More Photos Posted
Additional shots of Dolly from last weekend at Dollywood have been posted in the Harvest Celebration section of the site here (more to come throughout the week!), and some new shots from her recent CD signings have been added to that section here. Thanks!

No CCMA Nod For Dolly
Final ballots are out for the 2004 Christian Country Music Association (CCMA) Awards, and Dolly unfortunately didn't make the cut. Her video for "Welcome Home" from last year's For God And Country was one of 10 preliminary nominees for Video Of The Year but didn't make it into the final five nominations. However, her sister Stella is up for Female Vocalist Of The Year, as is duet partner Dottie Rambo, with whom Dolly last year shared two nominations for "Stand By The River." (Dolly had also been nominated last year for Mainstream Artist Of The Year, but she lost in all three categories.) Stella is also nominated for the Pioneer Award. Winners will be announced Nov. 4 in Nashville. The association's magazine, Power Source, is also out, and Dolly's duet with Norah Jones, "Creepin' In" from Jones' Feels Like Home, comes in at No. 7 on the independent country singles chart for September.

Sept. 27:
Dollywood Coverage
It was a big weekend at Dollywood, with Dolly on hand to kick off the park's annual Harvest Celebration, bluegrass concert series and Southern Gospel Jubilee, in addition to her own four sold-out benefit concerts for the Dollywood Foundation. Read the Dollymania event recap and see photos in a new section of the site here. Additional pictures, and a complete transcript of her public appearance and media Q&A in the park from Friday, will be posted in coming days.

Flyin' High
Dolly made an appearance earlier Friday at the McGhee Tyson Air Base in Knoxville to unveil her portrait pained on the nose of a KC-135E air refueler operated worldwide by the Tennessee Air National Guard 134th Air Refueling Wing. Christened The "Miss Dolly" in her honor 15 years ago, the plane got an image of Dolly in her patriotic outfit from the cover of For God And Country pained on its nose, an artform used on military aircraft for years, most notably during World War II. Dolly unveiled the image live on CBS' The Early Show, followed by a private concert for the troops and their families on the base featuring the songs "Red, White and Bluegrass," "Blue Smoke," "Color Me America," "Rocky Top" and "I Will Always Love You." See coverage from various media outlets below:

Latest Tour News: 2005 Extension
Dolly announced during her CBS appearance Friday and in a story for Billboard magazine released Saturday through the Reuters news service that her "Hello I'm Dolly" tour will extend into 2005 with up to 100 additional concerts to be added, although no dates for next year have been scheduled yet. (The only locations specificlly mentioned by Dolly over the weekend as likely spring 2005 stops are Dollywood and Nashville.) She noted that the tour is in no way a "farewell tour" -- she has said many times over the years that she has no plans to ever retire as long as she is alive. Read the Billboard story here. In related news:

Another Great Review
Britain's Sunday Herald this weekend gave Live And Well four out of five stars, calling the set's song selection "tailored to satisfy the entire diverse spectrum of her fan base," singling out her cover of "Stairway To Heaven" and her original vocals on the Whitney Houston-covered "I Will Always Love You." The reviewer notes that the minimal editing preserves her "non-stop chat and banter with the audience" and adds that the collection underlines "her reputation as a superbly generous entertainer." Read the full review here.

Stevens Update
Although it doesn't mention Dolly, The Tennessean confirmed over the weekend that Yusuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, who was refused entry into the U.S. due to terrorist concerns last week, had been scheduled this week to begin recording in Nashville with longtime Dolly producer and label executive Steve Buckingham. Read the column, including Steve's comments on the situation, here. As was noted here last week, a British newspaper reported that while in Nashville, Islam was to meet with Dolly, although no official word of such plans has come from Dolly or anyone associated with her.

Big Winds A'Comin'
For the third time in six weeks, Dolly's Orlando Dixie Stampede was forced to close this weekend due to a hurricane. This time it was Hurricane Jeanne, which made landfall late Saturday night near Stuart, Fla., packing 120 mile-per-hour winds and blamed for several deaths throughout the state on Sunday. The Stampede, which previously closed for Hurricanes Frances and Charley (the latter of which also forced closure of the restaurant's Myrtle Beach, S.C., location), was closed on Saturday and Sunday and was scheduled to re-open on Tuesday. It does not operate in Orlando on Mondays at this time of the year.

European Update
Arly Karlsen and Pat Roden's cover of the Porter & Dolly No. 1 "Please Don't Stop Loving Me" drops two more places this week to No. 4 on the European CMA's bi-weekly country singles chart, it was announced over the weekend. The song, which Porter and Dolly wrote and originally recorded three decades ago, had previously spent a record-setting six consecutive charts (for a total of a dozen weeks) at No. 1 on the European chart. The single returns to the top 20 country airplay charts in Denmark, at No. 20, and in Italy, at No. 13.

Jones Up In U.K.
Norah Jones' Feels Like Home, featuring Dolly on "Creepin' In," gains back three places to No. 53 in its 32nd week on the U.K. pop albums chart, it was announced Sunday.

Smith Honored
Mindy Smith, who came to the national spotlight with her cover of Dolly's "Jolene" for last year's tribute project Just Because I'm A Woman: Songs Of Dolly Parton (which Dolly liked so much she added her own harmony vocals to the recording for Smith's debut album One Moment More this year), was named Best New/Emerging Artist over the weekend at the Americana Music Association's fifth annual conference in Nashville and third annual Americana Honors and Awards program.

Problem Resolved
Apologies to those unable to access the site over the weekend! Your webmaster was out of town and without computer access from Thursday morning through Sunday evening, so I was unaware of the problem, but apparently on Thursday night or Friday morning a malfunction with my Web host's software re-set the site's access to restricted, meaning all of its pages became inaccessible to the public. When I discovered the problem upon returning home late Sunday, I immediately contacted the company, which promptly corrected the error. For those who had seen the most recent update (early Thursday morning), the site had not been updated again until late Sunday night. Many thanks to the several dozen readers who wrote in to alert me to the situation!

Sept. 23-26:
UPDATE: 'Live' Chart Update
Dolly's concert CD Live And Well debuts at No. 22 country, this week's highest-debuting country CD to earn it the chart's "Hot Shot Debut" designation. The album also debuts at No. 12 indie and No. 176 comprehensive in the Oct. 2 Billboard charts released Thursday. As was reported here Wednesday night, the CD debuts at No. 161 pop. The DVD version debuts at No. 36 for music videos but doesn't make the top 40 overall DVDs. Norah Jones' Feels Like Home, including Dolly on the cut "Creepin' In," drops four to No. 59 pop and comprehensive and three to No. 17 for Internet sales in its 32nd chart week. Mindy Smith's One Moment More, featuring Dolly on her cover of "Jolene," moves up four notches to No. 22 in its 34th week on the independent labels albums chart. Kenny Rogers' 42 Ultimate Hits, with "Islands In The Stream," falls five places to No. 55 country in its 16th chart week. With 121,000 copies sold, Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying returns for a third week at the No. 1 spot on the country side in its fourth chart week but inches down one to No. 3 pop. Alan Jackson's What I Do falls one to No. 2 country and is down six to No. 7 pop in its second chart week.

UPDATE: Up In Canada
Live And Well debuts at No. 23 country but didn't make the top 200 pop, while Jones' Feels Like Home gains two places to No. 27 in its 33rd week on the Canadian pop albums chart, it was also announced Thursday.

