Dolly Wins First Dove Award
Dolly on Thursday won her first-ever Dove Award for Christian music, taking home Short Form Video of the Year for "God Only Knows" with For KING & Country. The duo also took home Artist of the Year. Her other recent collaborator, Zach Williams, who co-wrote their duet "There Was Jesus," won Songwriter of the Year and the album containing the track won Recorded Music Packaging of the Year and had been nominated for Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year. Dolly's previous Dove nominations were for Country Recorded Song of the Year in 2004 for "Stand By The River" with Dottie Rambo and 2006 for "When I Get Where I'm Going" with Brad Paisley as well as a 2015 nod as songwriter of "Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher Man" for Bluegrass Recorded Song of the Year thanks to a cover by Volume Five featuring Rhonda Vincent.

'Parade' Has Dolly On Cover This Weekend
The Sunday newspaper insert Parade will feature Dolly on its cover this weekend to promote her upcoming lyrics book. Check out a story here and a Facebook posting of the cover photo here.

'Christmas At Dollywood' DVD Hits Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart has released an exclusive DVD of last year's Hallmark film Christmas At Dollywood, which is available in stores or online here.

U.K. Chart Updates
A Holly Dolly Christmas on Friday slipped six in its fourth week to No. 42 overall British album sales, dipped five to No. 39 physical CD sales, and three digits to No. 87 download album sales. On the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 inched down one to No. 4 in its 147th week, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe lost one to No. 5, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) dropped six to No. 16, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) gains nine to No. 19, The Essential Dolly Parton falls back out of the top 20, down from No. 20, while Ultimate Dolly Parton re-enters the top 20 at No. 20.

Poetry Magazine Seeks Dolly-Inspired Work
Online poetry magazine Limp Wrist is planning a Dolly tribute issue on Dolly's 75th birthday Jan. 19 and is seeking submissions of poems about or inspired by her at https://www.limpwristmagazine.com/dollytribute. Poets from the tribute will also be featured Jan. 19 on the Zoom-based poetry series Wild & Precious Life Series.

Leslie Jordan Meets Dolly
Emmy-award-winning actor Leslie Jordan has had a dream of meeting Dolly for years, even appearing as her in drag in the film A Very Sordid Wedding and having been cast as her brother in Heaven's To Betsy but the show was dropped before taping any episodes with his character. Well, his dream finally came true on Thursday and he met her in Nashville. (He had hinted on Entertainment Tonight a few days earlier that he is working on an album of hymns and might have her guest on it.) Check out pictures from their meeting on Facebook here or in the media player below.

Oct. 28:
Fallon: He, Dolly To Appear At Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting
Jimmy Fallon was on NBC's Today show Tuesday morning and let slip that he and Dolly will be "doing something together" for the annual Rockefeller Center tree lighting ceremony, presumably singing their duet on "All I Want For Christmas Is You." The date for this year's tree lighting has yet to be announced, nor has its broadcast day, but it normally takes place the first weekend of December and features an array of live and pre-recorded musical performances. Check out his appearance here.

'Holly Dolly Christmas' Continues To Sell Well
A Holly Dolly Christmas remained America's 10th-best-selling album of the week but its lack of online streams saw it drop below the No. 100 position on the all-genre Top 200 albums. In its third week, the Billboard Oct. 31 tally sees the record slips three to No. 8 current albums, four to No. 10 overall album sales, 47 to No. 142 Top 200, four to No. 14 country albums, and 15 to No. 29 independent label albums. The set re-enters the top 100 Canadian albums at No. 61 and remains steady at No. 2 holiday albums, while Dolly loses 21 to No. 55 Artist 100. Ultimate Dolly Parton falls back off the top 50 country albums chart, down from No. 49, while Once Upon A Christmas with Kenny Rogers slides one to No. 18 Christmas albums. Dolly's "Hard Candy Christmas" debuts at No. 6 on the first Christmas digital song sales chart of the season. Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" remains steady yet another week at No. 2 on the Hot Christian Songs chart, No. 4 Christian streaming songs and No. 1 Christian digital song sales chart, its 15th week atop that final list. After seven weeks at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary Christian Singles chart, it loses two to No. 3, while it falls one to No. 5 Christian airplay. The track re-enters the overall all-genre digital songs chart at No. 45. Overseas, A Holly Dolly Christmas on Friday remained steady at No. 36 overall album sales, gained three spots to No. 34 physical CD sales, and lost 20 places to No. 84 download album sales on the British albums charts. On the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 lost the No. 1 spot again, dipping two to No. 3 in its 146th week, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe inched down one to No. 4, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) gained four to No. 10, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) re-enters the top 20 at No. 19 and The Essential Dolly Parton re-enters at No. 20.

