Dolly's Blue Smoke World Tour on Wednesday announced four new dates: second nights in Glasgow, Scotland; Cardiff, Wales; and London, England; as well as a new show Feb. 7 in Auckland, New Zealand, marking her first time in that country in three decades. The U.K. additions go on sale Friday at 9 a.m., while the New Zealand addition has a Live Nation pre-sale starting next Wednesday and public sales starting Monday, Nov. 11. In addition, the sale date was announced Wednesday for her Jan. 24 show at Agua Caliente Resort and Casino in Rancho Mirage, Calif., that was revealed this week in The Los Angeles Times. Tickets go on sale Saturday via the casino's box office or Star Tickets, PE Bloggers reported here. Reports on the New Zealand date are available here and here. In addition, she continued making interview rounds, with a radio call to 774 Melbourne available here and a TV satellite spot on Sunrise available here and in the media player above. Finally, tune in to Thursday's Access Hollywood for an interview in the States from her day of media calls. It is previewed here.
Oct. 30: Dolly Chats On Tour, CD, Accident, Miley Although the American dates on Dolly's Blue Smoke World Tour have yet to be revealed, more details on the album and tour came out in several interviews with the media that were released on Tuesday. According to The Los Angeles Timeshere, she will release the album early next year in Australia to coincide with the Down Under leg of the tour, but the U.S. and Europe will have to wait a few months longer before it is released on those continents. Also, in addition to the previously-announced tracks ("Blue Smoke," "I Dreamed About Elvis," "Early Morning Breeze," "Miss You, Miss Me" and a bluegrass cover of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"), she said she also did a gospel cover of Bon Jovi's "Lay Your Hands On Me." Overall, the album used bluegrass instruments and is similar in tone to her Sugar Hill roots music trilogy, she said. The story added that the main U.S. leg of the tour will be in May, but she will play a handful of dates out west in January including Arizona, Nevada and Jan. 24 at Agua Caliente Resort and Casino in Rancho Mirage, Calif. She noted in Australia's Herald Sunhere and a radio interview with Aussie station 4BC here that the tour also includes new medleys of her No. 1 hits that weren't performed on her last tour. She also opened up about goddaughter Miley Cyrus in a few interviews, such as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation here. Finally, she spoke about her recent car accident in several of the interviews, noting the vehicle's airbags did not deploy and making boob jokes about her own air bags. She noted in an online brief in Country Weeklyhere in advance of a lengthier print edition interview that the accident occurred while she was en route to the studio to put the finishing touches on the new CD, and she said in the Herald Sun story that she couldn't sing for a few days because she bruised her sternum and cracked a rib.
Drag Queens Celebrate '9 To 5' Drag queens Pandora Boxx, Heklina and Peaches Christ will celebrate Dolly's classic film 9 To 5 next month in San Francisco with the premiere of an original stage show titled Workin' as a pre-show based on the movie prior to hosting a screening of the film itself. Tickets for the No. 23 show at the historic Castro Theatre are available here.
Oct. 28: Dolly Shoots Up Chart Down Under Thanks to coverage of the announcement of her Blue Smoke World Tour's Australian leg, the 2007 compilation The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 shoots up 16 places to No. 7 on the Australian country albums chart, marking its 293rd week on the top 40 tally. The sales also pushed it back onto the catalog album chart Down Under at No. 30 for a 32nd week. On the British country compilation charts, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) remains steady at No. 5 in its seventh week on the chart, and Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) also holds steady at No. 13 in its seventh week back on the charts after its 2011 release. The first installment of Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 1, also released in 2011, drops seven spots to No. 15 in its sixth week with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony.
Dolly Sells Out Scots Show Immediately Speaking of the tour, The Evening Express reports that her Aberdeen show in Scotland sold out less than 10 minutes after going on sale Friday, making it one of the fastest sell-outs in the venue's history. Check out the brief here.
Down Under Library Update It's been announced a couple of times that Dolly's Imagination Library early childhood literacy project is coming to Australia, and The Sydney Morning Herald reports that about 850 children are already enrolled in three pilot programs Down Under. Read more here.
Miley: Dolly Helps Keep Me Grounded Miley Cyrus credits her grounding to Dolly, according to an interview with British Cosmopolitan. MTV UK reports here that she noted: "Dolly Parton's my godmother. She's taught me a lot about how you treat people. She always says hi to the person on the bottom of the call sheet. I love that."
Salvador Dali Parton Hits Nashville Nashville has a new "supergroup" featuring members of Mumford & Sons, The Vaccines, Old Crow Medicine Show, JEFF the Brotherhood and Apache Relay that has taken its name from a mashup of a painter and a singer: Salvador Dali Parton. Rolling Stone reports here that the band recently played its first gig.
