July 21: Dolly, Grascals Earn Three IBMA Nominations
Dolly and The Grascals have snagged three nominations together at the 37th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards, it was revealed last week. Their collaboration "Broken Angels" is up for Song of the Year, Collaborative Recording of the Year, and Music Video of the Year. Winners will be announced from Chattanooga Oct. 22. For Song, they are up against "Can't Outrun the Blues" by Trey Hensley, "New Cluck Old Hen" by Steve Martin and Alison Brown featuring Della Mae, "Cost of Living" by Authentic Unlimited, and "Finding Your Way Home" by Red Camel Collective. For Collaboration, they face "Gentle on My Mind" by Tony Trischka and Billy Strings, "New Cluck Old Hen," "The Devil Went Down to Deep Gap" by Bryan Sutton with Billy Strings, and "Just a Holler Over" by Sister Sadie and The Po' Rambin' Boy. For Video, they face "The Devil Went Down to Deep Gap," "Ralph's Banjo Special" by Kristin Scott Benson, Gena Britt, and Alison Brown, "New Cluck Old Hen" and "Let the Circle Be Broken" by Sister Sadie. The nods bring Dolly's IBMA nomination count to 9, of which she has won 6: Album of the Year for The Grass Is Blue; Collaboration and Gospel Recording for "In The Sweet By and By": with Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle, Bradley Walker and Jerry Salley; Gospel Recording as songwriter of "Sacred Memories" covered by Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers with Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White Skaggs; and two Recorded Event of the Year honors for group projects: Clinch Mountain Sweethearts with Dr. Ralph Stanley and several other female artists and Livin', Lovin', Losin': Songs Of The Louvin Brothers.
Dolly Releases First Official Karaoke Album Dolly on Friday released her first-ever official karaoke EP with the digital album Dolly's Greatest Hits (Official Karaoke Versions). The collection (click on the cover art for larger view) on her own Butterfly Records label, available for download from Amazon here, features re-creations of the original instrumentation from five classics:
9 To 5
I Will Always Love You
Islands in the Stream
Here You Come Again
Jolene
Preview New Hotel, Museum WKRN offered a look last week at Dolly's upcoming SongTeller Hotel and Life of Many Colors Museum with a report here.
Opry Celebrates Bill Anderson Anniversary Bill Anderson set the record last week as the longest-serving member of the Grand Ole Opry and celebrated his 65th Opry anniversary. Among those wishing him well was Dolly via video message. Read more about his achievement from Country Insiderhere
In Memoriam: Jim Gilstrap Jim Gilstrap, a legendary background singer who co-led the theme song for TV's "Good Times" and appeared on several Stevie Wonder hits, most notably "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," died July 18 at the age of 79. His connection to Dolly was helping her make her second pop album, 1978's Heartbreaker. Gilstrap not only sang backing vocals throughout the album but also joined Dolly and Gregg Perry as the album's credited "vocal coaching team." Read his full obituary from Billboardhere.
Miss Utah Pageant Gets A Little Dolly Miss Iron County Shelby Springall impressed the crowd at this year's Miss Utah pageant by speed painting an image of Dolly upside down while dancing to "9 To 5." Check out video from her performance via TikTok here.
'Here I Am' Coming To PBS In August The 2019 British documentary Dolly Parton: Here I Am will be airing on several PBS stations this August for the fall pledge drives. Check local listings to see if it is airing on your local PBS station.
U.K., U.S., Aussie Chart Updates Across the pond, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 retains the top spot on the British country compilation albums chart at No. 1, while Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection inches up one to No. 8, and Linda Ronstadt's installment in the Original Album Series and The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe re-enter the top 20 at No. 14 and No. 20, respectively, and Emmylou Harris' first installment in the Original series falls out of the top 20, down from No. 19. Sabrina Carpenter's Short & Sweet Deluxe Edition, with its Dolly duet, finds itself at No. 38 pop.
On the U.S. charts, Carpenter is at No. 40 pop and Post Malone's F 1 Trillion, with its Dolly duet, is No. 71 pop and No. 16 country.
Down Under, Carpenter is No. 15 Australian pop albums while Post Malone is No. 47 pop and No. 8 Aussie country.
July 14: 'Dolly' Announces Dec. Broadway Previews, Jan. Opening
Dolly last week announced the long-awaited trip to Broadway for her bio-musical Dolly: A True Original Musical. Previews will start Dec. 7 at the St. James Theatre (once Titanique closes) in advance of an official opening night on Dolly's 81st birthday, Jan. 19. Tickets are available here. The announcement video is available here or in the media player above, while the ticket on-sale video is available here and in the media player below. Coverage dominated several media outlets for a few days, with a story from Variety available here as an example. The show is also collecting fan questions for Dolly about the musical on Instagram here.