'IWALY' Passes 1 Billion Views On YouTube
Whitney Houston's cover of the Dolly-composed "I Will Always Love You" has joined an elite club of only four 1990s songs to pass the 1 billion view mark on YouTube, it was announced this week. The track is the first solo recording from the decade to reach the milestone, with the others being Guns N' Roses' "November Rain" (1.45 billion), Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (1.14 billion), and the Cranberries' "Zombie" (1.05 billion). Next on the list is 4 Non Blondes with "What's Up" at 925 million views (the band's lead singer and songwriter, Linda Perry, recently teamed up with Dolly for the Golden Globe-nominated and Grammy-nominated Dumplin' Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). Read more from Variety here.

Solo Songwriters Celebrated By 'Billboard'
Billboard noted in a story here about the most prolific solo songwriters on the Hot 100 singles chart that Diane Warren, who is tied with Lionel Richie for first place, is the only female songwriter with three or more solo-written No. 1 Hot 100 songs to her credit, followed by Dolly, Gloria Estefan and Debbie Gibson with two each – who are in a 29-way tie for sixth place.

Dolly COVID Donation Highlighted In 'NY Times'
A New York Times op-ed Tuesday took a look at COVID plasma treatment studies, including the one initially funded by Dolly's contribution to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Read it here. (The newspaper corrected an error in listing Dolly's Imagination Library book total at 150,000 instead of nearly 150 million after being made aware of the error that morning by this website.)

Could Netflix Get Dolly Another Oscar Nod?
Awards watching website Gold Derby has put Dolly's "Christmas On The Square" as a potential Oscar nominee this year. Check out the discussion here.

Oct. 23:
'Christmas On The Square' Trailer Drops

Dolly Chats With Knoxville TV
Dolly did a remote interview this week with Knoxville television station WATE, which has posted excerpts here, here and here.

Dolly Goes Viral For Making Colbert Cry
Dolly appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Tuesday and went viral Wednesday for moving the host to tears when she sang an a capella verse and chorus of "Bury Me Beneath The Willow." Check out a story about the appearance from USA Today here.

Dolly Loses Quarantine Video Of The Year
Granger Smith's "Don't Cough On Me!" beat Dolly's "When Life Is Good Again," and several other nominees, Wednesday night to win the CMT Video Music Awards' Quarantine Video of the Year.

Oct. 21:
'Pink' Song Released For Susan G. Komen Foundation

'Holly Dolly Christmas' Sells Well But Dips On Charts
As was predicted by the sales projections, the Oct. 24 Billboard charts released Tuesday showed A Holly Dolly Christmas had very strong sales its second week but lack of online streams caused it to tumble down the charts. Even though it only lost one place to No. 5 current album sales and two spots to No. 6 overall album sales, it plummeted 80 places to No. 95 on the all-genre Top 200 albums chart. Last week's No. 1 country and No. 1 holiday album, the title was the week's second-best-selling album in both genres and while it slid only one to No. 2 holiday albums (which is a sales-based chart) it lost nine to No. 10 country albums (which is a combined sales and streaming chart). It slipped a dozen digits to No. 14 independent albums and out of the top 100 Canadian albums chart, down from No. 57, while Dolly lost 13 to No. 34 on the Artist 100 tally. Ultimate Dolly Parton re-entered the top 50 country albums chart at No. 49, while Once Upon A Christmas with Kenny Rogers dipped two to No. 17 Christmas albums. Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" remained steady yet another week at No. 2 on the Hot Christian Songs chart and lost one to No. 4 Christian airplay. The track snagged a seventh week at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary Christian Singles chart and a 14th week at No. 1 on the Christian digital song sales chart. It held steady at No. 4 Christian streaming songs.