Oct. 26: European, Australian VIP Packages Announced For Tour Dolly's management early Friday morning American time/late Thursday night British time revealed details of the Blue Smoke World Tour's VIP packages. If the sale start time listed on Ticketmaster UK is correct, the European packages in most markets had already been on sale for a few hours by the time the e-mail was sent to her e-mail distribution list to announce the packages were available, while the Australian sales begin on Monday. The Museum Tour Experience provides one premium ticket (generally in the center section and first four or five rows of seats), a backstage museum tour including Dolly's personal wardrobe and instruments, an onstage walkthrough, advanced access to a private merchandise booth, a keepsake laminate, a gift bag, autographed framed lyric sheet, an on-site host, and entry into a random drawing for a meet-and-greet photo with Dolly. The Blue Smoke Package provides one premium ticket (generally in any floor section around rows five or six through rows nine or 10), the gift bag, the autographed lyrics, the laminate, and entry into the meet-and-greet contest. No details have been released explaining how many meet-and-greet winners will be selected at each show, nor is there any information on whether there will be any meet-and-greet contests without purchase. Tickets aren't inexpensive, either. The regular seats on the U.K. leg of the tour range from £50 to £67.50 each, or roughly $80-$109 American, but the Museum Experience is £500 (about $808 American) and the Blue Smoke Package £300 (about $485 American). Australian prices will be a little less expensive: $700 for the Museum Experience (about $667 American) and $500 for the Blue Smoke Package (about $474 American). No word on what they'll go for in the U.S. when those tour legs are announced here. Information on the packages is available at a special website at Dolly VIP.com.
Dolly Up On GAC Chart, Irish Tally Kenny Rogers and Dolly's new duet, "You Can't Make Old Friends," shoots up seven spots on the Great American Country Top 20 Country Countdown this week to land at No. 3. And overseas, the new three-CD compilation The Real Dolly Parton gains eight places to No. 33 on the Irish pop albums chart.
'Country Weekly' Covers Christmas Show Country Weekly chats about Dolly's 3-D hologram in Dollywood's adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol for the park's Smoky Mountain Christmas festival in an article here Friday.
Oct. 25: U.K. Fan Site Releases 'Blue Smoke' Cover Art The British fan website Dolly Part'ners on Wednesday posted what its webmaster reported was the cover art for Dolly's upcoming album, Blue Smoke. The artwork appears to be a square version of the rectangle artwork being used to promote the Blue Smoke World Tour. Click on the image at left for a larger view. In related news, Dolly is expected to talk about the album and tour in an interview Friday morning on the U.K.'s Daybreak program, she tweeted Thursday.
Kenny & Dolly On '20/20' Nov. 5 Kenny Rogers and Dolly are among the artists interviewed on a special country music edition of ABC's 20/20 airing Tuesday, Nov. 5: "In The Spotlight with Robin Roberts: Countdown to the CMA Awards." Other segments focus on Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Shania Twain and the cast of Nashville.
Dolly Still On Christmas Chart The Nov. 2 Billboard charts show Dolly's "Hard Candy Christmas" from 1982 gets another week on the holiday digital songs, slipping six to No. 37 in its 20th week on the chart and its second week this year. As was previously reported, Willie Nelson's To All The Girls, featuring a Dolly duet, debuts at No. 2 country and No. 9 pop. In addition, the CD lands at No. 9 current albums, No. 5 Internet sales and No. 23 digital sales. Kenny Rogers's You Can't Make Old Friends, also with a new Dolly duet, falls six spots to No. 15 country and 33 places to No. 75 pop and No. 75 current albums in its second week. I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, featuring her cover of Dolly's title song, dips four digits to No. 73 in its 49th week on the R&B/hip-hop albums chart. In related news, Billboard reported here Thursday that the debut gives Nelson an even further lead for the most top 10 country music albums in history with 46. The article lists Dolly at No. 2 with 41 top 10 albums and Merle Haggard at No. 3 with 40. Actually, though, Dolly has 42 credited in her name (I don't know which one they've missed) or 43 if you count the soundtrack to The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, although it is officially credited as various artists.
Oct. 24: 'Blue Smoke' Tour Also Hitting Sweden An 18th stop on the European leg of Dolly's Blue Smoke World Tour was announced Wednesday morning: The Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 11. The first 17 dates were announced on Tuesday, following announcement of six Australian dates over the weekend. Fans are still awaiting announcement of the U.S. legs of the tour.
Nelson CD With Dolly Song Debuts In Pop Top 10 Thanks to some heavy promotion on shopping channel QVC, Willie Nelson's duets album To All The Girls, which kicks off with a Dolly collaboration on her "From Here To The Moon And Back," will debut on the Nov. 2 Billboard charts coming out Thursday at No. 2 country and No. 9 pop with 43,000 units sold in its first week. Keeping it from the pole country position is the week's No. 6 pop debut, See You Tonight from Scotty McCreery with 52,000 copies moved.
Other Possible Dolly Musicals Willamette Week has some fun with the arrival of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical to the Portland, Ore., area by proposing five other Dolly tunes that would make good musicals and the plots they came up with for each. Take a read here.