Monument, Early Singles Released On CD A recent Norwegian-released CD Early Rarities has made its way to the U.S. as an import containing the 18 tracks from 2023's Record Store Day exclusive vinyl The Monument Singles Collection many of which are available on CD for the first time (and repeats that Sony release's error of mistaking the album cut of "Put It Off Until Tomorrow" for the B-side answer song "I'll Put It Off Until Tomorrow" which was supposed to appear on the album and CD). In addition, the release features her first single "Puppy Love"/"Girl Left Alone" from Monument Records at age 13, an teen indie collaboration with Uncle Bill Owens on "So Little I Wanted, So Little I Got"/"Forbidden Love," and her first major label single, "It's Sure Gonna Hurt"/"The Love You Gave" on Mercury Records. Get your copy here!
Study: Dolly Has Sold, Streamed 65 Million Albums Chartmakers.org has ranked the 49 top female artists based on their physical album sales, digital downloads, and streaming to calculate equivalent album units, and Dolly ranked No. 29 with 64.4 million album equivalents. Read the full list here.
Dollywood Makes 'Time' List Dollywood last week was named to Time magazine's inaugural list of the top 500 privately held companies in the United States. It is the only theme park on the tally based on employee satisfaction and company impact on society, global knowledge/health, and the environment. Dollywood was No. 49 on the overall list and No. 4 on Hospitality, Travel, and Leisure.
U.K., U.S., Aussie Chart Updates Across the pond, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 retains the top spot on the British country compilation albums chart at No. 1, while Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection falls four to No. 9, and Linda Ronstadt's installment in the Original Album Series falls out of the top 20, down from No. 16, while Emmylou Harris' first installment in the same series dips one to No. 19. Sabrina Carpenter's Short & Sweet Deluxe Edition, with its Dolly duet, finds itself at No. 34 pop.
On the U.S. charts, Carpenter is at No. 39 pop and Post Malone's F 1 Trillion, with its Dolly duet, is No. 69 pop and No. 15 country.
Down Under, Carpenter is No. 11 Australian pop albums while Post Malone is No. 40 pop and No. 6 Aussie country.
July 7: Dolly's Library Gets Taylor & Travis Wedding Gift
In advance of their wedding last week, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce donated $26 million to 20 different charities across the U.S. in honor of their nuptials, and Dolly's Imagination Library early childhood literacy program received $2 million. Dolly herself took to her social media to thank the couple for their generosity, congratulated them on their wedding, and joked since they were in a giving mood would they gift her their first born child because she knows given the two of them as its parents that would be one very special kid. Watch her message here or in the media player above. In related news, Oklahoma's statewide program, 50 percent funded by its state legislature since 2000, is only three counties away from being available to every eligible child in the state, KOSU revealed here.
'GMA' Celebrates Dolly For Nation's 250th
On the day before America's 250th birthday, ABC sent Good Morning America reporter Will Ganss for a live remote at Dollywood to celebrate Dolly among the final subjects of the network's Disney Celebrates America 250 best things about this nation. Watch the segment here or in the media player above.
Spotify: Dolly Is Country's No. 1 Streamed Female Artist Goldmine magazine looked at Spotify's charts of the all-time most streamed artists in its history and found Dolly ranks as the most streamed female country artist of all time, coming in at No. 724 on the top 1,000 artists list (Taylor Swift ranks higher but due mostly to her pop career rather than her country career, so they don't count her as a country artist). Read more here.
Owepar 'DNA' Doc Still Taping Thanks to Greg for pointing me to a post from about a month ago by a videographer working on interviews for the Smoky Mountain DNA documentary about Dolly's family musical legacy, indicating the project is still alive and being developed. Check out the note here.
U.K., U.S., Aussie Chart Updates Across the pond, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 retains the top spot on the British country compilation albums chart at No. 1, while Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection slips to No. 5, and Ultimate Dolly Parton falls back out of the top 20, down from No. 11, while Linda Ronstadt's installment in the Original Album Series slides four to No. 16, Emmylou Harris' first installment in the same series re-enters the top 20 at No. 18, and Glen Campbell Duets: Ghost On The Canvas Sessions, with a Dolly duet, falls back out of the top 20, down from No. 18. Sabrina Carpenter's Short & Sweet Deluxe Edition, with its Dolly duet, finds itself at No. 33 pop.
On the U.S. charts, Carpenter is at No. 36 pop and Post Malone's F 1 Trillion, with its Dolly duet, is No. 70 pop and No. 15 country.
Down Under, Carpenter is No. 14 Australian pop albums while Post Malone is No. 7 Australian country and No. 43 Australian pop albums.