Update: Barred Singer Was To Meet Dolly
According to the British newspaper The Mirror on Thursday, a spokesperson for Yusuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens was on his way to visit Dolly when he was refused entry into the U.S. on Wednesday. CMT.com had previously reported on Wednesday that he was on his way to Nashville for a scheduled recording session when federal officials removed him from an airplane en route to Washington, D.C., and escorted him onto a plane returning to London later that evening claiming he was a threat to national security and had been placed on a terrorist watch list. The British paper quoted a spokesperson saying his business in the U.S. was to set up charity meetings and to meet with Dolly. Read the full story here. Of course, Dolly had a dance hit with her cover of his classic "Peace Train" in 1997.

Viva Atlantic City
In what are the most expensive tickets on the "Hello I'm Dolly" tour so far, Caesars Atlantic City on Wednesday announced tickets for Dolly's Nov. 12 concert at the New Jersey casino will be $125 each. Tickets for the very late (10 p.m.) show will go on sale to the public at 3 p.m. Thursday at Ticketmaster.

'Live' To Debut This Week
Dolly's concert CD Live And Well will debut at No. 161 on the Oct. 2 pop albums chart, Billboard announced on Wednesday. That number should put it around the mid-20s (maybe No. 24 or 25) on the country albums chart, figures for which will be released on Thursday.

More Good Works
The Alameda Times Star in Tennessee says Dolly is one of the contributors to a new cookbook from Honest Abe Log Homes benefiting the National Cancer Awareness Foundation. The cookbooks at available for $12 including shipping from NCAF c/o Honest Abe Log Homes, 3855 Clay County Highway, Moss, TN. 38575 or by phone at (800) 231-3695.

Another Library Story
Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program gets a plug in the Allegan County News in Michigan over its expansion into the county. Read the brief here.

Dolly Praises Kohrs Project
So what does Dolly think of her former Blueniques member Randy Kohrs and his new album, I'm Torn? In a press release, she gushes: "There's no limit to Randy's talent. What a great, great CD. You will love this. I was very proud to be a small part of it." As was first reported here, Dolly duets with Kohrs on the track "It Looked Good On Paper" on the CD available here.

Following Dolly
Frequent Dollymania contributor Debbie Poole (see her photos from Dolly's CD signings here) got her own profile on Evansville, Ind., TV station WFIE this week about her travel to the state all the way from East Tennessee to see Dolly in person. Read it here.

A Brief Hiatus
Your faithful webmaster is heading up to Dollywood to cover Dolly's appearances in the park on Friday and her benefit concerts over the weekend, so there won't be any updates for a few days. (Although I hope to update the page first thing on Thursday to include the full chart data on Dolly's new CD and DVD.) Check back for a full recap of the weekend and all other Dolly news on Sunday evening!

Sept. 22:
More Ticket News
As was reported here, special pre-sale tickets for Dolly's Nov. 14 Fairfax, Va., show were offered to the public beginning Tuesday at noon here, and of course, tickets are still available. Keep checking the link in coming weeks for pre-sales to additional concerts. In related news, Ticketmaster on Tuesday announced that a separate pre-sale for the same show with a code provided by an unnamed local radio station there will begin at 9 p.m. Thursday and end at 5 p.m. Friday. Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Paper: 'Live' Is 'Sassy'
The Los Angeles Daily News recently reviewed Dolly's concert CD and DVD collection Live And Well, saying: "Overall, the band is tight and her voice is great, but the most entertaining aspect of the whole shebang is Parton's trashy, sassy between-songs patter." Read the full mini-review as published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer here this week. The Associated Press also on Tuesday issued its review of the DVD set. Read it from New Hampshire's Concord Monitor here.

More Stewart Details
J-Records on Tuesday "officially" announced Rod Stewart's third installment in his "American Standards" series, Stardust: The Great American Songbook: Volume III, which, it was previously reported, hits stores Oct. 19 featuring a duet with Dolly on "Baby It's Cold Outside." The disc will also include a duet with Bette Midler on "Manhattan," Eric Clapton on "Blue Moon" and Stevie Wonder playing harmonica on "What A Wonderful World." Read the label's press release here. Reserve your copy of the CD here!

New Signing Photos
Check out the CD signing galleries here for new pictures of Dolly from her Huntsville and Evansville signings late last week. Thanks to all who sent in photos!

Sept. 21:
Fairfax Tickets Available Here Tuesday
Get ready to click your way to "Hello I'm Dolly" tickets before everyone else can! A special pre-sale is scheduled to begin at noon Eastern on Tuesday for Dolly's Nov. 14 concert in Fairfax, Va., at the Patriot Center. Visit the link here (or click on the yellow banner beneath this story) to order your advance tickets for the show, which will run $36-$55. Keep checking here, and visiting the link, for information on additional pre-sales as they are announced in coming weeks! Regular tickets for the Fairfax show go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Saturday via Ticketmaster. The company managing the pre-sales has expanded the program again, adding the fan site Voice Of An Angel to the list of sites authorized to provide the pre-sale link in addition to Dollymania and Dolly On-Line.

Kentucky Smiles
The Kentucky New Era posted a story on Monday recapping Dolly's Saturday autograph session at Ft. Campbell, Ky. Read it here. And look here for some more photos from her Alabama and Indiana signing sessions in Tuesday night's update (didn't have time to get to them on Monday).

Ru-Dolly?
Drag supermodel turned singer turned actor and major Dolly fan Rupaul tells The Daily Beacon at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, just down the road from Dollywood, that she would love to duet with Dolly. Other choice partners she identified in the interview included Tanya Tucker, Pam Tillis, Boy George and David Bowie. A major Dolly fan, Ru covered her "With Bells On" for a Christmas album several years ago. Read the full interview here. (And check out Ru's photo with Dolly on the Dollymania "Fan Antics" section of fan-submitted photos!)

She'd Have My Vote
I'm told Great American Country's Albums Showcase program airing this month features newcomer Melonie Cannon. The Dolly connection? Melonie dons a "Dolly For President" t-shirt during her performance. I'd like to get me one of those! Thanks, Bridget!

In Memoriam
Funeral services are scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday in Nashville's Ryman Auditorium for Grand Ole Opry member Skeeter Davis, who succumbed on Sunday after a long fight with cancer. She was 72. Best known for her No. 2 country and No. 2 pop solo hit "The End Of The World" from 1962 and her multi-week country No. 1 "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" with Betty Jack Davis as the duo The Davis Sisters in 1953, she held an affinity for fellow Opry member Dolly. In 1967, Dolly penned Davis' 10th most successful solo single of her career, "Fuel To The Flame," which the singer took to No. 11, and around the same time she covered another Dolly staple, "Put It Off Until Tomorrow." Five years later, in 1972, she further recognized Dolly's power as a songwriter by recording the first Dolly tribute collection, Skeeter Sings Dolly, which featured her two earlier covers in addition to eight other Dolly-written tunes. Dolly and pals Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette paid their own tribute to Davis by covering her biggest hit, "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know," on their 1993 trio album, Honky Tonk Angels. Read CMT's obituary here.

Sept. 20:
Signing Recaps
The Huntsville Times on Sunday had a great recap of Dolly's CD signing there on Saturday, noting that security estimated the crowd to be at least 800 but other estimates were as high as 2,000 fans getting their memorabilia signed at the city's Wal-Mart. Read it here. A story from Sunday's Evansville Courier-Press recounts her stop in the Indiana city here and in its sister paper, The Gleaner in Henderson, Ky., here. And Clarksville, Tenn.'s The Leaf Chronicle carried a mention of the Ft. Campbell signing before it took place Saturday here. I'm told that at the Evansville signing Dolly stayed on one side of the table and fans were required to stay on the other side of the table, unlike the other signings where fans were able to have their photos taken with Dolly on her side of the table. Also, I'm told she stayed about 15 minutes late to sign autographs for the last of the 300 fans who were there first and received wristbands guaranteeing them a meeting with Dolly. Some photos from that event have been posted here. Thanks, Chris and Robin!

