Forty-three years ago Wednesday, "9 to 5" debuts on the country and pop singles charts; two months later it would become Dolly's 14th country No. 1, first pop No. 1, first adult contemporary No. 1 and her second gold single for sales in excess of 1 million copies. Twenty years ago Wednesday, For God And Country debuts on the albums charts; it peaks at No. 23 country, No. 167 pop. Fifty-four years ago Thursday, Porter & Dolly record “Tomorrow is Forever;” released as a single two months later, it would reach No. 9. Thirty-eight years ago Thursday, "Think About Love" debuts on the singles charts; three months later it would become her 20th country No. 1 hit. Twenty-three years ago Thursday, The Grand Ole Opry: A Celebration hosted by Dolly and Vince Gill is broadcast on CBS in observance of the music institution's 75th anniversary. Fifty-six years ago Saturday, Porter & Dolly's first duet, "The Last Thing On My Mind," debuts on the country singles charts; it would reach No. 7. Thirty-nine years ago Saturday, CBS premieres Kenny & Dolly: A Christmas to Remember. Forty-six years ago Sunday, "Here You Come Again" begins its first of five weeks at the No. 1 spot on the country charts, Dolly's seventh; it would also peak at No. 3 pop to become her first Top 40 hit and first gold single for sales in excess of 1 million copies. Forty-four years ago Sunday, Porter & Dolly in separate studios record new overdub vocals for "Making Plans," "If You Go I'll Follow You" and other previously unreleased songs re-recorded for their court-settlement Porter & Dolly album; released as their last two duet singles six and 11 months later, respectively, they peak at No. 2 and No. 12. Thirty-nine years ago Sunday, the day after their network special, Kenny & Dolly's Once Uon a Christmas album is simultaneously certified gold (+500,000 copies) and platinum (+1 million copies) to become Dolly's second platinum and seventh gold album; it would reach double platinum status (+2 million copies) five years later. That same day, Kenny's What About Me, which features his cover of the Dolly original “The Stranger” (which she never released herself), is certified platinum.
Upcoming television appearances
(All times Eastern unless noted)
The RCA Sessions (1968-1976), 22-song digital collection of rare Porter & Dolly songs first released on the 2014 complete recordings boxed set, April 5
Love & Music 1973 Porter & Dolly album, digital release, March 29
We Found It 1973 Porter & Dolly album, digital release, Feb. 1
'Rockstar' Tops Six 'Billboard' Charts Billboard on Tuesday released all of the week's full charts, with Dolly's new rock album dominating at No. 1 on six album charts as the week's biggest-selling album. In addition to its previously-announced No. 3 showing on the Top 200, the magazine's Dec. 2 charts see Rockstar at No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Current Album Sales, Independent Label Albums, Country Albums, Rock and Alternative Albums, and Rock Albums. The collection also comes in at No. 2 on Top Vinyl Albums and No. 18 Top Canadian Albums, while Dolly re-enters the Artist 100 chart at No. 3. The set marks her ninth career country No. 1 album but her first chart-topper on Album Sales, Current Album Sales, Rock and Alternative Albums, Independent Albums, and Rock Albums. The magazine reported the album was credited with 128,000 units on the charts, 118,500 of which were sales (78,000 two-CD packages, 18,000 vinyl sets, and a few hundred cassettes) plus 22,000 downloads of the full album. As was previously reported, the balance of credited units came from 1,500 for individual track sales and 8,000 credits for streams. Of the 15,000 individual track sales that made up the 1,500 credited units, a total of 1,000 came from sales of “Purple Rain,” which debuts at No. 14 on the Rock Digital Song Sales Chart. According to a press release from Dolly's management, the album sold a total of 143,000 copies worldwide in its first week, which would mean about 25,000 copies sold outside of the U.S. In the release, Dolly noted: “Wow, this is a big thrill! I owe a thank you to the fans who have always been there for me. Their support made this achievement possible. I'd also like to thank my producer Kent Wells, all the wonderful artists, musicians, and engineers who brought their talents to this project." Elsewhere on the charts, A Holly, Dolly Christmas slips six to No. 45 on the Top Holiday Albums Chart.