Oct. 20:
Vote For Dolly For CMT Quarantine Video Award
The 2020 CMT Music Awards last week announced a new special fan-voted category which includes Dolly. An award for Quarantine Video Of The Year will be announced Wednesday. To vote, you must visit CMT's INSTAGRAM Story here on Tuesday and watch the nominees, swiping up on the one you want to win. The nominees are Dolly's "When Life Is Good Again," Big & Rich's "Stay Home," Brad Paisley's "No I In Beer," Carly Pearce's "It Won't Always Be Like This," Charlie Worsham and Friends' "With A Little Help From My Friends," Dave Haywood and Kelli Haywood's "Just Another Day In Quarantine," Granger Smith's "Don't Cough On Me!," Luke Combs' "Six Feet Apart," Tenille Townes and Friends' "Lean On Me," and Thomas Rhett and Friends' "Be A Light."

Catch Dolly On 'Colbert' Tuesday Night
CBS has announced that Dolly will be the main guest Tuesday night for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which will also feature a performance by Ty Dolla $ign.

Dolly To Talk 'Songteller' Friday Online
Dolly announced on Monday she will offer a preview of her upcoming lyrics autobiography Songteller Friday at 6 p.m. Eastern on the retail site talkshoplive here. She added that due to the lack of book signings at present that an unannounced number of books sold through talkshoplive will be randomly selected to be autographed copies.

Dolly Biographies Profiled In Media
Two new Dolly biographies continue to get noticed this week, with NPR profiling She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs here and Hamilton College News profiled Unlikely Angel: The Songs Of Dolly Parton here.

Oct. 19:
'Chrstmas' Sales Still Strong In Second Week
Showing just how important streaming services are now to charts, it appears according to projected sales positions from Alpha Data that the second week of release for A Holly Dolly Christmas in the U.S. was likely the fourth-highest-selling physical CD and 41st highest-selling digital download album of the week, combining for the fifth-highest-selling overall position of the week, yet it is not expected to break the top 50 overall albums chart for the week, down from its No. 16 Hot 100, No. 1 country debut the previous week. (The expected No. 1 album for the week overall only sold about 600 actual copies but had almost 100 million on-demand song streams for the week, which equaled 65,000 "album sales equivalents" for chart purposes.) The projection puts Dolly's CD at No. 15 country albums for the week even though it was the second or third best-selling country album for the week as well. Its sales chart position suggests it likely sold about 10,000 copies in its second week for a two-week total of around 36,000 units.

U.K. Chart Updates
A Holly Dolly Christmas on Friday tumbled off the top 100 U.K. pop albums chart, down from one week at No. 32. It lost 22 places to No. 36 overall album sales, 19 spots to No. 37 physical CD sales, and 53 digits to No. 64 download album sales. On the British country compilation albums chart, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 regained the No. 1 spot in its 145th week, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe inched up one to No. 3, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) gained four to No. 14, and Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) fell off the top 20, down from No. 19.

Oct. 14:
Dolly's Fashions Land 'Vogue' Video

More Chart Data On 'Holly Dolly Christmas'
As was confirmed by Billboard on Monday, the Oct. 17 charts released Tuesday had A Holly Dolly Christmas at No. 1 country, No. 1 Christmas, and No. 16 all-genre Hot 200 pop albums. In addition, the set was No. 4 for current album sales, No. 4 all album sales, No. 2 independent label albums and No. 57 Canadian albums. Sales data for Friday through Sunday from Alpha Data shows the title could plummet all the way down to No. 41 country next week. Elsewhere on the charts, Once Upon A Christmas, re-issued this chart week on vinyl, increased 33 places to No. 15 Christmas albums. Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" remains steady yet another week at No. 2 on the Hot Christian Songs chart and falls two to No. 3 Christian airplay after five weeks at No. 1. The track snags a sixth week at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary Christian Singles chart and a 13th week at No. 1 on the Christian digital song sales chart. It holds steady at No. 4 Christian streaming songs.

'Jolene' Getting Another CD Re-Issue
Netherlands vault label Music On CD is reissuing the 2007 edition of Jolene with its four bonus tracks ("Cracker Jack," "Another Woman's Man," "Last Night's Lovin'" and "Barbara On Your Mind") on Nov. 13. Get your copy here.

Slate Previews New Dolly Biography
Slate on Tuesday published an excerpt from the new book She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs. Take a read here.