Oct. 23: European Dates For Blue Smoke Tour Announced
Dolly's management on Tuesday morning announced the details for the European leg of her Blue Smoke World Tour for next year, adding to the Australian dates revealed over the weekend. The tour's North American dates have yet to be disclosed, but Dolly had said in August that she was planning U.S. shows in January and May. The European announcement takes her to 17 dates in England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Germany, her first time in that final country in decades. Most tickets go on sale to the general public Friday with Live Nation pre-sales starting 9 a.m. Thursday.
In announcing this leg of the tour, Dolly said in a press release: "Every time I come to Europe I'm just as excited as I was my very first time, which was many, many years ago. I love that part of the world and I especially love the fans," adds Parton. "We always have such a good time and I've put together a lot of things for this show that I think the fans will love. We had not planned to come back so soon, but we got so much fan mail and such a great reaction that I thought 'Well, why not. If they're having a good time and we always do, let's just do it'."
Her 2011 Better Day World Tour took her to 18 dates in 15 cities in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Sweden and Denmark, where she played for nearly 147,000 fans and grossed $16 million.
She also released to the different venues little 9 or 10-second video clips announcing her shows. Watch the one for Aberdeen in the media player above or by clicking here. Others included Ireland here, Newcastle here, Manchester here and Leeds here. Finally, the opening on her schedule on June 28 and 29 during the June 27-29 performances of the annual Glastonbury Music Festival in England has renewed speculation (such as the story here) that she could be one of this year's headliners, many of whom are not announced until after the event sells out. She has been rumored to be a performer at the festival in several recent years but has never actually been there even though organizers have listed her as one of the top acts they'd like to secure for the concerts.
The European dates are:
June 8, Echo Arena, Liverpool, England
June 10, Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
June 11, O2 Arena, Dublin, Ireland
June 12, Live at the Marquee, Cork, Ireland
June 14, Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle, England
June 15, ACCGE Oil & Gas Arena, Aberdeen, Scotland
The Nashville Police Department on Tuesday released a 911 call from a bystander who reported Dolly's car accident in Music City on Monday. Apparently, he didn't realize who was in the vehicle, instead referring to passenger Dolly and her lifelong friend Judy Ogle as "two elderly ladies." The tape revealed for the first time that the driver of the other vehicle was trapped in her car following the accident, since she apparently pulled out in front of Judy and Dolly, causing them to t-bone her vehicle. Listen to the call courtesy TMZ in the media player above or by clicking here. As was previously reported here and elsewhere, all three women involved in the accident were treated and released from local hospitals for minor injuries.
Oct. 22: 'I'm All Good' Dolly Says After Traffic Accident
I was in a fender bender this morning here in Nashville, but I am all good... Just a little tired and sore. Resting at home now!
For the second time in three days, Dolly went viral online, this time over minor injuries in a traffic accident in Nashville. Monday afternoon, she tweeted to fans: "I was in a fender bender this morning here in Nashville, but I am all good... Just a little tired and sore. Resting at home now!"
The Nashville Police Department released the following press release detailing the accident:
Dolly Parton received minor injuries late this morning when the SUV in which she was riding was struck by a car at the intersection of Vaulx Lane and Kirkwood Avenue.
Parton was the front seat passenger in a Nissan Xterra being driven by Judy Ogle, 68, of Nashville. They were traveling eastbound on Kirkwood Avenue when a Mitsubishi Diamante being driven by Diane Lish, 64, of Old Hickory, pulled into the intersection from Vaulx Lane. The two vehicles collided at 11:41 a.m. The investigation shows that Lish failed to yield.
Ogle and Parton were transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for treatment. Lish was taken to Centennial Medical Center. None of the injuries appeared to be serious.
Coverage was found all over the Internet throughout the afternoon, including stories from Country Weeklyhere, GAC here, News Channel 5 here, The Tennesseanhere, USA Todayhere, CMT here, TMZ here and The Huffington Posthere, among dozens of other news sites and blogs.
'Miss You, Miss Me' Premieres On 'Latifah'
Dolly premiered her new heartbreaking song "Miss You, Miss Me" from her forthcoming Blue Smoke album and next month's Lifetime film A Country Christmas Story to The Queen Latifah Show Monday, bringing the episode to an emotional close with Dolly, Latifah and audience members seen wiping tears from their eyes. She opened the show with the joke rap that went viral over the weekend, although she made it clear afterward it was in jest, joshing with the line "You know what you get when you mix country and rap? Crap!" The pair had an obviously good time during the interview, although the only new information she provided was that the CD will be released shortly after the new year. See the performance here or in the media player above. Additional clips from the interview portion of the show are available here, here and here, and of course, the abbreviated version of the rap bit, which is approaching 1 million views since its posting to YouTube on Friday, here or the full rap (which is nearing 125,000 views) here.