Ticket News
Tickets for Dolly's Oct. 15 concert in Atlanta, Oct. 27 show in Green Bay, Oct. 31 stop in St. Louis and Nov. 11 performance in East Rutherford, N.J.,. went on sale Saturday. It appeared by Saturday evening that the small floor seating areas at each of the four venues had sold out as well as about half of the first level of raised seats at each arena, with the exception of Atlanta. There, most seats are on the floor, but the first floor section sold out completely and the second on Saturday sold more than two-thirds of its seats. The theatre also features four balcony levels, but first raised level of seats and about half of the second level of raised seats also sold out soon after they went on sale. And in South Carolina, The Charlotte Observer on Sunday offered a story here on the tour and its stops in that area. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday via Ticketmaster for her Oct. 19 show at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and remember that available here beginning at noon Tuesday will be advance tickets for some additional dates on the tour. Check back for more information possibly Monday night or at least by Tuesday at noon.

CMT: 'Jolene' No. 2 Cheatin' Song
Dolly's "Jolene" made it to No. 2 on CMT's countdown of the 40 Greatest Done Me Wrong Songs which premiered on Saturday. Pal Loretta Lynn's "Fist City" came in at No. 3, and Hank Williams' "Your Cheatin' Heart" took the top spot. The special repeats throughout the month.

Jones Falls
Norah Jones' Feels Like Home, with Dolly on "Creepin' In," falls 15 places to No. 56 in its 31st week on the U.K. pop albums chart, it was announced Sunday. It falls out of the top 50 in Australia, down from No. 47 last week. It had peaked at No. 2 for three weeks Down Under.

Library Note
The Rushville Republican in Rushville, Ind., had a brief story Sunday on Dolly's Imagination Library there. Read it here.

Site Changes
I'm sure you've noticed some changes in your favorite Dolly Parton Web site as a new layout debuts in tonight's update. A Flash menu has been added to the left-hand side of each page, which may cause some newer browsers to warn of active content and block it (if this happens, simply select "allow content" so you may see the menu and navigate the site; and if you don't have a Macromedia Flash Player, download it for free here). Some new features have been added, including new pages (such as one for the "Hello I'm Dolly Tour" here) and a Google search bar on the front page allowing a better search of all of Dollymania than the search function it replaced as well as the ability to search the Web through the search bar. And you'll notice that the areas that used to be on the right-hand side of this news page (Dolly's personal appearance schedule, tour schedule, current charts, TV listings and recent releases) have been moved to the left-hand side below the new menu area. Enjoy!

Sept. 18:
Major Pre-Sales Begin Here Next Week
The first phase of Dolly's "Hello I'm Dolly" tour multi-show pre-sale ticketing will begin next week, Dollymania is pleased to announce. Dolly has chosen Dollymania and Dolly On-Line to exclusively present the remainder of pre-sale seats to her fans. The first group of pre-sales will begin at noon Eastern on Tuesday, with additional shows added to the pre-sales each week. Look for more details soon. Other tour developments include the following:

Last Chance For Dollywood Tickets
In related news, the folks at Dollywood tell me they still have a handful of tickets available for ordering for Dolly's benefit concerts at the park next weekend. Call 865-428-9488 to order them.

Dollywood Closed For The Day
And speaking of Dollywood, I'm told the park closed Friday due to inclement weather brought on my the remnants of Hurricane Ivan but was scheduled to re-open for regular business hours of 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. Saturday.

Final Signings Saturday
Dolly made her second CD and DVD signing appearance for Live And Well on Friday evening, this time at the Huntsville, Ala., Wal-Mart. I'm told she was as bubbly as ever greeting fans young and old, and while she wore the same top as in the DVD concert and the Sam's signings outside of Nashville Tuesday, this time she opted for a skirt instead of the Capri pants donned before. Remember her final two scheduled autograph sessions are taking place on Saturday (noon until 2 p.m. at the Ft. Campbell military base in Kentucky and 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Wal-Mart on Burkhardt Road in Evansville, Ind.). The local Evansville Courier Press had a cute story here Friday about the event scheduled there, noting that the first 300 are guaranteed an autograph (but those after them will get in if there's time) and announcing that more than 1,600 fans showed up at her signing on Tuesday. See some additional photos from the Sam's stop and a couple from Huntsville here courtesy of fans Scott, Chris and Robin. Thanks, guys! (And, again, any other fans who attend the signings are encouraged to send in their pictures here.)

'Jolene' On Countdown
Don't forget CMT premieres its 40 Greatest Done Me Wrong Songs at 8 p.m. Saturday. The network this week posted a photo gallery here listing, in alphabetical order but not in countdown order, 36 of the 40 selected songs, including Dolly's "Jolene." You'll have to tune in Saturday to watch the countdown hosted by Joan Rivers to see where the song comes in on the tally and whether Dolly has any additional entries included.

Orlando Investigation
Local law enforcement and animal cruelty officials inspected Dolly's Orlando Dixie Stampede this week after a complaint over an employee's killing an injured ostrich, The Orlando Sentinel reported here Friday. Apparently, the animal broke its leg and was flailing about, causing a danger to handlers backstage. Because of the immediate danger, an employee struck the bird in the head with a shovel to immediately put it out of its misery instead of using euthanizing chemicals, a restaurant spokesperson told the newspaper. Law enforcement concluded no laws were broken in the incident, but tranquilizer guns will be kept on hand in the future to avoid a recurrence.

Sept. 17:
Jones Gains A Little
Norah Jones' Feels Like Home, including Dolly singing on the track "Creepin' In," continues a slight gain, moving up six places to No. 55 pop and comprehensive but falling four to No. 14 for Internet sales in its 31st chart week, according to the Sept. 25 charts released Thursday by Billboard. Mindy Smith's One Moment More, with Dolly harmony on "Jolene," moves up two spots to No. 26 in its 33rd week on the independent labels albums chart. Kenny Rogers' 42 Ultimate Hits, including "Islands In The Stream," drops two notches to No. 50 country in its 15th chart week. Alan Jackson's What I Do debuts at No. 1 country and pop with 178,000 copies sold in its first week, while Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying slips one to No. 2 country and pop after two weeks topping both charts. Dolly's Live And Well CD and DVD should debut on the Oct. 2 charts to be released next Thursday.

Up In Canada
Jones' Feels Like Home gains six spots to No. 29 in its 32nd week on the Canadian pop albums chart, it was also announced Thursday.

Keeping An Eye On Signings
Dolly's Tuesday CD and DVD signing at Sam's Club outside of Nashville got a little coverage in Thursday's The Tennessean. Read a small story and see a photo here. And as of press time Thursday evening, Dolly's scheduled appearance at the Wal-Mart on Memorial Parkway South in Hunstville, Ala., from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Friday was still on tap to happen. Whether the CD and DVD signing for Live And Well actually takes place, however, may depend on how much damage the remnants of Hurricane Ivan cause in the area. On Thursday afternoon, some of the worst of the storm entered the Huntsville area with torrential rains and winds of up to 40 miles per hour, but the rain is forecast to end and winds to die down significantly by morning. I would suspect if flooding is bad, they would cancel the appearance, but they really wouldn't know what the outlook is until morning. She is also scheduled to appear at Ft. Campbell military base in Kentucky at noon on Saturday and the Wal-Mart on Burkhardt Road in Evansville, Ind., at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Concert Updates
Dolly's "Hello I'm Dolly" tour made several papers across the country on Thursday. Here's a wrap-up of those notes and a few other items:

Sept. 16:
Oh, Dolly Let Your 'Pen Sign Down'
I'm told Dolly happily signed her way through at least 250 or 300 fans' CDs, DVDs and assorted memorabilia at the Sam's Club outside of Nashville on Tuesday evening to celebrate the release of her concert recording Live And Well. The store played Dolly's DVD concert all day long on big screens at the front door and several small televisions as well, as several hundred fans waited for a few seconds with their beloved star. Some die-hard fans began lining up at around 9 a.m. prior to the store's 10 a.m. opening. Dolly arrived at around 5 p.m. and was escorted in from her tour bus by security as she waved at fans outside. Sam's employees met with Dolly at 5:30 p.m. before she began a two-hour-and-10-minute autograph session at 6 p.m., running through four Sharpie pens. All smiles, Dolly talked with fans (appearing especially touched by the children she met that day, with the some kids being so excited that they cried as they met her), took photos with them and signed anything they brought her. See several galleries of photos from the event here. Thanks, Harrell, Patric and Debbie! (And any other fans who attended are encouraged to send in their pictures here to be added. Thanks! Image at left courtesy Harrell Gabehart.)

