Aug. 28: Dolly Celebrates Library In Kansas City, Lexington
Dolly on Tuesday celebrated the latest two states to take her Imagination Library early childhood literacy program statewide, bringing the total to 21 nationwide. The first, in Kansas City, Mo., saw her welcomed to the Show Me State by its governor and first lady at the Folly Theater, temporarily renamed the Dolly Theater for the day. Missouri is the only state to fully fund the program statewide, as all others only fund 50 percent of the program costs leaving private local philanthropy to cover the balance in each community. The second, which was kept secret from the public until just a few hours before it took place in Lexington, Ky., saw her welcomed at that city's Lyric Theater by Kentucky's governor and first lady, who presented her with a Kentucky Colonel recognition (although she had previously been honored as a Kentucky Colonel when she performed in Richmond, Ky., in 2008 for Father Jim Sichko's charities). At both events, she was interviewed about the program and performed "Coat Of Many Colors" and "Try." In Kentucky, her lead track for "Coat Of Many Colors" didn't play and the microphone for her guitar wouldn't work so she sang and spoke the song live a capella. Watch the Kentucky appearance here or in the media player above and the Missouri appearance here or in the media player below.
Dolly is all over the charts this week thanks to her collaboration with Post Malone, "Have The Heart." The duet debuts in the Aug. 31 Billboard tallies at No. 56 Hot 100 to mark her career 22nd pop chart single (and, as the magazine noted here is her first time to have two Hot 100 singles chart in the same year since 1985, thanks to her brief appearance on Beyonce's "Tyrant" earlier this year), No. 22 Hot Country Songs to mark her 112th career country chart single, No. 46 streaming songs, No. 24 country streaming songs, No. 44 Canadian Hot 100, No. 19 Canadian digital song sales, and No. 136 Global Hot 200. Malone's album F 1 Trillion debuts at No. 1 Top 200, country albums, sales, current sales, streaming, vinyl, and Canadian albums. All 18 of its tracks charted on the Hot 100, and the magazine also gushed over a cute photo shoot he had with Dolly here that you may see in the media player above. Elsewhere on the U.S. charts, Dolly's collaboration with Natalie Grant on "Step By Step" inches back down one spot to No. 14 in its 14th chart week on the Adult Contemporary singles chart, and Beyonce's Cowboy Carter loses five to No. 93 top 200 albums, one to No. 18 country albums and one to No. 10 Americana/folk albums. The tribute Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty featuring Dolly's cover of "Southern Accents" rises three to No. 3 compilation albums in its ninth week.
Aug. 26: Full 'Smoky Mountain DNA' Details Released
The full details on Dolly's family album project were finally released last week, confirming the 37 tracks on the Nov. 15 release Dolly Parton & Family: Smoky Mountain DNA -- Family, Faith & Fables. The project's third and fourth singles, the Dolly-led "Smoky Mountain DNA" and niece Heidi Parton-led "A Rose Won't Fix It" with Dolly harmony (Dolly had originally written and recorded the song in 1998 but it was cut from her album that year, a People story explained here), were released Friday. Check them out on YouTube here and here or in the media players above and below. Advance order the album or download the four singles from Amazon here. A four-part companion documentary series is currently in editing. Two-CD or three-LP sets are available from the project's website at smokymountaindna.com. The track listing is as follows:
Dolly Parton Introduction Tennessee Mountain Home (Instrumental)
Dolly Parton Tennessee Mountain Home
Grooms Tune / Bonaparte's Retreat (Instrumental)
Reverend Jake Owens & Dolly Parton I'll Live In Glory
Dolly Parton & Family Singing His Praise / Daddy Was an Old Time Preacher Man Medley
Jake Owens, Avie Lee Parton, Dorothy Jo Parton, Estelle Watson & Dolly Parton I'll Meet You in the Morning
Avie Lee Parton & Dolly Parton Rosewood Casket
Dorothy Jo Owens & Dolly Parton Runaway Girl