'My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy' Out Tuesday Don't forget that the 1969 classic Dolly album My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy becomes available for the first time ever as a digital download on Tuesday after decades out of print. Get your copy here! The track listing is:
In The Ghetto
Games People Play
'Til Death Do Us Part
Big Wind
Evening Shade
I'm Fed Up With You
My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy
Daddy
We Had All The Good Things Going
The Monkey's Tale
Gypsy, Joe And Me
Home For Pete's Sake
Oct. 21: Australian Leg Of 2014 World Tour Announced
You saw on Dollymania.net a week and a half ago the first report that Dolly's next concert outing would be called her "Blue Smoke World Tour" and that news was confirmed Sunday with announcement of the tour's first leg: the portion Down Under. Six Australian concerts were revealed for February to the same six cities she visited on her 2011 "Better Day World Tour," which was her first return Down Under in three decades and proved so successful that several additional dates were added in multiple cities on the itinerary there that year. On that tour, she played for almost 96,000 Australian fans and her dates there grossed $15.5 million. The 2014 initial dates are:
Feb. 11, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Aus.
Feb. 15, Hope Estate, Hunter Valley, Aus.
Feb. 18, Entertainment Centre, Sydney, Aus.
Feb. 21, Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Aus.
Feb. 25, Entertainment Centre, Adelaide, Aus.
Feb. 27, Perth Arena, Perth, Aus.
In a press release, which also confirmed her next album will also be titled Blue Smoke but did not disclose its release date, Dolly said: "Australia, here I come again. We have a lot of new and exciting things for the show and can't wait to share it with you. I love my fans in that part of the world. You've been so very good to me for so many years and I know that we're gonna have a wonderful time. It's a long way from home in your part of the world, but I always feel like I'm right at home. So Australia, I'm coming home. Wait up!" The press release also noted that VIP packages will be offered that include access to tour Dolly's personal wardrobe and instruments, take a backstage tour and have a meet-and-greet with Dolly. No word on whether these will be offered only on the Australian leg or also in other countries as well. If her tour follows the pattern she disclosed in August she was planning, then U.S. dates should soon be announced for January and May in addition to European dates in June. Tour logo artwork (above) was also released with the announcement, as was a new promotional photo (at right). The logo artwork features the Smoky Mountains and an artist's animated rendering of the promotional photo. The tour leg's details followed announcement on Australia's 60 Minutes in an interview with her that she would be touring there in 2014. Catch that interview online here. It was mostly a very good interview except for a couple of errors (most notably that only 30 cover versions of "Jolene" exist when there are several hundred, and that only one public picture of Dolly with husband Carl Dean exists when there are more than a dozen). Australian tickets will be sold to the general public via Live Nation starting at 9 a.m. Nov. 1 but Live Nation members will have access to a pre-sale starting at 2 p.m. Oct. 28. Ticketmaster Australia shows only the Hope Estate show, but it also shows a "fanclub/sponsor pre-sale" starting at noon Oct. 25 and My Ticketmaster pre-sale at 2 p.m. Oct. 30 in addition to the Live Nation pre-sale and general ticket sales. No word on whether any other pre-sales will be offered for other dates nor any further details on the "fanclub/sponsor pre-sale."
Down Under, U.K. Chart Updates In other news Down Under, The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 rises four places this week to No. 24 in its 292nd week on the top 40 Australian country albums chart. On the British country compilation charts, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) gains two to No. 5 in its sixth week on the chart, while Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) regains five to No. 13 in its sixth week back on the charts after its 2011 release and the first installment of Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 1, also released in 2011, shoots up nine in its fifth week to No. 8 with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony.
Queen Latifah Reminder Don't forget to tune in to The Queen Latifah Show on Monday to hear her interview with Dolly about her upcoming tour and CD as well as her role in the upcoming Lifetime Christmas movie and to watch the rap routine that burned up the Internet over the weekend! The show is syndicated so you will need to check local listings for times and stations.
Oct. 19: Queen Latifah Promotes Dolly Appearance On Show
The Queen Latifah Show on Friday officially announced what had already been revealed here Thursday night, that Dolly taped her program and the episode with her as its guest would air on Monday in syndication complete with a "Dolly rap." The show also posted Dolly's entire joke "rap" bit to YouTube here (or in the media player above) and a highlights clip of the start of the rap here. In addition, they released several images from the show for use as social media teasers and sent them along to Dollymania.net so we may pass them on to you to use. They've been loaded to a gallery here. The YouTube video caused quite a stir online, with dozens and dozens of news sites and blogs embedding it for their readers to see. A sampling includes Monsters And Criticshere, Gawkerhere, E! Online here, Sodaheadhere and my favorite, Logo's New Now Next blog here, which says even though she showed she isn't a good rapper, the artist "who can do no wrong" comes out of it remaining "perfect" in their critic's eyes. Dolly even tweeted about the appearance here.