New Tour Developments
Here's the latest on the "Hello I'm Dolly" tour:

Dolly On TV
Dolly's new backing band, The Grascals, announced on their official Web site Wednesday that they and Dolly are scheduled to appear on CBS' The Early Show Friday, Sept. 24, from Knoxville.

More Dolly On The Way
A few new Dolly products are heading to shelves. I'm told that ICE Magazine reports in its new issue that the DVD filmed last month in Nashville by Norah Jones in concert featuring Dolly performing their duet "Creepin' In" from Jones' Feels Like Home is scheduled to hit stores on Nov. 16. Thanks, Al! Also, BMG International is slated on Monday to release a series of CDs titled The Artist Collection in Europe. Dolly has a 14-track entry in the series taken from her period at RCA Records. Amazon.com is taking pre-orders for the collection as an import in the U.S. here. And finally, Dolly is apparently considered one of America's greatest folk composers, as her performance of her classic "Down From Dover" has been included in a new CD from Sony's Columbia Legacy label to be released Sept. 28. The Rose & the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad includes 20 folk songs, ranging from Old World tunes like "Barbara Allen" to more recent fare such as Marty Robbins' "El Paso." Other artists on the collection include Mississippi John Hurt, Jan & Dean, Burl Ives and Bob Dylan. The CD is to serve as a companion to the Sean Wilentz and Greil Marcus book of the same name (available here) coming out Nov. 30 from W. W. Norton & Company. Order the CD here.

Another Library Expansion
Dyer County, Tenn., is getting on board with Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program, its local Dryersberg State Gazette reported here Wednesday. The program was approved by the county commission earlier in the week, and the local Kiwanis Club has agreed to be the first local sponsor. The nationwide program costs local communities $27 per child annually, and in Tennessee the state has provided $2 million in funding to match dollar-for-dollar the amounts raised in communities wishing to sign up. According to Census records, the county has just under 2,500 children of eligible age to participate.

Touting Tourism
The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that Tennessee's tourism industry took in $10.8 billion last year, a 2.3 increase from 2002. It was noted that 2004 seems to be going even better, thanks in part to a series of tourism commercials filmed by celebrities with ties to the local tourism industry including Dolly and Isaac Hayes. The spots began airing in April 2004, so they couldn't have had any impact on the 2003 figures. Read it from the Knoxville News-Sentinel here.

Sept. 15:
More Tour Ticket News
Confusion in Atlanta: Ticket prices for Dolly's Oct. 15 concert at Atlanta's Fox Theatre have risen sharply, it was announced Tuesday. The Ticketmaster page for ordering tickets showed the prices, originally in a $47-$57 range, had shot up to $47-$93. The Fox's own Web site claimed the new ticket prices were $49-$95. No word was given on why the prices increased to what are so far the most expensive on this year's "Hello I'm Dolly" tour. Also potentially confusing to patrons, Ticketmaster shows the tickets going on sale now at 11 a.m. Saturday, while the Fox's site sticks with the earlier-announced Friday sale date. Look for more details here as they become available. Thanks, David!

'Live' Developments
Dolly was scheduled on Tuesday to hold her two-hour autograph session at Sam's Club outside of Nashville celebrating Tuesday's release of her concert recording Live And Well. (Fans who attended are encouraged to send in their recaps of the event and photographs here. Thanks!) Celebrities columnist Brad Schmidt in Tuesday's Tennessean reported that fans didn't even have to buy anything to get Dolly to sign it: She had agreed for the two-hour autograph session to sign a maximum of any two items brought by each fan as well as take photos with them. Read his column here here. And check out the schedule of signings for the rest of the week on the right-hand side of this page.

No 'CW' Nod This Year Either
The new issue of Country Weekly magazine is on newsstands this week, and unfortunately, Dolly didn't make its list of the final five nominees for top female vocalist in the publication's third annual Fan Favorite Awards. She had been one of the 20 semi-final nominees in the earlier round of voting. The issue also contains a little note in its fashion section about her recent purchase of a "Rebel Road Sista" purse.

Sept. 14:
UPDATE: Dollywood Tickets Available
Dollywood announced today that a limited number of tickets have been released for sale to Dolly's sold-out series of concerts at the park next week. The benefit concerts are scheduled for 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sept. 25 and 26 and have been sold out for several weeks. Each year, a few tickets are returned because people who purchased them cannot use them or because special guests for whom they had been reserved cannot attend, and those tickets then go on sale to the public a few days before the shows. To purchase tickets, call Dollywood at 865-428-9488.

Latest 'Hello I'm Dolly' Developments
Tickets for Dolly's Oct. 26 Detroit, Mich., and Nov. 4 Raleigh, N.C., concerts on the "Hello I'm Dolly" tour went on sale Monday, and it appeared from Ticketmaster that floor seats quickly sold out in Raleigh and most of the first level of raised sets sold out before lunch. As of Monday evening, tickets still remained toward the back of the first level of raised seats and the rest of the house behind them. In Detroit, it appears the pit sold out and the main floor sold more than half-way out by lunch, with the first balcony level (mezzanine) almost sold out and plenty of seats left in the upper balcony levels.

'Live And Well' Arrives
Well, the big day is upon us! Dolly's concert double-CD and DVD Live And Well hit stores on Tuesday. And don't forget Dolly will be signing copies of the collection at the Sam's Club on Mallory Lane in the Nashville suburb of Franklin, Tenn., from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. Tuesday (followed by signings Friday at a Wal-Mart in Huntsville, Ala., and Saturday at the military base Ft. Campbell, Ky., and a Wal-Mart in Evansville, Ind.).

Another Library Addition
The Kingsport Times-News reported that Sullivan County, Tenn., officials have placed their first order of books for 312 children in their community to participate in Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program. Read a story here. Also, Nashville's WTVF News Channel 5 had a brief story on the program here Monday. Active in more than 200 communities across 38 states, Dolly's program provides one free book per month for every child birth to age 5 in a participating community whose parents sign up. It will distribute well over 1 million books in 2004 alone.

Some Dolly Praise
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer noted that when Joan Osborne performed a show there over the weekend with The Funk Brothers, she brought out her Just Because I'm A Woman: Songs Of Dolly Parton contribution, "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind," singing it as a tribute to Dolly, who she told the audience is "a serious, legitimate artist who can masquerade as a cartoon sex bomb and get away with it." Read a review of the show here.

Sept. 13:
Tour Update
It appeared from Ticketmaster.com on Saturday that floor section seats sold out for Dolly's Oct. 14 Greenville, S.C., and Oct. 30 Omaha, Neb., shows shortly after tickets went on sale Saturday, with a good portion of first raised level of seats also sold that day. Seats toward the middle and back of the first raised level and plenty of seats on the second raised level at both venues remained available on Sunday. Remember tickets go on sale for the Oct. 26 stop in Detroit and Nov. 4 performance in Raleigh from Ticketmaster at 10 a.m. Monday.