John Henry & Dolly Parton I Just Stopped By
Louis Owens & Dolly Parton When Possession Gets Too Strong
Bill Owens & Dolly Parton Put it Off Until Tomorrow
Dolly Parton Smoky Mountain DNA
Stella Parton & Dolly Parton Heart Don't Fail Me Now
Cassie Parton Griffith & Dolly Parton Momma's Special Touch
Randy Parton & Rachel Parton George Take it Slow
Floyd Parton & Dolly Parton Foolin' Around
Freida Parton & Dolly Parton Crops Came In
Rachel Parton & Dolly Parton I Will Know
Dwight Puckett & Dolly Parton Apple Jack
Debbi Jo Hess & Dolly Parton It's All Wrong But It's All Right
Richie Owens & Dolly Parton Tell Me That You Love Me
Tim Rauhoff & Dolly Parton Canceled Plans
Danielle Parton & Dolly Parton The Man
Jada Star & Dolly Parton The Orchard
Sabyn Mayfield & Dolly Parton Holy Water
Heidi Parton & Dolly Parton A Rose Won't Fix It
Rebecca Seaver & Dolly Parton Where Will We Live Tomorrow
Dolly Parton & Family Puppy Love
Shelley Renα & Dolly Parton Not Bad
Tanya Renee & Dolly Parton For Keeps
Estelle Owens & Dolly Parton Crazy in Love With You
Lainey Parton & Dolly Parton Be Your Own Man
Leroy Brown & Dolly Parton Being Me
Faith Reeann & Dolly Parton We Might Be in Love
Merin Seaver & Dolly Parton Randy Floyd
Dolly Parton & Family When It's Family
Dolly Parton Outro Smoky Mountain DNA (instrumental)
Dolly, Rachel Visit TalkShopLive
Dolly and sister Rachel appeared last week on TalkShopLive with cooking show host/entertainer Trisha Yearwood and her sister to promote their upcoming cookbook Good Lookin' Cookin'. Watch the half-hour segment here or in the media player above.
Livestream Dolly's Kansas City Appearance Tuesday Kansas City PBS has revealed it will livestream Dolly's visit with the Missouri governor and first lady to celebrate the statewide expansion of her Imagination Library early childhood literacy program. Viewing requires registering via Eventbrite here in advance of the 11 a.m. Central (noon Eastern) stream on Tuesday.
Beauty Line Gets Own Website Although the Dolly Beauty makeup line was revealed the previous week, the full official announcement didn't hit until last week with a press release in which Dolly said: "All of my life I've wanted to be pretty, and my new cosmetic line is going to allow me and you to be our very best. So, fly pretty, up, up and away. Enjoy!" The first product, Heaven's Kiss Lipstick, is available online at DollyBeauty.com.
U.S., U.K., Australian Chart Updates Post Malone's F 1 Trillion, featuring several country star collaborations including Dolly on "Have The Heart," will be this week's No. 1 overall album and No. 1 country album when charts are released Tuesday. Billboard indicates it will debut with 250,000 credit units, split as 80,000 physical sales and full-album downloads, 6,000 track downloads that equal albums, and 164,000 unit credits for 213 million on-demand streams of the album. The album debuts across the pond at No. 1 U.K. pop albums, No. 3 Scottish albums, No. 1 streaming, No. 2 physical sales, No. 2 overall sales, No. 2 downloads, and No. 1 country albums. Down Under, it debuts at No. 2 Australian pop and No. 1 country. Elsewhere on the U.S. charts:
Dolly's collaboration with Natalie Grant on "Step By Step" regains one back to its previous peak position of No. 13 in its 13th chart week on the official Billboard Aug. 24 Adult Contemporary singles chart released Tuesday.
In its 20th week, Beyonce's Cowboy Carter falls off the current album sales chart, down from No. 46. The collection loses nine to No. 88 top 200 albums but gains one to No. 17 country albums and holds steady at No. 9 Americana/folk albums.
Across the pond, Beyonce falls two to No. 5 U.K. country albums, gains one to No. 5 Americana, and re-enters the top 100 overall sales chart at No. 72 and physical sales chart at No. 69.
Dolly's duet with rapper-turned-country artist Post Malone hit on Friday from his country album F 1 Trillion. The track, "Have The Heart", featured an official lyric video available here or in the media player above where Malone is seen with a Dolly pinball machine, Dolly standee, and other memorabilia. Download the tune , here.