Whoopi, Stella Shoot Back At Dolly Detractors Meanwhile, Dolly's Thanksgiving football halftime show continues to make waves, with Whoopi Goldberg on The View slamming ageist complaints of her outfit's appropriateness by telling people to “Bite Me!” and Dolly's sister Stella giving a much more colorful response on X (formerly Twitter) below. In addition, the NFL doesn't seem to want to discuss Dolly's stage malfunction that caused her to perform in an area of the stage she wasn't supposed to be. A Cowboys spokesperson declined comment to The Dallas Morning News on the question here. As was previously reported here, the Cowboys Cheerleaders originally posted and then deleted a Reel on Facebook showing Dolly rehearsing her performance with them, including rising through the middle of the star that was behind her head during the actual performance and singing on top of it, and an NFL reporter posted an Instagram about the malfunction that was also deleted.
I personally thought my big sister Dolly was cute as hell in her Dallas Cowboys cheerleading costume at the half time show on Thanksgiving. To those of you being so critical of a 77 year old kicking up her heels, I say fuck yourself. Shame on you not her.
Ther Drew Barrymore Show hosted Dolly for an interview aired Monday. Clips have been posted to YouTube by the show here, here, here, here, and here. Watch a couple in the media players above and below.
First created as "Duane's Dolly Pages" in 1996, and becoming Dollymania in 1998, this is the oldest continually operating Internet site dedicated to Dolly Parton and the ONLY regularly-updated resource about her available anywhere in the world!
Past news
Nov. 27: Dolly Has Week's Best-Selling Album, Highest Chart Of Career Dolly's Rockstar was last week's biggest-selling album in the nation, giving the legend her biggest first-week sales ever in her career and her highest-charting album in her career. Unfortunately, streaming pushed two other titles above her on the official Billboard Top 200 all-genre album chart that will be released in full on Tuesday, the magazine revealed on Sunday, giving it a No. 3 debut on that tally.
The Billboard totals showed No. 1 taken by Drake's For All The Dogs: Scary Hours Edition, a deluxe re-issue of his album from earlier this year with six bonus tracks. The collection received 145,000 units credit on the chart but only 2,000 copies were sold as CDs or full-album downloads, while 1,500 came from paid downloads of individual tracks (every 10 tracks downloaded individually count as one album unit) and 141,500 units for 190 million song streams (one album unit per 3,750 ad-supported free streams or per 1,250 paid subscription streams). Taylor Swift's 1989 (Taylor's Version) was No. 2 with 138,000 units (Billboard didn't break it out in their story by sales and streams but other industry reports put it at just under 55 percent streams and just over 45 percent sales). Dolly came in third with 128,000 units (118,500 sales and full-album paid downloads, 1,500 units for individual track paid downloads, and 8,000 units for streaming – which should equal somewhere between 10 million and 20 million streams).
Accurate sales data only goes back to 1991, but Billboard noted the set beat her previous post-1991 one-week sales record of 50,500 copies of Slow Dancing With The Moon and her previous Top 200 peaks at No. 6 with Blue Smoke in 2014 and Trio in 1987.
Industry publication Hits Daily Double, however, which uses a slightly different mix of retailers to determine sales and streaming figures, had originally predicted Dolly would be No. 1 with 140,000 units but its final numbers had her at No. 2 behind Drake. Their chart counted Drake with 143,000 units (2,200 sales and full downloads, 1,700 individual track download credits, and 139,100 streaming unit credits), Dolly with 136,300 (127,000 sales and full-album downloads, 1,200 individual track download credits, and 8,100 streaming credits), and Swift third with 136,100 (63,400 sales, 1,000 individual track credits, 71,700 streaming credits).
Elsewhere, the title debuts at No. 16 pop, No. 3 country, and No. 19 vinyl Down Under in Australia, where her Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection also inches down one to No. 15 on the country albums chart.
