Dec. 30: Two New Interviews Touch On 'Run, Rose, Run' Dolly has started making some rounds to promote her March 7 release of Run, Rose, Run (link to hardcover book at left, or audiobook where Dolly reads one of the main characters here) book and its companion album of the same name. She appeared last week on Good Morning Britain, a clip from which is available here, and had a new interview released Wednesday from MIChere, where she announced the album will premiere on her Songteller Radio channel on Sonos.
Covid Closes 'Smoky Mt. Christmas Carol' The Omicron variant of COVID-19 has Broadway and other theatre across the world shutting down again as cases invade casts, and this year's Vancouver run of Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol was no exception, the CBC reported here this week. Due to two cast members testing positive over Christmas, the show closed early and will not perform its final week this week.
'Holly,' 'Gambler' Repeats Garner 3 Million Viewers Each Dolly was one of the most-watched people on television in America Christmas Eve, ratings showed. Her repeats on CBS, A Holly Dolly Christmas at 8 p.m. and Kenny Rogers; All In For The Gambler, which she narrated and was also a performer for the final half of the program, were the night's second and third-most-watched shows. The rerun of Rogers' farewell concert saw an audience of 3.33 million, short just 70,000 viewers from the night's No. 1 program, NBC's annual airing of It's A Wonderful Life. Dolly's holiday special from last year was third with 2.95 million viewers. In related news, streaming service Netflix listed last year's Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square as last week's 10th most popular holiday movie on the network.
Dolly Tribute Act Wins E! Cover Bands Contest E! recently hosted a Clash of the Cover Bands series and last week named its winner: Karen Hester as Dolly. She won $60,000 and a performance slot on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, the network reported here.
U.S., U.K. Chart Updates A Holly Dolly Christmas this week rises 36 places to No. 134 on the Jan. 1 Billboard top 200 overall albums chart released Tuesday, slipping four spots to No. 38 on the overall album sales chart, its fourth week on each this season. The holiday collection gains one to No. 16 country in its sixth week this season and dips one to No. 37 top holiday albums, while Once Upon A Christmas with Kenny Rogers re-enters the top 50 holiday alums at No. 43. Overseas, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe falls two to No. 13 on the U.K. country compilations albums chart released Friday 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) loses three to No. 19, while Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 re-enters the top 20 at No. 16.
Dec. 23: In Memoriam: Dollywood's Johnnie Crawford Beloved longtime Dollywood employee Johnnie Crawford died Saturday. She was 94. Services were held Wednesday. Crawford was a fixture at the park, having been hired at the original switch from Silver Dollar City in 1986 and reportedly not missing a day of work in 35 years. She was known to fans as Miss Johnnie and she sat at the entrance or exit of Dolly's Chasing Rainbows Museum daily to greet guests. Her passing was newsworthy enough for two Knoxville stations to highlight it: WBIR here and WVLT with two stories here and here.
'Holly Dolly' Still On The Charts A Holly Dolly Christmas this week loses four spots to No. 170 on the Dec. 25 Billboard top 200 overall albums chart released Tuesday, also dropping nine places to No. 34 on the overall album sales chart, its third week on each this season. The holiday collection rises two to No. 17 country in its fifth week this season and loses five to No. 36 top holiday albums.
'Mr. Nashville Talks' Interviews Dolly Larry Ferguson, host of Mr. Nashville Talks, has announced that the fourth season of his webseries will premiere in late February with an in-person sit-down with none other than Dolly herself. Learn more here.
'Coat' Brings 1.8 Million Viewers Although it was fourth in its time slot behind the NFL on FOX, a new Grey's Anatomy on ABC, and a re-run of Ghosts on CBS, last week's seventh annual holiday airing of NBC's Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors saw a respectable 1.84 million viewers, overnight ratings showed.