Dolly Presented Year-Old Gold, Platinum Awards Although no explanation was given why they waited more than a year to present her with the RIAA plaques, Dolly last week accepted decorative awards for six gold and platinum certifications she earned 15 months ago. The photo of her with current manager Danny Nozell and the awards (at left, click on for higher resolution) was released last week. Less ornate versions of the certifications had already been on public display in her new Dolly Parton Experience Museum at Dollywood since it opened in May 2024. Certified a year prior to that, in May 2023, and reported here at the time, the awards were for combined physical and digital sales/streams of the 1999 compilation Super Hits and 1974 studio album Jolene at the gold level for more than 500,000 unit credits and digital download/streaming awards for the singles "Coat Of Many Colors" at 500,000 units for gold level and "Jolene," "9 To 5" and "Islands In The Stream" with Kenny Rogers at triple platinum for 3 million downloads/streaming equivalents each.
New Dolly Make Up Line Launching With Lip Sticks
Dolly last week announced that her second-ever makeup line, Dolly Beauty, will debut Thursday with Heaven's Kiss lipsticks as its first product. The lipsticks will be sold in a four-stick capsule featuring Jolene Red, Honey Plum purple, Rosebud pink, and Birthday Suit nude. Each bullet is covered in crystals and bears the Dolly signature logo. Additional products are expected in the near future. Dolly previously had a short-lived cosmetics line through Revlon in the 1990s.
Kansas City Visit Scheduled For Next Week Dolly's gubernatorial visit to Missouri to celebrate taking her Imagination Library early childhood literacy program statewide there has been scheduled for a week from Tuesday in Kansas City, it was announced last week. Gov. Mike Parson and First Lady Teresa Parson will host the event for Dolly at 11 a.m. Aug. 27. Dolly has visited several states to conduct interviews with the first lady and/or governor in front of invited crowds of Imagination Library volunteers over the past couple of years for each state that expands its program statewide.
Dolly Gets Three Country People's Choice Nominations Dolly last week collected three nominations for this year's People's Choice Country Awards, to be hosted by Shania Twain on NBC Sept. 26. She is up for Female Artist of 2024 against Beyonce, Carly Pearce, Kasey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini, Lainey Wilson, Megan Morony, and Miranda Lambert. She is also up for Social Country Star of 2024 against Bailey Zimmerman, Beyonce, Jelly Roll, Ballerini, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, and Reba McEntire. Finally, she is nominated as the songwriter of "Jolene" for Beyonce's version being up for Cover Song of 2024 against Beyonce's "Blackbird," Orville Peck and Willie Nelson's "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other," Maren Morris' "Dancing With Myself," Parker McCollum's "Perfectly Lonely," mgk's "Sun To Me," Lana Del Rey's "Take Me Home, Country Roads," and Musgraves' "Three Little Birds."
Dolly Donates Dress To Franklin Parks Friends of Franklin Parks for the city just outside of Nashville last week auctioned off a blue Dolly dress she donated to support the nonprofit. She wore the outfit during a 1995 appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman and for a photo shoot with a butterfly-backed chair, 8x10s of which were sold at her theme park. The Lillie Reuben-designed number sold for $2,500.
Panama City Pirates Voyage Tops Off Building Dolly's Panama City, Fla., Pirates Voyage dinner theater last week reached the construction milestone of laying its highest steel beam and celebrated with a "topping off ceremony," My Pan Handle reported here. The third pirate-themed attraction in her chain of performance art dinner theaters is expected to open in spring 2025.
U.S., U.K., Aussie Chart Updates Dolly's collaboration with Natalie Grant on "Step By Step" turned around on the official Billboard Adult Contemporary singles chart released Tuesday, inching up one to No. 14 in its 12th chart week, according to the Aug. 17 numbers. However, on the competing Mediabase singles chart, the track last week entered the top 10 at No. 10 for the first time. Elsewhere on the charts:
In its 19th week, Beyonce's Cowboy Carter loses four to No. 46 current album sales, one to No. 79 top 200 albums, and one to No. 18 country albums, holding steady at No. 9 Americana/folk albums.
Across the pond, Beyonce rises one to No. 3 U.K. country albums and holds steady at No. 6 Americana, falling back off the top sales chart and top physical sales tally, down from No. 88 and No. 87, respectively.