And across the pond in the U.K., they decided to classify the album as Americana, where it is No. 1 Americana albums, and on the all-genre British charts comes in at No. 5 top 100 pop chart, No. 3 sales, No. 2 downloads, No. 4 physical sales, and No. 9 vinyl but didn't break the top 100 for streaming. Elsewhere on the British tallies, "Islands In The Stream" with Kenny Rogers tumbles 29 places to No. 71 single sales and 32 spots to No. 67 downloads, while 1973's "Jolene" falls back out of the top 100 downloads, down from No. 93, while the U.K. country compilation albums chart sees Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection climb two to No. 1 and Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 hold steady at No. 2, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe gains 10 to No. 7 and Original Album Series collections from Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris (each of which contains Dolly appearances) re-enter the top 20 at No. 8 and No. 19, respectively.
Dolly Dazzles Dallas In Cheerleader Outfit Dolly broke the Internet Thursday by appearing in a bedazzled Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader uniform to perform "Jolene," "9 To 5," and "We Are The Champions"/"We Will Rock You" with the cheerleaders for the halftime show at the Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day game. While the performance and her appearance brought mostly praise from the social media world, there were some accusations of lip-synching and criticism of whether someone her age should be dressing so provocatively. Worry was also expressed about her having to hold onto the set to keep steady, but that was due to her performing on a very narrow strip of lighting maintenance area at the foot of the stage where performances were not supposed to take place but became necessary when the stage malfunctioned at showtime. Rehearsal footage initially released as a reel by the cheerleaders' official Facebook account and then deleted showed she was to rise up on a platform in the middle of the star behind her head and perform on the star as her stage. When that didn't work, she had to improvise, but the location she ended up performing meant more than half of the stadium couldn't see her, her movement was greatly restricted, and she had to hold on when she neared the edge so she wouldn't fall off. NFL reporter Jane Slater also confirmed the stage malfunction. The game and halftime show were watched by an average audience of 41.5 million viewers. Before the performance, which also served as the kick-off of the annual holiday Red Kettle fundraising campaign for the Salvation Army, she announced a $1 million donation for the effort. Check out coverage of that with the announcement on the Cowboys' website here and CBS News here. Watch the full halftime performance here.
'Hard Candy Christmas' Duet Released
Singer Rachel Edge, who provides backup vocals on Dolly's rock album, on Friday released her cover of "Hard Candy Christmas" featuring Dolly as a duet. Download it here and stream on YouTube here or in the media player above. Photo courtesy the artist. Click on it for a larger view.
Dolly Gets Another UK Silver, Gold Album Awards BPI, the organization responsible for tracking British sales of albums and issuing sales certifications, announced Friday that Dolly has earned two additional honors from them. The 1992 reissue of her 1982 RCA Greatest Hits, which was certified silver for sales of 60,000 units back in 2021, was certified gold for sales of 100,000 units on Nov. 10, and Sony's Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection released last year achieved silver certification on Oct. 20 but wasn't announced until last week.
'Rhinestones' Earns Fifth NYT Best Seller Week Dolly is still a New York Times Best Seller List author this week, as Behind The Seams: My Life In Rhinestones slips two to No. 14 in its fifth week on the chart.
Win Chance To Sing On Opry Stage For Dolly The Grand Ole Opry has announced the return this year of its Jan. 19 Dolly birthday show, where the guests that evening are asked to perform Dolly songs in tribute to her. In addition to the program at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, Opry House and Ryman tour guests that day will get treats made from her Duncan Hines mixes, fans may sign a giant birthday card at the Opry House and Ryman, a Dolly impersonator will be at the Ryman for photo ops, and all Ryman bars will feature Dolly-themed signature drinks. For the second annual show, $5 of each ticket will be donated to the Opry Trust Fund in Dolly's honor, and a contest launched at Opry.com for one fan to win travel for two to and from Nashville, a two-night stay at Noelle Nashville, two tickets to the show, a Rockstar merch pack, and the opportunity to lead the audience from the stage in singing "Happy Birthday" for Dolly.