Dec. 18: Dolly To Appear In 'Rose' Audio Book
Hachette Audio on Friday revealed Dolly will appear as a character in the audio book version of her upcoming thriller with James Patterson, Run, Rose, Run. Soneela Nankani narrates, as Dolly plays country music icon Ruthanna Ryder in the audio version along with Kelsea Ballerini as singer AnnieLee Keyes, The Hollywood Reporter revealed here. Other cast members include James Fouhey as Ethan Blake and other characters performed by Kevin T. Collins, Peter Ganim, Luis Moreno, Ronald Peet, Robert Petkoff, Ella Turenne, and Emily Woo Zeller. A preview of the audio book was also released to YouTube here or in the media player above. The book, audio book, and a companion CD of 12 original songs by Dolly are to be released March 7. (Look for a review soon here thanks to an advance copy your webmaster received from the publisher this week.)
CMA Foundation, Women Film Critics, Guinness Honor Dolly The awards keep flowing in for Dolly with several honors being announced this week from Guinness, the Women Film Critics Circle, and CMA. Guinness World Records revealed here they have awarded two new titles to Dolly: most decades on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart for a female with seven and most No. 1 hits on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart by a female with 25. Her seventh decade chart singles were "Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas" last year with Michael Buble and "Does He Love You" with Reba this year. Her 25th No. 1 single, on the other hand, was back in 2005 with "When I Get Where I'm Going." Guinness also updated her previous record for most chart singles on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart by a female with the two latest tracks increasing it to 109 total. (They did not update her record from 2018 for the most decades with a top 20 song on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart from six to seven even though "Islands In The Stream" re-entered the chart at No. 20 following Kenny Rogers' death in 2020.) Also this week, The Women Film Critics Circle named her the winner of its 2021 Acting and Activism Award, Reality TV World reported here, and the Country Music Association revealed she is one of three honorees for the CMA Foundation's Humanitarian Award in appreciation of their contributions to the Covid relief efforts along with Music Health Alliance's Tatum Allsep and Shelia Shipley Buddy, MusicRow reported here.
Dolly Trends As Alternative To 'Time' Person Of Year Dolly was trending on Twitter earlier this week for an honor she DIDN'T receive. Her popularity was in protest to Time magazine's selection of Elon Musk as its Person of the Year. The reaction of many readers was that Dolly was more deserving of the honor due to her support of the Covid vaccine, Tennessee flood relief, and early childhood literacy. Multiple news outlets covered the protest movement including Newsweekhere.
Solitaire App Adds Dolly Character Dolly has lent her image to a virtual solitaire app, its developers announced this week. She makes a guest appearance in Belka Games' Solitaire Cruise, welcoming passengers aboard and leading a tutorial on how to play the game. She encourages players to join new events and eventually discover Dolly is on the cruise to travel to a country music festival
British Library Gets New Funder Empower London Foundation this week announced it has selected Dolly's Imagination Library UK program as one of four beneficiaries to receive proceeds raised by the upcoming London Festival, Yahoo reported here. In related news stateside, Ohio's First Lady Fran DeWine announced that the statewide Imagination Library there recently passed Dolly's home state of Tennessee for having the most children enrolled in the program, with 301,000 Ohioans participating now compared to about 280,000 Tennessee kids. Read more from WCPO here.
U.S., U.K. Chart Updates A Holly Dolly Christmas this week gains 18 places to No. 166 on the Dec. 18 Billboard top 200 overall albums chart released Tuesday, also advancing 15 spots to No. 25 on the overall album sales chart, its second week on each this season. The holiday collection holds steady at No. 19 country in its fourth week this season, inching down one to No. 31 top holiday albums. Overseas, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe dips two to No. 11 on the U.K. country compilations albums chart released Friday 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) slips one to No. 16.