'Old Friends' Still In GAC Top 10, 'Real' Debuts In Ireland In the new Great American Country Top 20 Country Countdown released Friday, Kenny Rogers and Dolly's duet "You Can't Make Old Friends" ranks at No. 10 in its third week on the chart. Vote for it in next week's charts on GAC here and CMT here. In other chart news, the new overseas three-CD compilation The Real Dolly Parton debuts at No. 41 on the top 100 Irish pop albums chart Friday.
Willie Looks For High Chart Debut Billboard magazine is projecting a possible top 10 pop debut for Willie Nelson's new duets album, To All The Girls, which features a collaboration with Dolly on her "From Here To The Moon And Back." The magazine states that through its first sales week that ends on Sunday the title could sell around 35,000 copies which could put it around No. 10 on the pop side and possibly as high as No. 2 on the country tally when preliminary numbers are released Wednesday and the full charts on Thursday. Read more here.
Oct. 18: Dolly On Monday's 'Queen Latifah Show' Dolly on Thursday taped an episode of Queen Latifah's syndicated talk show currently slated to air on Monday (check local listings for air times and stations). Readers in the audience said she opened the show donning a black outfit with gold metal beads and sparkly bracelets, wearing a blonde afro wig given to her by Latifah when they were filming their move Joyful Noise and doing a revised version of the "rap" she did on her Better Day World Tour, adding new lines about goddaughter Miley Cyrus ("I got my wrecking balls right here!"), Duck Dynasty and Honey Boo Boo. After commercial, she returned with one of her usual wigs instead. She chatted for two "couch segments," covering her upcoming Blue Smoke album, world tour, Broadway musical and Lifetime holiday movie on Nov. 9. Latifah also spoke about how great she smells. She also sang "Miss You, Miss Me," a song from the new album which appears in the television film, and appeared to tear up while singing. Thanks Gary, Larry and Joshua!
U.S. Chart Updates Include Some Dolly Dolly is back on the charts, the Oct. 26 Billboard tallies released Monday showed. In the first seasonal chart of the year, her 1982 recording of "Hard Candy Christmas" makes its annual appearance, coming in at No. 31 on the holiday digital songs list, marking its 19th week on the chart. As was previously reported, Kenny Rogers's You Can't Make Old Friends, featuring his new Dolly duet on the title track, debuts at No. 9 country and No. 43 pop, although the final sales total was downgraded from an earlier estimate of just under 10,000 to around 8,000. The CD also debuts at No. 43 current albums. I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, with the late singer's version of Dolly's title song, falls six spots to No. 69 in its 48th week on the R&B/hip-hop albums chart. Overall, The Voice winner Cassadee Pope debuts at No. 1 country, No. 9 pop with 43,000 copies sold of Frame by Frame, while Luke Bryan slips one to No. 2 country and nine to No. 9 pop in the ninth chart week for Crash My Party.
Holiday Song Getting A Re-Release Dolly's recording of "Christmas Time's A Comin'" is getting a re-release. It came out in 2004 as part of the second installment of the "Christmas Grass" series of bluegrass-inspired holiday recordings. Most of the songs from the previous three installments have been gathered together for a two-disc set titled Christmas Grass: The Collection hitting stores on Oct. 29 and, of course, including Dolly's contribution. Get your copy here!
'Hollywood To Dollywood' Heading To Netflix Hollywood To Dollywood, the Lane Twins' documentary about traveling cross-country to meet Dolly featuring several songs by Dolly herself and even a cameo by your webmaster, gets its Netflix premiere next week, becoming available from the company's streaming video service.
Oct. 17: 'My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy' Coming For Downloads The second Dolly entry in Sony Music's digital re-issues of classic albums in its vaults is coming later this month, the label revealed this week. Her 1969 classic My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy has been remastered and will be issued for its first-ever downloads on Oct. 22. The collection features three top 40 country singles: the title track (No. 45), "Daddy" (No. 40) and her cover of the Mac Davis-written Elvis Presley hit "In The Ghetto" (No. 50) in addition to fan favorite "Gypsy, Joe and Me." Other tracks on the album are "Big Wind," "Evening Shade," "Games People Play," "Home For Pete's Sake," "I'm Fed Up With You," "The Monkey's Tale," "'Til Death Do Us Part" and "We Had All The Good Things Going." Get your copy here starting Oct. 22! The first title in the re-issue series, 1982's Heartbreak Express, was released digitally in July. The releases are based on fan voting via a website operated by Sony's re-issue imprint, Legacy Recordings here. As of press time, Heartbreak Express was No. 5 and My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy No. 11, with 10 other Dolly titles in the top 100 -- including The Bargain Store and Love Is Like A Butterfly both in the top 10.
Kenny To Debut In Top 50 Pop, Top 10 Country Tallies With about 10,000 copies sold in its first week of release, thanks largely to attention granted for the new Dolly duet on its title track, Kenny Rogers will see his new release, You Can't Make Old Friends, debut in the top 50 pop albums and become his 22nd top 10 country album when the full Billboard charts are released on Thursday, it was revealed on Wednesday. The CD will make No. 43 pop and No. 9 country for the week.