Another Prelim. Award Nod
The Southern Gospel Music Guild (SGMG) has announced the preliminary nominees for its first annual awards show, the Harmony Honors, and Dolly is related to two award hopefuls. First, her theme park, Dollywood, is an early nominee for the Impact Award, for which other nominees are Bill Gaither, BMI, the Crabb Family, Maurice Templeton, the National Quartet Convention and Paul Heil. Also, Dottie Rambo's album Stand By The River, on which Dolly and Dottie duet on the title track, is an early nominee in a field of 25 CDs up for Album Of The Year. A second ballot will soon trim the number of nominees in each category from which winners will be selected. The recipients of the honors are to be announced at a ceremony, expected to be televised, either at the end of November or early December, depending on the broadcast schedule.

'Live' Notes
A reader alerted me to a Canadian review of Live & Well, Dolly's concert CD and DVD coming out Tuesday. Entertainment site Soulshine finds the collection "top form." Read it here. Thanks, Tony!

And A Reminder
It was also suggested that I remind everyone, as had been reported here previously, that two Dolly duets are now available for ordering. Kim McLean's Happy Face CD, with Dolly singing on "Angels & Eagles," is offered by Echo Tunes, and Randy Kohrs' I'm Torn, with Dolly singing on "It Looked Good On Paper," is offered by Lonesome Day Music here.

Overseas Updates
Norah Jones' Feels Like Home, with Dolly on "Creepin' In," falls three places to No. 41 in its 30th week on the U.K. pop albums chart, it was announced Sunday. It also drops nine places to No. 47 pop in Australia. The disc falls back out of the top 20 pop chart in Germany this week, down from No. 19 last week.

Legionaire Remembers Dolly Encounter
Neosho, Mo., resident and former American Legion national chaplain Bill Doubek can't decide whether meeting the president or Dolly was the most exciting thing he did at the recent Legion national convention in Nashville, according to his hometown Neosho Daily News. Read the cute article from Sunday's paper here.

Sept. 11:
Two Shows On Sale Saturday
Don't forget that tickets for Dolly's first show on the "Hello I'm Dolly" tour, Oct. 14 in Greenville, S.C., go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday on Ticketmaster and local ticket outlets. Also on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday on Ticketmaster are seats for her Oct. 30 date in Omaha, Neb.

Major Dolly Week On Tap
Dolly is gearing up for one of her biggest weeks ever. The concert double-CD and DVD Live And Well hits stores in the U.S. on Tuesday (I'm told it was released this week in Canada. Thanks, Darren!). It will be released in other countries outside the U.S. on various dates over the next month or so. Get your copy of the CD here and DVD here! (And The Simpsons Gone Wild, a collection including Dolly's appearance on the animated sitcom, hits DVD shelves the same day.) As was first reported here a week ago, she's scheduled to appear at the Sam's Club in the Nashville suburb of Franklin, Tenn., for a 6 p.m.-8 p.m. CD and DVD signing on Tuesday, followed by signings at the Wal-Mart on Memorial Parkway South in Hunstville, Ala., from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. next Friday, and on Saturday, Sept. 18, she'll be at the Army base in Fort Campbell, Ky., from noon until 2 p.m. and at the Wal-Mart on Burkhardt Road in Evansville, Ind., from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. (It is unclear at this time whether members of the public are allowed to access the store at Ft. Campbell or if that will be open to military personnel only, and Army officials have not returned requests for such information.)

And This Note
TV Guide Online reported Friday that Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott have been cast as Luke and Bo Duke in the feature film version of The Dukes Of Hazzard. It also noted that Jessica Simpson is reportedly up for the role of Daisy Duke. You may recall it reported here several months ago that Simpson told audience members at the taping of her television variety special earlier this year that she was going to play Daisy and Dolly was to appear in a cameo as her mother, but Dolly's possible involvement has not been confirmed at this time.

Sept. 10:
Latest Tour Developments
News of the "Hello I'm Dolly" tour got several mentions across the country after the venue for the tour's Detroit concert issued a press release officially announcing the tour. Among them:

U.S. Chart Updates
Norah Jones' Feels Like Home, with its the Dolly duet "Creepin' In," rebounds slightly with a three-notch gain to No. 61 pop and comprehensive and 10-point increase to No. 10 for Internet sales in its 30th chart week, according to the Sept. 18 charts released Thursday by Billboard. Mindy Smith's One Moment More, featuring Dolly harmony on "Jolene," drops three more places to No. 28 in its 32nd week on the independent labels albums chart. Kenny Rogers' 42 Ultimate Hits, including "Islands In The Stream," falls eight spaces to No. 48 country in its 14th chart week. Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying remains at No. 1 on both the country and pop charts for its second chart week, while Gretchen Wilson's Here For The Party moves up three to No. 2 country and No. 15 pop in its 17th chart week.

And In Canada
Jones' Feels Like Home falls nine spots to No. 35 in its 31st week on the Canadian pop albums chart, it was also announced Thursday.

Dolly In Graham's New Book
British talk show host and unabashed Dolly fanatic Graham Norton, currently seen in his hilarious new American show on Comedy Central Thursday nights in the U.S., last week released his autobiography, So Me, on Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. in the U.K. I'm told the chapter titled "Friends In Dry Places" focuses mostly on Dolly, including two photos of him with her at Dollywood. Graham, who has publicly professed his adoration for Dolly many times, welcomed her on his British show in early 2001 and filmed a British Christmas special with her at her theme park for broadcast that holiday season. When his show began airing on BBC America, the network chose its Dolly episode for the U.S. premiere. While it doesn't currently appear to be readily imported into the U.S., there are some individuals selling copies on Amazon.com's Marketplace here. Thanks, Gerard!

Dolly Cover Falls From No. 1
After a record-breaking six consecutive charts (12 weeks) at No. 1 on the European CMA's bi-weekly country singles chart, Arly Karlsen and Pat Roden's cover of the Porter & Dolly classic "Please Don't Stop Loving Me" falls one this week to No. 2, it was announced on Thursday. The song, which Porter and Dolly co-wrote and took to No. 1 country in the U.S. 30 years ago, also falls out of the top 20 in country airplay in France, down from No. 5; Holland, down from No. 7; and Denmark, down from No. 10. Gretchen Wilson's megahit "Redneck Woman" takes the new No. 1 chart spot. Dolly and Norah Jones' "Creepin' In" also falls out of the top 200 for continent-wide airplay, down from No. 57 in the most recent issue.

Dolly Memorabilia Up For Auction
A representative of the Robert Gentry Museum in Toledo Bend, La., on Thursday contacted Dollymania to announce that its entire Dolly Parton collection of memorabilia will be sold in a silent auction on Oct. 16. The museum, which features a ton of celebrity posters and artifacts, was created by Louisiana Gov. Earl K. Long's last public relations man, a lifelong collector of star memorabilia. The collection being auctioned includes Dolly dolls, tons of newspapers and magazines, posters, albums and more. See a full list on the site's Collectors' Connection trading post here. You may place a bid on any item or obtain more information by e-mailing marshagentry@yahoo.com. Thanks!

Paper: McLean Duet 'Stunning'
The Nashville City Paper on Thursday praised Kim McLean's new CD, Happy Face, calling "Angels & Eagles," its track with Dolly, "one stunning duet." McLean was to enjoy a CD release party Thursday night at Third and Lindsey in Nashville. Read the story here.