Dolly and her sister Rachel appeared Friday on HSN to promote their upcoming cookbook Good Lookin' Cookin', coming out Sept. 17. They not only cooked and prepared dishes live on air but also took questions in a streaming Q&A and returned for a second appearance later in the evening. The first appearance and Q&A are available here or in the media player above. The second appearance is available here or in the media player below.
Vincent Sings John Denver With Dolly, '9 To 5' Without
Longtime Dolly pal Rhonda Vincent released a covers-filled new album Friday, Destinations and Fun Places, with two Dolly connections: it features a surprise Dolly collaboration with her and Cody Johnson on the John Denver classic "Take Me Home Country Roads" as well as Rhonda's bluegrass cover of Dolly's "9 To 5." Stream the first song from YouTube here or the media player above and the second song here or in the media player below, and download them both on the album from Amazon here.
'Step By Step' Begins To Fall On Chart After peaking at No. 13 to mark her 12-highest-charting Adult Contemporary single of her career, Dolly's collaboration with Natalie Grant on "Step By Step" last week started its slide down the chart, losing two spots to No. 15 in its 11th chart week, the Aug. 10 numbers released Tuesday showed. Elsewhere on the charts:
In its 18th week, Beyonce's Cowboy Carter falls two to No. 42 current album sales, five to No. 78 top 200 albums, two to No. 17 country albums, and one to No. 9 Americana/folk albums. The title falls off Canadian albums, down from No. 88.
Across the pond, Beyonce inches down two to No. 4 country albums and one to No. 6 Americana, re-entering the top sales chart at No. 88 and top physical sales tally at No. 87.
Dolly last week released a benefit single with The Rascals frontman Felix Cavaliere of the band's top 10 1960s hit "My Hawaii." (It is a different song than the one of the same name she performed on her 1987-88 ABC variety series when it visited Hawaii.) This week will be the one-year anniversary of the wildfires that devastated the island community of Maui. All proceeds will be donated to the Maui United Way's Fire Disaster Relief Fund. Stream the single from YouTube here or in the media player above, and download it from Amazon here.
Dolly Buys Titanic Museums World Choice Investments, Dolly's second partnership with Dollywood co-owners Herschend Family Entertainment, several months ago added the Titanic museum attractions in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and Branson, Mo., to their portfolio, purchasing the businesses from founders John and Mary Kellogg-Joslyn and their EPR Properties, to operate alongside their other attractions in the WCI brand: Dolly's Stampede in Pigeon Forge and Branson, Pirates Voyage in Pigeon Forge and Myrtle Beach, S.C., (with a third location under construction in Panama City, Fla.), and Pigeon Forge's Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Feud, Comedy Barn, and Miss Frizzle's Chicken House. News of the sale reached the press last week in Branson, prompting a statement confirming it had occurred. Check out coverage from Knoxville's WATE here.
Dolly Records New 'IWALY' Duet Dolly has recorded yet another version of her signature song "I Will Always Love You," this time with contemporary Christian pianist Alex-Zsolt, the artist revealed last week on his social media here. The collaboration, arranged by 26-time Dove Award winner David T. Clydesdale, will appear on Alex-Zsolt's 19th album the upcoming Alex-Zsolt At The Ivories. The track also features Charles Billingsley and the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
Post Malone Confirms Dolly Duet Post Malone on Wednesday released the full track listing of his upcoming F 1 Trillion album coming Aug. 16 confirming Dolly's appearance on the track "Have the Heart." Order your copy here!
U.S., U.K., Aussie Chart Updates As was reported here last week, "Step By Step" by Dolly and Natalie Grant rises two this week to No. 13 on the U.S. adult contemporary chart, with its 10th chart week on the Aug. 3 tallies released Tuesday. Elsewhere on the charts last week:
The tribute Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty featuring Dolly's cover of "Southern Accents" falls out of the current album sales list, down from No. 50, and holds steady at No. 1 compilation albums in its fifth week.
In its 17th week, Beyonce's Cowboy Carter falls off the top sales chart, down from No. 40, dips nine to No. 40 current album sales charts, six to No. 73 top 200 albums and 21 to No. 88 Canadian albums while holding steady at No. 15 country albums and No. 8 Americana/folk albums.