Two Dolly Warhol Pictures Go To Auction Want to own an original Andy Warhol photo of Dolly? British auction house Christies is offering two of them this month as part of a Warhol collection benefiting the late artist's foundation. One of a handful of Polaroid photos he took of Dolly in 1985 to serve as the basis for his series of large-scale portraits of her commissioned by her then-manager Sandy Gallin is being offered in addition to a gelatin silver print of a photo he took of Dolly speaking to Olivia Newton-John while sitting at a table in 1976. The Polaroid, available here for bidding, is 4.25 inches by 3.375 inches and is expected to bring in between $8,000 and $12,000 – the minimum opening bid is $7,000. The print with Newton-John, available here, is an 8x10 and is expected to go for between $4,000 and $6,000. Its minimum opening bid is $3,000. See the full collection here. Bids will be accepted through Oct. 30.
New Overseas Compilation Set Arrives A new, three-CD Dolly compilation hit the overseas market this week from Sony Music. The Real Dolly Parton, featuring 55 tracks from 1967 through 1993, primarily from RCA but including one of her Monument songs and seven from her Columbia years, came out in the U.K., Australia and The Netherlands. As always, the set contains almost entirely songs that are well represented on other compilations already available. The most notable exception is the original Porter Wagoner duet version of "Together You and I," which is included on the collection. Get yours here!
Dolly Set For '60 Minutes' Australia Fans Down Under will want to tune in to 60 Minutes in Australia this weekend, as a new interview with Dolly is slated to air. Australian journalist Ray Martin interviewed her recently for the program, which airs at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
Member Of Trio Up For Hall Of Fame Linda Ronstadt, one-third of the supergroup The Trio with Dolly and Emmylou Harris, is a first-time nominee this year for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it was revealed Wednesday. About 600 voters will consider the 16 nominees and select the class of five or six artists to be announced in December for a 2014 induction.
Oct. 16: 'Unlikely Angel' Returns To ABC Family Dolly's appearance in the Lifetime holiday film A Country Christmas Story, which as was previously reported here will premiere Nov. 9, isn't her only observance of the season on the tube this year. ABC Family on Tuesday announced its "25 Days of Christmas" programming schedule running Dec. 1 through 25, and it will again this year feature Dolly's 1996 made-for-television flick Unlikely Angel. The airing takes place at 11 a.m. Eastern Dec. 17.
Dolly Returns To Guideposts Magazine That's not the only holiday connection for Dolly this week either, as Guideposts magazine posted a web-only exclusive in its inspirational stories section of Dolly's Christmas memories, especially the food-related ones. Check it out here.
Oct. 14: Chart Movements Across The Pond, Down Under The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 regains five spots this week to No. 28 in its 291st week on the top 40 Australian country albums chart. On the British country compilation charts, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) dips four to No. 7 in its fifth week on the charts, while Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) falls nine to No. 18 in its fifth week back on the charts after its 2011 release and the first installment of Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 1, also released in 2011, slips eight in its fourth week to No. 17 with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony.
Willie CD Release Reminder Don't forget that Willie Nelson's duets album, To All The Girls, featuring his collaboration with Dolly on her "From Here To The Moon And Back," hits stores on Tuesday. Get your copy here!
Oct. 12: Lifetime Made-For-TV Movie To Premiere Nov. 9 Lifetime on Friday announced the "It's a Wonderful Lifetime" schedule of holiday programming, including the first air date for the network's new movie featuring Dolly. Although it used several working titles during filming – including The Dollywood Christmas, Nashville Dreams and A Year Of Grace -- the final title is A Country Christmas Story. The film premieres at 8 p.m. Eastern Saturday, Nov. 9, to kick off nearly two months of Lifetime's holiday offerings. In the press release, the project was described as: "Lifetime launches a sleigh full of original programming led by musical icon and multiple Grammy(R) Award winner Dolly Parton (Nine to Five) and Grammy Award nominated R&B singer and producer Brian McKnight (American Dreams) in the Lifetime Original Movie A Country Christmas Story. The film follows a young Appalachian mountain girl (newcomer Desiree Ross, Park Bench) as she pursues her dream of becoming a country star against the wishes of her mother (Megyn Price, Rules of Engagement). Her journey to the stage at Dollywood with a singing competition hosted by Dolly Parton reunites her with her musician father (McKnight) and uncovers the musical legacy of African Americans in the world of country music. Mary Kay Place (Big Love) stars as her grandmother."
Kenny Interviews, Duet Slips On GAC Chart Kenny Rogers continued his media outreach this week for his new album, You Can't Make Old Friends, which came out this week featuring a new Dolly duet on the title track. He spoke to the Associated Press about his relationship with Dolly in a piece available here from MSNBC and also chatted with Billboard magazine here. In related news, the song's video slipped two in Friday's Top 20 Country Countdown on Great American Country, coming in at No. 6 in its second week. Vote for it in next week's charts on GAC here and CMT here.