Nov. 22: 'Rockstar' Expected To Debut At No. 1 With early reports indicating stronger than anticipated sales, industry insiders on Tuesday night announced they now expect Dolly's Rockstar to move a projected 140,000 credited units to surpass its competition and become her very first Billboard Top 200 No. 1 album. Hits Daily Double warns that the project has so many retail partnerships that is makes its sales projections more volatile than usual this week, so its margin of error could be bigger, but right now the expectation is:
Dolly at No. 1 with 140,000 units (131,000 album sales and 9,000 credits for individual track downloads and streams)
Drake at No. 2 with 130,000 units (only 2,000 in actual sales/paid downloads of the complete album and 128,000 credits for individual track downloads and streams since it was a reissue of his album from earlier this year with six bonus tracks, so most downloads are only of those new bonus tracks, but the charts count every 10 individual track downloads as one album purchase for chart credit as well as one album credit for every 1,250 paid subscription streams or 3,750 ad-supported free streams)
Taylor Swift at No. 3 with 124,000 (60,000 in sales and 64,000 in streams and individual download tracks)
Coincidentally, if she hits No. 1 it will mark the first time an album succeeded another with the same title at the pole position, as this week's No. 1 is Rock-Star by K-pop band Stray Kids. While there have been five previous occurrences of different artists with the same title being in the top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 (including this week with two different 1989s by Taylor Swift and Ryan Adams, it doesn't appear that two No. 1s have succeeded each other by different artists with the same title.
Elsewhere on this week's charts, A Holly, Dolly Christmas loses six to No. 39 on the Billboard Nov. 25 charts released Tuesday.
Nov. 20: 'Rockstar' Fighting For Pop No. 1 Album Of Week Dolly's long-anticipated massive rock album Rockstar dropped Friday, and industry experts say she is expected to have the biggest first-week sales of her career and highest-charting album of her career, possibly even battling Drake and Taylor Swift for the No. 1 spot on the all-genre sales-plus-streaming Billboard Top 200 albums chart, Hits Daily Double reports here. Right now, the publication is projecting the following top four:
1. Drake, For All The Dogs: Scary Hours Edition 110,000-130,000 unit credits (sales plus streams – its is an expanded-edition re-issue of his current album featuring six bonus tracks)
2. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor's Version 110,000-120,000 unit credits in its fourth week of sales
3. Dolly, Rockstar 95,000-105,000 unit credits
4. ENHYPHEN, Orange Blood 80,000-90,000 unit credits
As these are projections, they could be off, so if the first two titles sell a little less than anticipated and Dolly sells a little more, she could move up to No. 2 or even No. 1 by the time charts are released next Tuesday, although Billboard usually announces details of the week's top selling albums on Sunday or Monday. For comparison, A Holly Dolly Christmas debuted at No. 16 on the Top 200 with first week sales of just 26,800. Blue Smoke, her highest-charting album at No. 6 on the Top 200, opened with just under 37,000 units.
The album was previewed with the cinema listening parties Wednesday night that included her music videos for "World On Fire," "What's Up" and "Wrecking Ball" as well as "Let It Be," "Rockstar," "I Hate Myself For Loving You," "I Want You Back," "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me," "You're No Good," and "Tried To Rock & Roll Me" all played either over credits, over photo shoot footage, over studio recording footage (including both for this album and the Dumplin' soundtrack), and various concert footage of Dolly from several locations including London and Red Rocks. Between each song, an interview clip played. Those interviews were repeated (alongside interview clips for all of the album's other songs) in a streaming special on social media Thursday evening which is available for watching here. She also stopped by Saturday's University of Tennessee game to sing "Rocky Top" escorted out by alum Payton Manning (read more here) but her earpieces malfunctioned and she couldn't hear the band, so she mostly spoke the song, which she performed during commercial break on CBS, so the network only showed a few seconds of it after it was over at the end of the first quarter and then spoke with her briefly indoors later in the game.