Dec. 13: Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame Visitors Like Dolly The Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland apparently has a feature where visitors may vote on which performers they would most like to see inducted in the next class of the Hall of Fame. Future Rock Legends last week shared the current top 10, and it includes Dolly at No. 6. With more than 25,000 votes, the top 10 reported by WMMR here were:
10. Boston
9. Styx
8. Cher
7. Weezer
6. Dolly
5. Dave Matthews Band
4. blink-182
3. Pat Benetar
2. Iron Maiden
1. Motley Crue
Dollywood Requires Reservations For Next Three Weeks Dollywood announced last week that due to anticipated crowd size, the park will require reservations for admission prior to 6 p.m. daily through the January 2 end of A Smoky Mountain Christmas and closure of the operating season. Guests without reservations will be allowed entrance starting at 6 p.m. each day if the park is not at capacity.
U.K. Chart Updates Overseas, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 falls off the top 20 U.K. country compilation albums chart, down from No. 18, it was revealed Friday, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe gains one to No. 11 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) re-enters the top 20 at No. 15.
Dec. 8: 'Coat Of Many Colors' Recalled In 'RS' Podcast
Rolling Stone on Tuesday released a new interview with Dolly, Carly Pearce and Brandy Clark as part of its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time podcast. The episode focuses on her 1971 classic Coat Of Many Colors, which ranked No. 257 on last year's list. Take a listen here or in the media player above.
'Holly Dolly' Breaks Top 20 Country, Top 200 Pop Holiday Dolly is back on the top 200 pop albums charts this week with the re-entry of last year's A Holly Dolly Christmas. The set re-enters the top 200 at No. 184 and the top 100 overall album sales list at No. 40 on the Dec. 11 Billboard tallies while it also re-enters the country albums top 20, gaining 22 places to No. 19 in its third week on the country chart this year, and inches down four to No. 30 top holiday albums.
New '9 To 5' Cover Released Indie band The Neverly Boys this week released a deluxe edition of their debut album, adding a cover of Dolly's "9 To 5." Learn more here and take a listen here.
Dec. 6: Dolly Named Among 'People' Of The Year
In appreciation for her contribution to the research that developed the Covid vaccine for Moderna, her Imagination Library early childhood literacy program passing 170 million free books distributed to children worldwide, and Dollywood's support of Tennessee following devastating flash flooding this year, People magazine last week named Dolly among its 2021 People of the Year. The other honorees are actress Sandra Oh for addressing anti-Asian hate during the pandemic, athlete Simone Biles for standing up for mental health during the Olympics, and the teachers of America for educating America's future and providing safe spaces for children while simultaneously being attacked by white nationalists who oppose the teaching of accurate American history by misidentifying it as "critical race theory." Each of the four honorees has their own cover photo which started making their ways to newsstands and retailers on Friday. See Dolly's at left and click on it for a larger view. Check out the online version of Dolly's story here and watch the full 12-minute interview video here (an abbreviated three-minute version is available on Facebook here or in the media player above).
'Coat' Returns To NBC Next Week NBC has announced that Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors will return for holiday broadcast this year, with a Dec. 16 prime time airing on the network at 9 p.m. Eastern. The movie's Emmy-nominated sequel, Dolly Parton's Christmas Of Many Colors: Circle Of Love, airs at 2 p.m. Saturday on the network's cable channel Bravo. In addition to these special airings, and the previously-announced return of A Holly Dolly Christmas and Kenny Rogers: All In For The Gambler on CBS Christmas Eve, Lifetime will re-air 2013's A Country Christmas Story at noon Dec. 14.
U.K. Chart Updates The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe holds steady at No. 11 on the U.K. country compilations albums chart released Friday, while 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) moves up one to No. 13.
'Jolene' Remix Music Video Released The full-length music video for the "Jolene" Destructo Remix was released last week. Watch it here on YouTube or in the media player below.