Win Dolly's Sparkling Guitar
My friend artist Paul Richmond has put together a virtual benefit this Saturday honoring his late childhood art teacher Linda Regula, co-founder with him of the anti-bullying project You Will Rise, to start a scholarship fund in her memory. Dolly has donated a signed guitar from her collection, pictured below, for which bidding is now open here. The event takes place 1-5 p.m. Saturday on Facebook and YouTube.

Oct. 13:
Billboard Confirms No. 1 Country, Holiday Albums For 'Christmas'
As was first reported on Dollymania.net Friday night based on sales tracker projections, Billboard on Monday confirmed that this week's charts will see A Holly Dolly Christmas debut at No. 1 country and No. 1 holiday albums as well as No. 16 pop with 26,000 units sold and 1,000 album equivalents in streams/individual single downloads, compared to the sales tracker projections of No. 15 pop with just over 25,300 units sold and about 500 album equivalent streams/single sales. Full charts will come out on Tuesday. Dolly told the publication: "I am so proud and humbled to have my album reach No. 1 on the Billboard country and holiday charts. Boy, what a great early Christmas present for me! Thanks to Billboard and the fans." The magazine noted here its Dolly's first No. 1 on the holiday albums tally and her eighth on the Top Country Albums list since that one debuted in 1964, the first time in the chart's history where a Christmas collection replaced another holiday album at No. 1. It also marked Dolly's achievement as the first female artist to have charted a top 10 album in each of the chart's seven decades, a feat Willie Nelson had achieved in July. The magazine noted it is her 46th career Top Country Albums Top 10 – a record for a female artist and second only to Nelson's 54. (The publication also has increased each of those artists' career totals by one since they last reported it, as they changed the credit on their 1984 collaborative album The Winning Hand from "Various Artists" to Dolly, Willie, Kris Kristofferson and Brenda Lee individually.) Dolly scored four top 10 albums in the 1960s, 18 in the 1970s, 11 in the 1980s, five in the 1990s, three in the 2000s, four in the 2010s and this is her first in the 2020s. Meanwhile, sales for Friday and Saturday showed it dropping to possibly as low as No. 27 on the country charts next week. And some reviews have started coming in. The Torch, the student newspaper at Valparaiso University, absolutely loved the CD here but Britain's The Daily Mail hated it here, giving it one star and calling it all "schmaltz" and "no personality." That reviewer, however, may not be the most reliable as he thought "A Holly Jolly Christmas," which opens the album, was a new Dolly original song and was unaware it is one of the holiday's most popular classic tunes or was written by Johnny Marks in 1962 and made most famous with the 1964 recording by Burl Ives.

Another Homegoods Company Reveals Dolly Line
Home goods company Tabletops Unlimited (TTU) on Monday announced it has entered into a deal with Dolly to release a new lifestyle collection of dinnerware, serveware, glassware, cookware, bakewear and hydration products. While no details were given of how or where the items will go on sale – through partner retailers or through TTU's online store – it was noted each item is inspired by her country roots and personal style, and many contain her witty quotes and/or images that represent her legacy. "Dolly wanted to create and introduce a new home collection for her brand," said TTU Vice President of Sales and Product Development Bonnie Farias in a press release. "We were approached by her team and presented with the opportunity to collaborate on this collection. We jumped on the opportunity as we all know Dolly as an icon and living legend. Not only is she beloved around the world, her country roots and style fit well into the farmhouse trend that is popular across the country." The "vast collection" will feature a wide variety of products from assorted platters and bowls with floral and plaid designs to wood serving boards and chip/dip sets shaped like guitars or butterflies as well as cereal bowls featuring Dolly sayings, wicker basket white bakers, water bottles and a tea kettle. The price range is expected to be within the "good" and "better" assortment ranges and each item's packaging will prominently feature Dolly. "Dolly is very involved in this collection, as she reviews and approves every single item in the line. So, that ensures the collection is directly representative of Dolly's style," Farias added.

'Dolly Parton's America' Wins Murrow Award
The public radio podcast Dolly Parton's America over the weekend won the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for contributions to the field of American journalism as the year's Best Podcast, WVLT reported here. Judges said the podcast was unlike anything they had ever heard before and was "blazing with an energy and enthusiasm."

'New Yorker' Profiles Dolly's Unifying Factors
The New Yorker looks at Dolly's charm and appeal through several books, including this week's She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs and her original autobiography from the mid-1990s in a piece titled "The United States of Dolly Parton" here.