Dolly Acknowledges National Coming Out Day Friday was the 20th anniversary of National Coming Out Day for LGBT people, and Dolly took the occasion to remark on her social media: "I do not sit in the seat of judgment... I love people for who they are. We're all God's children! :)"
Billy Ray Says Miley Learned From Dolly Miley Cyrus's professional drive comes at least partly from godmother Dolly, her father said in an Access Hollywood Live interview. In paraphrasing his remarks, the blog Zap2It suggested here that he said, in effect, that Miley is the next Dolly, adding that his full comment was: "She's got a lot to say, musically, as an artist. It's hard for me at times. I look at her -- that's still Miley, it's still my little girl, still my daughter. And then on the professional side, it's a singer-songwriter, entertainer, actor. I look at her and go, 'She learned from the best. She learned from Dolly Parton, you know.'"
Enjoy A Dolly Poem Thanks to Scott for passing along that the poetry site Worldprose has a poem posted Oct. 3 titled "Grand Old Opry" which is about Dolly. Check it out here.
U.S. Chart Updates I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, featuring her cover of Dolly's title song, loses eight places this week to come in at No. 63 in its 47th week on the R&B/hip-hop albums chart, the Oct. 19 Billboard charts revealed. Overall, Luke Bryan remains steady at No. 1 country and gains two to No. 4 pop in the eighth chart week for Crash My Party, while Tyler Farr debuts at No. 2 country and No. 5 pop with Redneck Crazy.
Oct. 10: Blue Smoke World Tour Coming Dolly's much-anticipated 2014 concert tour will be called her Blue Smoke World Tour, Dollymania.net has learned. Thus far, just one apparent date on the tour has been located: June 27 at London's O2 Arena. Dolly told fans at the taping for her scenes in a Lifetime Christmas movie back in August that her next album would contain the songs "Blue Smoke" and "I Dreamed About Elvis," both of which she recorded for a CD in 2005 but cut from the project when it became a covers album. Due to concert performances, both tunes became fan favorites. Now, she has decided to lend the song title to her tour as well, and its usage suggests she may be using it for the album title. News of the tour name came thanks to a now-deleted posting on the O2 venue's website advertising the concert for its Priority pre-sale membership club. Even though it was removed, presumably because the tour itinerary has yet to be announced, a couple of event and ticket websites in the U.K. still had the concert listed as of Wednesday night using details from the original O2 posting. Thanks, Wayne!
Kenny Wants To Tour With Dolly Kenny Rogers wants to tour with Dolly again, he told Today, but his performance schedule is too demanding for her. "I think we're trying to work something out," he told the hosts in another one of his stops to promote his new CD, You Can't Make Old Friends, with a new Dolly duet on the title track. Check out the interview here. In related news, he chats with Billboardhere about his various duet partners, including Dolly, and ABC is seeking votes for the greatest country duet of all time here, and "Islands In The Stream" is among the choices. The winner will be revealed on 20/20 Nov. 5.
Dollywood's FireChaser Video Released Dollywood on Wednesday released the full-ride animation video for its 2014 addition: the FireChaser Express family coaster. Check it out on the park's website here or on Facebook here.
Oct. 9: 'You Can't Make Old Friends' Hits Stores With Tuesday's release of his new CD, You Can't Make Old Friends, and its title track duet featuring Dolly, Kenny Rogers made the rounds this week and in several interviews said that he and Dolly worked together for two years on the road but never had an affair. Instead, he said, they flirted with each other for 30 years, which kept some romantic tension between them. Check out one of the interviews from FOX and Friendshere and another from The Huffington Posthere, in which he left the interviewer dumbfounded to learn that Dolly sends faxes to people instead of calling or e-mailing.
Kentucky Review For '9 To 5: The Musical' Kentucky.com gives a rave review to the Woodford Theatre's production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical in the Lexington area. Read it here.
A Priest Walks Into A Bookstore Father Jim Sichko, a priest whose annual concert series has brought stars such as Dolly, Harry Connick Jr. and Bill Cosby to perform in Richmond, Ky., has a book coming out about his experiences, and I'm told it includes a chapter about working with various celebrities he has hosted over the years with some nice things to say about Dolly and her manager. Among Friends: Stories On The Journey comes out in April, but he will be signing pre-release copies at St. Mark Catholic Church in Richmond, Ky., on Oct. 17. Advance orders are available at Amazon here.