Sept. 9:
Dolly Tour To Feature Big Screens, New Music
As was reported here earlier on Wednesday, Dolly's fall/winter "Hello I'm Dolly" tour has been officially announced. In a press release (read the text here.), Dolly gave her reasons for touring: "In 2002, I went on a tour for three months to promote [Halos & Horns]. I realized how much I missed the road and how much the fans seemed to have missed me. It was just magical. I saw that I had some fans about all areas of my career, all the way back through the years...some liked the country, some liked the pop, some liked the big production, some loved the bluegrass and the more simple sound. So I decided to combine all the things that I've done through the years." She adds: "The show itself has every color of me in it, from gospel to bluegrass to country to the bigger production numbers, and to the pop hits that I've been fortunate to do through the years. I think there will be something for everybody. I wanted to do it in a big way so all of us can enjoy it. My band and I are really looking forward to this!"
         As you may recall, after her sold-out club tour in 2002, Dolly had planned to visit larger venues for a tour in the fall of 2003 but pushed those plans back to spring 2004 to promote her patriotic collection For God And Country and the tribute CD Just Because I'm A Woman: Songs Of Dolly Parton. In January, however, she announced via Dollymania that those plans had been cast aside and she doubted she would tour this year. By late summer, she had changed her mind and began scouting out venues for a fall tour, the site confirmed at the time. Over the past month or so, confirmations of various performances on the tour have trickled in.
         The release noted that the 39-night, 36-city tour promises to cover every phase of her four-decade long career, from her early recordings from the 1960s and early 1970s to her late-1970s pop superstardom and 1980s hit duets to her return to traditional country and bluegrass in the 1990s through today. It will also feature new songs from her recently-recorded CD Blue Smoke, according to the release.
         Unlike her previous tours, this one promises original set design and large video screens highlighting images from her career. While there was no mention in the release of the dancers Dolly auditioned and hired several months ago for a possible special project, it did state that she will "begin production" on the concert in Nashville from late September through early October, so that doesn't rule out training with the dancers or just recording their performance for projection onto the big screens.
         Finally, it was announced that Dolly herself insisted that tickets remain "moderately priced" instead of the supersized admissions charged for most acts these days. Tickets prices announced thus far are mostly in the $30 or $40 range for the "cheap seats" and $50 to $55 range for up close, compared to prices for most performers of around $50 for the "cheap seats" and $70-$100 for the sections closest to the stage. The release also played up the high attendance at Dollywood and Dolly's wonderful philanthropic works.
         One interesting note, though: The press release was issued to a public relations wire service by the Detroit venue she will be playing next month, not the publicity firm contracted to announce the concert. While the text of the release (with the exception of the opening paragraph focusing on Detroit) appears to have been written by the PR firm, its release by the venue itself suggests that local officials in Detroit wanted to get word out before tour promoters were ready to officially announce the tour themselves and release the same information, so it wouldn't surprise me if we see a few changes to the itinerary if some of the listed dates turned out to have yet been finalized. Regardless, the tour listing on the right-hand side of the news page has been updated to correspond to the official list in the press release.

Additional Concert Details
Ticketmaster on Wednesday also made some changes to its listings, consisting of the following:

And Album Details, Too
In the Billboard Online story here Wednesday afternoon based on the press release, it was also noted that Dolly's Blue Smoke studio CD is expected to be released sometime in the first half of 2005 on Sugar Hill Records as the fourth in her collection of bluegrass albums (although technically she's only done one bluegrass CD, 1999's The Grass Is Blue -- Little Sparrow was mostly mountain-style music, not bluegrass, and Halos & Horns was more traditional country than bluegrass). As was reported previously, Dolly went into the studio with The Grascals last month to record the album. (And before that, she recorded a bluegrass cover of "Viva Las Vegas" for The Grascals' debut album, also to come out early next year, although as was also reported previously, the song will be available next month as part of a three-song CD single.)

Sept. 8:
UPDATE: Tour Officially Announced
This fall's "Hello I'm Dolly" tour was officially announced on Wednesday, listing all of the previously-noted dates here with the following changes:

Detroit Confirmed, Concert Ticket Dates Change
Here's the latest on this fall's "Hello I'm Dolly" tour:

'Live' Set Earns Raves
Here are several developments on Dolly's live recording (reserve your copy of the CD here and DVD here!):

Library Sees Another Major City Sign On
Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program gained another big boost Tuesday when Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen stopped in Chattanooga to announce the kick-off of the program in that city's Hamilton County. With nearly 310,000 people, Hamilton holds more than 18,000 children of the age eligible to participate in the program, according to Census records. The program there is being organized by the local United Way in collaboration with a slew of other sponsors, who will contribute money to be met by the state of Tennessee's match. Bredesen officially announced the $2 million matching fund program earlier this year at Dollywood (see coverage here). The program, now active in more than 200 communities across 38 states, provides one free book per month for every child from birth to age 5 whose parents sign up in a participating community. Read a story on the announcement from The Chattanoogan.com here and the city's WDEF News 12 here.

Helping A Good Cause
If you'd like to add your personal quilt block design for a good cause and possibly win a trip to Dallas, visit Quilted Northern.com. The toilet tissue manufacturer has teamed up with The View and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation for its "Quilt of Inspiration." The quilt consists of blocks symbolizing hope for a cure and encouragement for patients in the fight against breast cancer from celebrities including Dolly, Wynonna, Brad Paisley and others. Members of the public are offered the chance to submit their own blocks for the project, five of which will be selected for the creators to win a trip to Dallas for the Oct. 25 taping of The View where the finished quilt will be unveiled before it is auctioned off for the Komen Foundation on abc.com. Read more in The Sacramento Bee here.

Getting Ready For Dollywood
Fans are gearing up for Dolly's sold-out benefit concerts at Dollywood later this month and wondering if she'll be anywhere other than the stage while at the park. Well, season pass holders were mailed last week the park's newsletter, which states that she will appear publicly during the Harvest Celebration and Southern Gospel Jubilee kick-off Friday, Sept. 24. As always, her exact schedule will remain secret -- or, as the newsletter puts it: "You never know where Dolly will show up or what she'll be doing, but she'll be the center of attention this day as she appears throughout the park." And any details to which members of the media may be privy are asked to be kept confidential, so don't anybody write to ask me for any "insider" information, either :)

Sept. 7:
A Few News Notes
Dolly got several Labor Day mentions in the press. Her upcoming Sept. 24-26 concerts at Dollywood were noted in Hazel Smith's weekly "Hot Dish" column on CMT.com here. Her fall/winter tour kicking off in October made James Maguire's weekly Top 40 column on About.com here. And the Associated Press picked up Sunday's Bay City Times story on her Imagination Library program expansion in East Michigan, putting the news in a handful of other area publications, including The Detroit Free Press here.

Sept. 6:
Canada Stops Sell-Out
As of Sunday afternoon, all three of Dolly's shows with The Grascals at Ontario, Canada's Casino Rama have sold out (except for one or two obstructed-view seats for the final of the three concerts). Tickets went on sale for the first two shows, Oct. 22 and 23, about four weeks ago. The venue soon added the third show, for Oct. 24, tickets for which went on sale about two weeks ago. I'm also corrected that the concerts are in a slightly smaller theater than I was originally told, holding about 4,000 audience members instead of 5,000, which translates into about 12,000 tickets sold instead of the 15,000 it was originally reported here would be available. In other words, the gross ticket sales would probably total somewhere around $600,000 U.S. for this one venue alone in Dolly's "Hello I'm Dolly" tour this fall. The only other tickets currently on sale are those for her Oct. 16 and 17 concerts at the Grand Casino in Biloxi, Miss., for which tickets still remain available in the back two tiers of booths on the main floor (out of five total tiers on the floor) and both balcony levels for the Oct. 16 concert and as close as the second tier of main floor seats and both balconies for the Oct. 17 show. Tickets for the "cabaret-style" setting of the small 1,800-seat theater are available on Ticketmaster. The next concert scheduled to sell tickets will be the tour's Oct. 14 opening night at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, S.C., for which tickets go on sale next Saturday at the venue's box office, and its Oct. 30 stop in Omaha, Neb., on sale a week from Monday at Ticketmaster.