Australian Chart Updates
Down Under, the "gold series" re-issue of The Very Best Of Dolly Parton (Australian Tour Edition) falls out of the top 20 Australian country albums chart, down from No. 18.

Gospel Hall Of Fame Leaving Dollywood
The Southern Gospel Music Association announced Monday on Facebook that its SGMA Hall of Fame and Museum at Dollywood will be closing after 21 years at that location due to the park choosing not to renew the lease on its building. The park has not indicated what may be going into the building in its place, but SGMA President Arthur Rice thanked Dolly, Dollywood and her partners, the Herschends, "for giving us a home for 21 years. We could not have done it without you." In related news, the park revealed on Facebook Monday that for the third time in six days they reached capacity as other area schools took fall break and had to turn away guests at the entry gates who did not have pre-purchased, dated tickets or reservations for admission with their season passes. The park continues to operate under reduced capacity limits as part of the Tennessee Pledge to responsibly operate attractions and reduce guest exposure to coronavirus.

Oct. 10:
'Christmas' Gets Top 40 UK Debut, Eyes Top 25 US
A Holly Dolly Christmas on Friday made a top 40 debut across the pond in the U.K. and looks poised for a top 25 U.S. debut on Tuesday, projections show for first week sales stateside. On the U.K. albums charts, the title debuts at No. 32 pop for combined sales and streaming, No. 11 download sales, No. 18 physical copy sales and No. 14 combined overall sales. The British charts did not classify it as a country album, so it is not on their country charts. In the U.S., Alpha Data projects the album will debut around No. 25 pop for combined sales and streaming, No. 2 country, No. 1 Christmas, No. 2 physical sales, No. 6 digital sales, and No. 4 overall combined sales but too low to score in the top 50 of individual song downloads or top 50 streaming albums for the week. The combined sales and streaming album chart from Hits Daily Double, has it at No. 15 pop and No. 1 country with 25,314 CDs and downloads sold, 190 album equivalent individual song downloads, and 381 album equivalent streams. Also overseas, on the British country compilation albums chart saw Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 hold steady at No. 2 in the album's 144th week, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe gain five to No. 4, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) drop three to No. 18, and Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) fall seven to No. 19. In related news, she did an interview about the holiday album with Fox News here.

Dolly Honors Biscuit At Banjo Hall Of Fame
The American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame has announced that Dolly will appear in its virtual ceremony on Friday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. Central Time, to honor one of this year's inductees, Gary "Biscuit" Davis, who has played in her band off and on for years and is resident banjo picker in the house band at her Pigeon Forge flagship location of Dolly's Stampede dinner theatres. The ceremony will be streamed on their website.

Get Two New Dolly Books Next Week
As has been previously reported here, next week brings the release of two new books on Dolly and her music: the scholarly retrospective Unlikely Angel: The Songs Of Dolly Parton arrives Monday from University of Illinois Press (look for a review here soon) with hardcover priced at $125 and paperback at $20. That will be followed by the Scribner release She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs on Tuesday. That second book had previously been published as a four-part series in The Journal of Roots Music, No Depression.

Imagination Library Documentary Premiere Officially Announced
Although it has already been reported here because word got out after they notified local affiliates of the upcoming event, the Dollywood Foundation on Thursday officially announced the virtual premiere information for the Imagination Library documentary The Library That Dolly Built, which has been postponed since April due to coronavirus. They made the reveal by posting the project's trailer to YouTube here or in the media player below with the notation that its world premiere will take place on Facebook at 7 p.m. Eastern Dec. 9, followed by a European premiere at 7 p.m. GMT Dec. 10 and Australian premiere at 7 p.m. AET Dec. 11.

Oct. 8:
Amazon Adds Unlimited Exclusive Christmas Tracks
Amazon on Tuesday released an exclusive streaming-only version of A Holly Dolly Christmas for subscribers to its Amazon Music Unlimited service that includes the ability to play – but not download – the cassette and 8-track bonus tracks: "Three Candles" and "The Wish Book," respectively. If you are a subscriber, you may listen to the tracks here. In addition, it was announced she will appear Thursday morning at 8:40 a.m. on iHeart Radio's Bobby Bones Show to promote the album. In addition, updated sales estimates from Alpha Data that include sales from Friday through Monday saw the new album drop to No. 30 overall and No. 3 country from No. 18 overall and No. 1 country. Next week's full charts will be based on sales through Thursday.

