playing the games will be able to tweet their high scores with the hashtag #pinballwizard to be featured on the leaderboard of high scores. An end date for the exhibit has not been announced. Learn more from the Hall of Fame's website here.
Witherspoon Show Includes Dolly Actress Reese Witherspoon on Tuesday announced she is launching a new interview series on trailblazing women titled Shine On With Reese, which will premiere next week on a Hello Sunshine Video On Demand channel on AT&T's DirecTV (channel 1112), DirecTV Now and U-Verse (channel 1530). Among the early interviewees in the series are Dolly, director Ava DuVernay, author Glennon Doyle and World Cup champion Abby Wambach. Read more from Deadlinehere.
Dolly Caught Out In LA Dolly was out and about in Los Angeles this week and got caught by paparazzi. Media who shared the photos misidentified her gloves as medical bandages for an injury and misidentified a longtime employee as her husband. Check out the images from Britain's The Daily Mailhere.
July 9: Dolly Chats With 'Nash News'
Nash Country Daily last week released a new Dolly interview conducted a few weeks back in which she talks about running her theme park, her career, the current ladies of country music and her desire to work with Reba McEntire musically or on film. Take a listen to the interview with Elaina Smith from the site's "Women Want To Hear Women" podcast here or in the audio player below or watch the video portion in here or in the video player above.
'Trio' Stays No. 1 Overseas This Week The Trio of Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt this week see a 25th non-consecutive week for The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe to sit at No. 1 on the British country compilations albums chart, remaining steady in the album's 95th chart week. The Deadpool 2 soundtrack with Dolly's "9 To 5" slips 12 to No. 29 on the U.K. soundtrack albums chart in its seventh week. Also on the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) gains three to No. 3, Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) rises three to No. 10, and Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 inches up one to No. 9.
A Brief Hiatus Your webmaster has a new baby coming at the end of the week, so starting late this week updates may be interrupted for a week or so. Thanks for your understanding!
July 4: Trio Tops U.K. Chart Once Again Presumably due to a sales bump following news of their selection for a new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last week, the Trio of Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt this week saw their The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe rebound nine places in its 94th chart week since release to capture a 24th week at No. 1 on the British country compilations albums chart. The Deadpool 2 soundtrack with Dolly's "9 To 5" gains three on the U.K. soundtrack albums chart in its sixth week but falls off both the U.S. top 200 pop albums chart, down from No. 197 in its fifth week, and top 50 Australian pop albums chart, down from No. 39 in its fifth week. Also on the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) slides one to No. 6, Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) dips two to No. 13, and Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 gains four to No. 10.
Dollywood Makes Two Best Of Lists Dollywood made two lists this week: Architectural Digest's 11 Most Breathtaking Amusement Parks in the World here and Money magazine's 10 Best Amusement Parks in the U.S., coming in at No. 6 here. The park's Star-Spangled Summer continues through Aug. 5 with 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. extended hours, nightly fireworks and more. Several rising country stars perform each Thursday in July for "America's New Faces of Country," the American Eagle Foundation will offer meet-and-greets with several of their featured bald eagles at the Plaza at Wilderness Pass, and iLuminate headlines with dazzling lights and glow-in-the-dark costumes.
'Straight Talk' Re-Issue Reviewed DVD Talk this week reviewed April's Blu-Ray re-issue of Dolly's film Straight Talk. Check it out here.