U.K., Australia Updates
Norah Jones' Feels Like Home, featuring its Dolly duet on the tune "Creepin' In," drops six spots to No. 38 in its 29th week on the U.K. pop albums chart, it was announced Sunday. It also falls three places to No. 38 pop in Australia.

Library Expands In Michigan
Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program is coming to two eastern Michigan counties, the local Bay City Times reported Sunday. The program, which provides one free book per month to every child from birth to age 5 whose parents sign up in more than 200 participating communities across 38 states, will serve those in Bay and Arenac Counties, located on the shores of Lake Huron. With a combined population of about 130,000, the two counties have nearly 8,000 children eligible to participate in the program, which officials hope to launch in January. Sponsors in each participating community, including two other Michigan counties, pay for the $27 annual per-child cost of book purchase and postage, while the Dollywood Foundation covers the program's administrative overhead. Local organizers have already raised $120,000 toward the anticipated $600,000 three-year local cost for the program there, the paper reported. Read the full story here.

Cover Girl
Dolly makes the cover of Linedancer magazine in England this month (seen at left), celebrating the publication's 100th edition. The magazine is also giving away 25 copies of her new concert double-CD Live And Well to celebrate its birthday. It is available in most bookstores in the U.K., I'm told. Thanks, Mark!

Another Dolly Site Launched
Another Dolly fan site has hit the Internet. The webmaster for the new site, Hello I'm Dolly, says that it will focus on recapping news on Dolly's upcoming tour of the same name. Thanks, Mike!

Sept. 4:
Additional CD Signings Confirmed
Dolly has three public appearances scheduled in addition to the one in Huntsville, Ala., reported here Thursday night to sign copies of her new concert CD and DVD, Live And Well, Dollymania has confirmed and is pleased to be the first to announce. Sugar Hill Records says the following signings are planned for the week of the CD's Sept. 14 release:

Latest Tour Developments

Grascals Appearance To Hit Stores Soon
According to an item posted Friday night on the official Web site for Dolly's new backing band, The Grascals, Rounder Records will get a three-song single out to record stores for the new band in early October. It will include their new bluegrass version of "Viva Las Vegas" with Dolly as well as two other Grascal tunes, "Me and John and Paul" and "Sail Away Ladies." It will also be sold at all of their concert stops with Dolly throughout the fall. The band's debut album, which will also feature Dolly's cover of the Elvis classic, is expected to come out on Rounder in early 2005.

Jones Slips Up North, 'Creeps' Up Overseas
Norah Jones' Feels Like Home, with its Dolly duet, "Creepin' In," falls four spaces to No. 26 in its 30th week on the Canadian pop albums chart, it was announced Friday. In Germany, the disc re-enters the pop top 20 at No. 19 this week, up from No. 21.

CMT Praises Dollywood
Dollywood came in at No. 6 on CMT's Greatest Road Trips special which premiered Friday night. The spot offered several brief comments from guests at the park, scenes from its rides and craft demonstrations and a fairly lengthy interview with the park's public relations director, Pete Owens. The show's No. 1 road trip attraction was Graceland, Elvis Presley's mansion in Memphis, Tenn. The show repeats throughout the month (see TV listings on right-hand side of this page).

Autographed CD Sells Out
Shortly after news was posted here Wednesday evening that Great American Country (GAC) was selling autographed copies of Dolly's new Live And Well double CD on its Web site, Dollymania began receiving e-mails from readers reporting they were unable to order the special release. A spokesperson for Spun.com, which handles GAC's CD sales, confirms that only 50 autographed copies of the album were made available to them and sold out within a few hours of becoming available for order, so only those who acted very quickly were able to get them. Thanks!

Sept. 3:
Wal-Mart Stop Confirmed
Dolly may be planning a Wal-Mart tour later this month to promote her Live And Well CD and DVD release, Dollymania has learned. A store manager at the Huntsville, Ala., Wal-Mart at 11610 Memorial Parkway confirmed to the site Thursday night that Dolly is scheduled to make an appearance at the store there at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17. While the manager had no definite information on appearances at any other stores, it was noted that it is likely she will be making stops at additional Wal-Marts across the region. Further information is expected soon. Thanks, David and Jo-Ann!

New Biloxi, Bi-Lo Details
Dolly's casino stop on the Mississippi Gulf Coast next month will be two of the most intimate concerts on this fall's "Hello I'm Dolly" Tour, officials say. While most of the confirmed and suspected performances on Dolly's schedule will be at arenas seating several thousand fans, the Oct. 16 and 17 concerts at the Grand Casino in Biloxi, Miss., which were confirmed and reported here on Thursday, will be much smaller. Casino officials tell Dollymania the set-up will be "cabaret style," with guests seated at tables. That arrangement allows only about 1,800 audience members at each of the two concerts on both floor and balcony. Officials said although it is held at a casino, guests under the legal gambling age of 21 will be allowed in if accompanied by an adult. They also confirmed that they will not likely know whether cameras will be allowed in until the day of the show, when final word on that matter comes from Dolly's tour managers. The Saturday, Oct. 16, concert starts at 9 p.m., while the Sunday, Oct. 17, show begins at 4 p.m. Tickets go on sale for both at 10 a.m. Friday on Ticketmaster for $64.95 and $69.95 each plus fees with an eight-ticket limit per person, but with only about 3,600 seats available, they'll likely go quickly. In related news, on Wednesday night, the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, S.C., which will be the first stop on the tour after Dolly's benefit concerts at Dollywood, announced the show there will begin at 8 p.m. and that tickets will cost $49.50, $42.50 and $35. Tickets for that Oct. 14 show are scheduled to go on sale Sept. 11. Finally, the entertainment site Live Daily on Thursday posted a brief here on the dates confirmed thus far for the tour.

U.S. Chart Updates
Norah Jones' Feels Like Home, featuring the Dolly duet "Creepin' In," falls six spaces to No. 64 pop and comprehensive and is down nine notches to No. 20 for Internet sales in its 29th chart week, according to the Sept. 11 charts released Thursday by Billboard. Mindy Smith's One Moment More, with Dolly on "Jolene," falls six spots to No. 25 in its 31st week on the independent labels albums chart. Kenny Rogers' 42 Ultimate Hits, with "Islands In The Stream," moves up five places to No. 40 country in its 13th chart week. Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying debuts at No. 1 country and pop with 766,000 copies sold while Big & Rich's Horse Of A Different Color loses one to No. 2 country and remains No. 10 pop with 67,000 copies sold in its 17th chart week.

Paper: Dolly May Play Europe
Could the "Hello I'm Dolly" Tour extend overseas in 2005? Maybe. Joe Skelly, who runs the unofficial Dolly Part'ners fan club in England, told The News & Star newspaper that Sugar Hill is planning to send Dolly to the U.K. for some concerts to promote her upcoming live CD and DVD release Live And Well (although the story mistakenly says it features her British and Irish concerts from 2002 when it was filmed at Dollywood). The paper notes that while it is "understood" that Dolly could be in the U.K. in January and February, the British company distributing her upcoming release, and which consequently would help organize any tour, stated that nothing has been confirmed yet. Read the full story here. Dolly's winter 2002 series of concerts in England, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland was her first tour in Europe in two decades.

Dollywood To Open Early
Dollywood plans to open to the public a week early next year. The park has posted its 2005 operating calendar here, which shows it being open to the public for business regular hours beginning Saturday, March 26. For the past couple of years, the park has opened to the public the first weekend in April, but season passholders could come the weekend before that for a sneak peak. A park spokesperson confirms that the sneak peak will be March 26 but the park will be open to the public March 28, 30, 31 and April 1 before the "official" Season Grand Opening festivities featuring Dolly on April 1 and 2. The 2004 season ends Dec. 30.