Netflix Releases 'Square' Promo Photos
Netflix on Wednesday released the first set of still photos from the upcoming holiday musical Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square, which premieres Nov. 22. See them in Vulture here.

Dollywood Hits Capacity Wednesday
For what I believe was the first time since opening for its 2020 season in June, Dollywood on Wednesday reached its Tennessee Pledge voluntarily limited capacity to help prevent COVID spread and had to turn away guests for a few hours until other guests left the park and opened up capacity, according to its Facebook post here. Since opening for the year after a three-month COVID-induced closure, crowds at the park have mostly been reported as rather sparse, but this week brings fall break for many schools in that area of the state, which is believed to have contributed largely to an influx of customers this week.

Oct. 7:
'Jesus' Stays At No. 1, No. 2, 'Christmas' Heading To Top 20
Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" remains steady yet another week at No. 2 on the Hot Christian Songs chart, the Oct. 10 Billboard charts released Tuesday showed. The track earns a fifth week at No. 1 each on the Christian Airplay chart and Adult Contemporary Christian Singles chart and a 12th week at No. 1 on the Christian digital song sales chart. It holds steady at No. 4 Christian streaming songs and falls off the overall top 50 digital single sales chart, down from No. 47. The annual holiday albums chart makes its first re-appearance of the season, with Kenny Rogers and Dolly's Once Upon A Christmas at No. 48. That title may be higher next week since RCA Legacy re-issued it on vinyl on Friday. Meanwhile, the Alpha Data preliminary sales charts updated through Sunday showed the new A Holly Dolly Christmas still at No. 18 in overall sales but up one thus far in the sales week to the No. 1 country sales album. Sales will continue through Thursday for next week's charts.

Oct. 6:
'Holly Dolly Christmas' Hits Stores
A Holly Dolly Christmas hit stores on Friday, and preliminary sales data for Friday and Saturday from tracker Alpha Data on Monday had the album at No. 18 for all-genre sales and No. 2 country sales. Promotions included an "Internet's most asked questions" interview from Wired here, a radio interview where she noted she is still discussing a possible "tasteful" Playboy spread, a profile among the "100 women who have helped shaped America" from The Hill here, formal announcement of her upcoming Netflix film Christmas On The Square (although it didn't include any new information that hadn't previously been reported here), and official announcement of her Williams Sonoma holiday collection here. Unfortunately, the vinyl issues planned for October have been delayed to mid-November. Spotify has an enhanced album here, and her official website posted some interviews about the project here and here.

In Memoriam: Mac Davis
Dolly's dear friend Mac Davis passed away last week at age 78. Dolly released a statement: "Many hearts are broken today, including my own, with the death of one of my dearest friends, Mac Davis. We lost one of the world's greatest writers, singers, and entertainers. My love and sympathy goes out to Lisë, his precious wife, his children, and his grandchildren. Rest in peace, my friend. I will always love you, Dolly" When Dolly left Porter's management and branched into pop, she sought advice from Mac, who introduced her to his management team. Sandy Gallin from that team planned her crossover and made her a worldwide star. The two appeared together on a few television specials, and they also co-wrote several songs together throughout the 1990s. She most recently brought him out of retirement to appear in last year's Dolly Parton's Heartstrings on Netflix.

U.S., U.K., Aussie Chart Updates
Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 holds steady at No. 2 on the British country compilation albums chart last week, the album's 143rd overall, Friday's numbers showed. On the same chart, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe dropped three to No. 9, while Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) inched down four to No. 15, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) inches down one to No. 12, and Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 2 falls out of the top 20, down from No. 20. Down Under, the "gold series" re-issue of The Very Best Of Dolly Parton (Australian Tour Edition) slips three to No. 18. In the U.S., Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" remains steady yet another week at No. 2 on the Hot Christian Songs chart, the Oct. 3 Billboard charts released Tuesday showed. The track earns a fourth week at No. 1 each on the Christian Airplay chart and Adult Contemporary Christian Singles chart and an 11th week at No. 1 on the Christian digital song sales chart. It holds steady at No. 4 Christian streaming songs and slips 10 to No. 47 overall digital single sales.