Dec. 1: 'Holly Dolly Christmas' Gets Grammy Nomination Dolly took home her 51st career Grammy nomination last week, garnering a nod for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for last year's A Holly Dolly Christmas. She faces against Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga for Love For Sale, Norah Jones for Til We Meet Again, Ledisi for Ledisi Sings Nina, Tori Kelly for A Tori Kelly Christmas and Willie Nelson for That's Life. This marks the third time she has been nominated in the pop genre, following Best Pop Performance by a Female for the single "Here You Come Again" in 1977 and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group for "Islands In The Stream" with Kenny Rogers in 1983. Although she has not been nominated in this specific category before, she did appear on an album that won it in the past, as Rod Stewart's Stardust: The Great American Songbook Vol. 3 took home the Grammy in this category in 2004 and featured their duet "Baby It's Cold Outside." Winners will be announced Jan. 31 but all critics expect Bennett and Gaga to walk away with the trophy easily since the collaboration is believed to be the 95-year-old legend's final studio album as he has been forced to retire due to Alzheimer's disease, and he has won the category an astonishing 14 times out of the 30 times it has been awarded since creation (fellow nominee Willie Nelson has won it twice). With 51 nominations, she remains second only to Beyonce with 79 as the Grammy's most nominated woman. She has the Lifetime Achievement Grammy plus 10 regular Grammy wins, including one for each of the past two years in the Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance category.
'Holly Dolly Christmas' Returns To Charts A Holly Dolly Christmas is back on the Billboard charts, the Dec. 4 tallies released Tuesday showed. The album gets a second week this season on the top 100 album sales list dropping two to No. 49 and up five spots on the country albums chart to No. 41, while it slips nine places on top holiday albums to No. 26. In related news, the publication last week released its list of the 50 greatest Christmas albums of all time based on chart performance and Kenny Rogers and Dolly's Once Upon A Christmas sits at No. 45. Across the pond, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe rises four to No. 11 on the country compilations albums chart, while 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. 14.
Dolly Raised $167,000 For Breast Cancer Organizers for October's inaugural Kiss Breast Cancer Goodbye event in Nashville, which concluded with an hour-long acoustic Dolly concert accompanied just by her guitarist Kent Wells, announced Tuesday that the event raised $167,000 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation after expenses. The event will repeat in October next year but no word on whether Dolly will return.
'Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol' Premieres In Canada Dolly's Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol, which this holiday season is playing in Vancouver, Canada, after two previous annual engagements in the United States, has opened there and runs through Jan. 2. Check out a review from The Vancouver Sunhere.
Wal-Mart Adds To Perfume Line Wal-Mart recently debuted a new set of scents under Dolly's perfume line with four new body mists under the name the Front Porch Collection: Tennessee Sunset, Dancing Fireflies, Early Morning Breeze, and Smoky Mountain Rain. The collection is available from the retailer here for $15.
Ruby Tuesday Supports Imagination Library Ruby Tuesday announced this week it is selling a children's activity book called The Best Holiday Memories Album as a keepsake filled with interactive questions and activities for children and adults to celebrate the season, cherish old memories, and make new memories. Each $1 paid for the album will be donated to Dolly's Imagination Library early childhood literacy charity.
In appreciation for her contribution to the research that developed the Covid vaccine for Moderna, her Imagination Library early childhood literacy program passing 170 million free books distributed to children worldwide, and Dollywood's support of Tennessee following devastating flash flooding this year, People magazine last week named Dolly among its 2021 People of the Year. The other honorees are actress Sandra Oh for addressing anti-Asian hate during the pandemic, athlete Simone Biles for standing up for mental health during the Olympics, and the teachers of America for educating America's future and providing safe spaces for children while simultaneously being attacked by white nationalists who oppose the teaching of accurate American history by misidentifying it as "critical race theory." Each of the four honorees has their own cover photo which started making their ways to newsstands and retailers on Friday. See Dolly's at left and click on it for a larger view. Check out the online version of Dolly's story here and watch the full 12-minute interview video here (an abbreviated three-minute version is available on Facebook here or in the media player above).