Hurricane Again Closes The Stampede
For the second time in three weeks, Dolly's Orlando Dixie Stampede is closed due to a hurricane. The restaurant announced Thursday it would not open that day and would remain closed through Sunday. It is expected to re-open on Tuesday (it does not operate on Mondays during September). Hurricane Frances, with 140 mile per hour winds as of Thursday evening, is expected to make landfall in south Florida late Friday or early Saturday morning and retain hurricane strength as it passes over Orlando, likely on Sunday. Last month, Hurricane Charley remained at hurricane force as it caused widespread damage in Orlando. At the time, Dolly's Orlando restaurant remained closed to the general public for four days but opened one night in the aftermath to provide free dinners for local storm victims. Her Myrtle Beach, S.C., Stampede was also forced to close one day that week when Charley turned back out to sea and made a second landfall in the Carolinas.

Sept. 2:
UPDATE: Miss. Tickets On Sale Tomorrow
Officials at the Grand Casino in Biloxi, Miss., on Thursday morning confirmed Dolly's appearances there with concerts Oct. 16 and 17. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 3, at Ticketmaster for $65-$70 each. PollStar on Thursday also added the shows to its listings. Look for more details on the event in the Sept. 3 news update to be posted the evening of Sept. 2.

Rod And Dolly Duet
British rocker Rod Stewart will next month continue his exploration of American standards with the addition of two American legends: Dolly and Stevie Wonder, Liz Smith reported in her gossip column Tuesday in the New York Post here and New York Newsday here. Smith says his third installment in the series, The Great American Songbook: Volume III, will include Dolly duetting on "Baby It's Cold Outside" and Wonder on "What A Wonderful World." Stewart delved into U.S. standards from music's big band and Golden Age in 2002 with It Had To Be You . . . The Great American Songbook on J-Records, followed last year with As Time Goes By . . . The Great American Songbook: Volume II, which featured duets with Cher and Queen Latifah. The third installment, including its Dolly duet, will hit stores Oct. 19, according to both Smith and Stewart's official Web site, even though Amazon.com shows an Oct. 12 release date. Stewart and Dolly previously performed together on Cher's 1978 television special, which earned Dolly an Emmy nomination. Reserve your copy here!

New Library Additions
Effingham County near Savannah, Ga., and Chester County in South Carolina have both joined up for Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program, their local papers reported this week. Dolly's program, administered by her Dollywood Foundation, provides one free book per month from birth to age 5 for every child whose parents sign up in more than 200 participating communities across 35 states. Read a story from the Savannah Morning News here and Chester's News & Reporter here.

Hear Kohrs Sample
Lonesome Day Records has posted a 30-second sound clip of Randy Kohrs and Dolly's duet "It Looked Good On Paper" on its Web site here. As was previously reported here, Kohrs new CD, I'm Torn, coming out later this month, includes the former Bluenique's duet with his former boss. You may order the album here. In related news, singer Kim McLean's Web site here has announced a CD release party at 9 p.m. next Thursday, Sept. 9, at Nashville's 3rd and Lindsley. As was reported here a few weeks ago, her new CD Happy Face includes a Dolly duet on the track "Angels & Eagles."

Autographed CDs Offered
The Great American Country (GAC) cable network is offering fans a chance to get an autographed copy of Dolly's new double-CD live concert collection Live And Well. By ordering the CD from the network's Web site here, customers will receive one autographed by Dolly while supplies last. In celebration of the release, the network is also re-airing Dolly's U.S. Library of Congress Living Legend Award ceremony special this week (see TV listings on right-hand side of this page). Unfortunately for DirecTV customers, the special is apparently not currently scheduled to run after the network is added to the satellite provider's Total Choice Plus line-up Sept. 21. (* Note: Shortly after this was posted Wednesday evening, the site began showing the CD as unavailable, suggesting the autographed copies had sold out.)

Sept. 1:
American Legion Honors Dolly
The American Legion, America's largest veterans' organization, on Monday honored Dolly with its James V. Day Good Guy Award, recognizing her philanthropic works, including her national Imagination Library literacy program and the women's health center she built at the county hospital in Sevier County, Tenn., near Dollywood. According to The Tennessean on Tuesday, Dolly's acceptance speech was interrupted by laughter and applause from the group at its national convention, held this week in Nashville. "I think there's a heart in this chest. Maybe that's why my boobs are so big," she joked. Read the full story and see some shots of Dolly from the event on the newspaper's Web site here. The paper played up the award, giving Dolly a photo and teaser above the fold of Tuesday's A section's front page and a story on the front page of the B section. Other papers across the country chose to use a photo of Dolly after the event to illustrate a story on the convention's two other big name speakers of the week, President George W. Bush on Tuesday and Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry on Wednesday. Also check out a brief on Australia's Big News Network based on the story here. (You may also recall that earlier in the year, the Legion was giving away a free copy of Dolly's patriotic CD For God And Country with every gift membership that was purchased.)

'Simpsons' DVD With Dolly Coming
Dolly's concert DVD Live And Well isn't the only Dolly product hitting stores on Sept. 14. That same day, FOX will release a compilation titled The Simpsons Gone Wild, a four-episode DVD set featuring Dolly's appearance on television's longest-running comedy in history, which enters its 16th season this fall. Dolly provided the voice of herself in "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday," the show's Super Bowl episode during Season 10 (January 1999), where she uses her make-up remover to break Homer and pals out of "Super Bowl Jail." The set also includes "Homer's Night Out" from Season 1, "Homer The Moe" from Season 13, "The Mansion Family" from Season 11 and a Krusty The Clown featurette. Reserve your copy here.

Some Overseas Dates
Speaking of Live And Well, HMV Australia shows the set being released Down Under on Oct. 4. Thanks, Sean! And both HMV UK and Amazon UK show it scheduled for British release on Sept. 27.

Tour Update
Here's the latest on Dolly's upcoming "Hello I'm Dolly" tour: Ticketmaster on Tuesday changed the for-sale date of her Atlanta stop at the Fox Theatre from Sept. 25 to 10 a.m. Sept. 17. Also, The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday noted that while "information is hard to come by" on the show, she "may" be playing the Arco Arena there on Dec. 12, but the paper was unable to obtain "definite word on that." (As was reported here previously, PollStar does list the concert in Sacramento as confirmed.) Read the Bee item here.

'CW' Touts Dolly
Dolly's got a couple of mentions in the new issue of Country Weekly magazine out this week. The first image you see in the main part of the magazine is a large photo of her with Barney at the KidsFest opening earlier this year at Dollywood, and the issue also features an interview with Linda Ronstadt which mentions she's planning to head back into the studio soon with Emmylou Harris and doesn't rule out a third Trio recording with Dolly and Emmylou. "Who knows," she tells the magazine. "It's just so hard to get our lives together." The story features Ronstadt's country roots, including her several country chart singles, two ACM Awards (one with Dolly and Emmylou), one CMA Award (with Dolly and Emmylou) and 10 Grammy Awards (three of which are in the country category, two of those with Dolly and Emmylou).

CMA Poll
The Tennessean on Tuesday began an online poll for whom readers think should win the CMA Awards this year, and as of Tuesday evening, Dolly and Norah Jones' duet "Creepin' In" was in dead last place for Musical Event Of The Year. Vote here!

CD Release Party In Fla.
Melbourne, Fla., will get its own Dolly Live & Well CD release party, I'm told. The "Dress Like Dolly" party celebrating the double-CD release will be held Friday, Sept. 17, at The Cold Keg hosted by Leigh Shannon and special guest Roz Russell. See a flyer from Leigh's Web site here. Thanks, Leigh!