Oct. 7: Kenny & Dolly Debut On GAC Chart, Other Chart News Kenny Rogers and Dolly made a big debut Friday night on Great American Country's Top 20 Country Countdown, coming in at No. 4 for the week in the fan-voted tally. The music video for the single, which is the title track to Rogers's new CD coming out on Tuesday, You Can't Make Old Friends, did not make the top 20 on rival cable network CMT, unfortunately. Vote for it in next week's charts on GAC here and CMT here! In other chart news, The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 drops three places this week to No. 33 in its 290th week on the top 40 Australian country albums chart. On the British country compilation charts, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) regains one to No. 3 in its fourth week on the charts, while Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) rises two to No. 9 in its fourth week back on the charts after its 2011 release and the first installment of Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 1, also released in 2011, slides two in its third week to No. 9 with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony. In the U.S., there's only one directly Dolly-related title on the charts, as I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, with the late singer's version Dolly's title song, inched up one digit last week to No. 55 in its 46th week on the R&B/hip-hop albums, the Oct. 13 Billboard numbers showed. Overall, Luke Bryan rose two to No. 1 country and held steady at No. 6 pop with Crash My Party in its seventh chart week, while Justin Moore lost one to No. 2 country and eight to No. 10 pop with Off the Beaten Path in its second week.
Dolly's Literacy Efforts Lauded A member of the judging panel for the National Literacy Trust in the U.K. wants Dolly to be recognized as a literacy hero for her early childhood reading campaign, the Imagination Library. Check out her column giving her reasoning here. Unfortunately, she notes, members of the judging panel cannot make nominations.
Miley Wants To Treat Hair Like Dolly's Miley Cyrus, who hosted Saturday Night Live over the weekend, says she gets style points from godmother Dolly. The Observer quotes her here saying: "My favourite thing she ever said was, I asked her, 'Dolly, what colour is your natural hair?' She's like, 'Honey, I don't know. I haven't seen it in 30 years!' I'm like, 'Me neither.' Like I'm never planning on seeing my natural colour."
'Steel Magnolias' Home Up For Auction M'Lynn's home from the film Steel Magnolias is up for auction, The Daily Mail reports. The auction winner will take the 5,900 square-foot, six-bedroom home plus all furnishings, including movie memorabilia from the taping of the 1989 classic in the Natchitoches, La., home. When listed for sale in recent years, the purchase price has been in the $1 million range. Read more here.
Oct. 4: Dolly Now Connected To Harlem Globetrotters Dolly now has a connection to the iconic Harlem Globetrotters. The comedy basketball franchise has been purchased by Herschend Family Entertainment, her partners in Dollywood. Read more here.
Budget Movie Title Coming Queens Of Nashville, a budget DVD release with a couple of Dolly connections, is coming later this month. The title has been announced from Echo Bridge Home Entertainment for an Oct. 29 release. Its main feature is a five-part biography profile focusing on Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, Faith Hill, Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert, but it also features four bonus movies: the Johnny Cash 1984 TV movie The Baron and The Kid, Reba's 1994 TV movie Is There Life Out There, Dolly's 1999 TV movie Blue Valley Songbird and the 2011 Canadian theatrical release The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom, which features Canadian covers of Dolly songs and a couple of voice-overs from Dolly herself. Amazon has it for advance order for $7 each. Get your copy here!
G-A-Y Wants Dolly Britain's Digital Spy reports that Dolly tops the list of performers that the legendary London nightspot G-A-Y wants to land for a song or two, something done in recent years by icons such as Mariah Carey, Madonna and Lady Gaga. Others on their want list include Cher and Olivia Newton-John. The owner's love of Dolly is why he included her "9 To 5" on a three-disc set of CDs coming out soon to celebrate the club's 20th anniversary, he tells the publication here.
'9 To 5: The Musical' Heads To Lexington Lexington, Ky., area venue The Woodford Theatre opens its 25th anniversary season this weekend with Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical, Kentucky.com reports here.
Latifah Brings Up Dolly In Billy Ray Interview Miley Cyrus continues this week to make news, including a tidbit from dad Billy Ray's appearance on Queen Latifah's new talk show, which prompted Latifah to interject Miley's relationship with godmother Dolly, with whom Latifah co-stared in Joyful Noise. Read more from E! Online here.
Library Grows In Northeast Dolly's Imagination Library literacy project is expanding in Maine and New York State. The Bangor Daily News covered its Presque Isle, Maine, expansion here this week, while The Madison County Courier discussed its Oneida, N.Y., expansion here.
You saw on Dollymania.net a week and a half ago the first report that Dolly's next concert outing would be called her "Blue Smoke World Tour" and that news was confirmed Sunday with announcement of the tour's first leg: the portion Down Under. Six Australian concerts were revealed for February to the same six cities she visited on her 2011 "Better Day World Tour," which was her first return Down Under in three decades and proved so successful that several additional dates were added in multiple cities on the itinerary there that year. On that tour, she played for almost 96,000 Australian fans and her dates there grossed $15.5 million. The 2014 initial dates are: 
Dolly on Thursday taped an episode of Queen Latifah's syndicated talk show currently slated to air on Monday (check local listings for air times and stations). Readers in the audience said she opened the show donning a black outfit with gold metal beads and sparkly bracelets, wearing a blonde afro wig given to her by Latifah when they were filming their move