After the album had been released Friday, a special exclusive download was announced Saturday for Dolly's official store here with two new bonus tracks: "Jolene" with the Italian rock band Maneskin (listen to it here or in the media player below) and "Two Tickets To Paradise" (an Eddie Money cover). These are different than the three bonus tracks on the HSN version of the CD or the bonus previously released track of "Rocky Top" on the UT version of the CD. And enter here to win an autographed customized guitar from Loudwire.
Promotions continue with her halftime performance at Thanksgiving Day's Cowboys game on CBS as well as a "Rockstar Takeover" of The Drew Barrymore Show next Monday, Nov. 27. Interviews to plug the project have mostly gone well except for Australia's Kyle and Jackie O, whose interview was taken over without their knowledge by their producer Intern Pete, according to The Newshere. Other interviews included USA Todayhere, The Tennesseanhere, Australia Todayhere, 1 News New Zealand here, NPR's All Things Consideredhere, Billboardhere, WMOT here and The Associated Press here where she says she may do an R&B or blues album next.
Reviews include The Guardianhere, CNN here, New York Posthere, American Songwriterhere, Hot Presshere, Evening Standardhere, Pop Mattershere, NMEhere and The Forty Fivehere.
Howard Stern Interviews Dolly
Dolly on Wednesday made her first-ever appearance on SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Show. You must be a subscriber to his channel via the service's premium level to listen to the entire program, but several clips have been posted to his website here such as the one above.
New 'Hard Candy Christmas' Duet Coming Another Dolly collaboration is coming out Friday, as singer Rachel Edge, who sang some of the backing vocals on Dolly's new rock album, will release a cover of "Hard Candy Christmas" as a single featuring Dolly. It is expected to be available on all major streaming services.
Dolly Capes Auction For $30,000 The six late 1970s Dolly stage-worn capes that were up for bidding last week at Julien's "Played, Worn, & Torn: Rock 'N' Roll Iconic Guitars and Memorabilia" auction in Nashville sold for considerably higher than their estimated values, bringing in over $30,000 instead of their combined estimated high-end value of $11,600. The most sought-after one sold for more than $10,000, while two others sold for about $5,000 each, two for about $4,000 each, and one for about $3,000.
'NYT' Best Seller List, Album Charts Released Dolly's Behind The Seams: My Life In Rhinestones rises to No. 12 in its fourth week on the New York Times Best Seller List of nonfiction hardcover books, it was revealed Friday. A Holly, Dolly Christmas slips seven to No. 33 on the Billboard Nov. 18 charts released Tuesday. Overseas, "Islands In The Stream" with Kenny Rogers shoots up 27 places to No. 42 single sales and 42 spots to No. 35 downloads, while 1973's "Jolene" re-enters the top 100 downloads at No. 93. While none of her singles or albums had the sales plus streaming totals to enter the overall top 100, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 re-enters the downloads at No. 38 and The Real Dolly Parton re-enters the physical sales chart at No. 93. On the British country compilations albums tally, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 and Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection holds steady at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe re-enters the top 20 at No. 17.
Nudie's Caught In A Mural Lie Nudie's Honky Tonk, a bar that pays tribute to the designer behind most of the mid-20th century's brightest country music costumes such as those worn by Porter Wagoner, recently debuted a mural on the side of the building alleging each person is wearing a Nudie costume and including the back cover art for 1975's Best Of Dolly Parton album. However, when the mural was shared by the venue to its official Facebook page, members of Dolly's team immediately informed them the outfit in question was designed and made by Lucy Adams not Nudie. Nudie responded claiming their archives contain receipts showing Dolly purchased suits there and Nudie's granddaughter also confirmed for them that her grandfather made the suit, but Dolly's team countered (because the suit is in their possession) not only does it bear Lucy's label inside but the decoration is applique, which Nudie never used, not chainstitch, which is how he decorated his suits. The settings of their page prevent the posting of photographs in comments, so one of Dolly's team members shared the post and then posted in the comments of their own share a photo of the outfit with a closeup on the label to confirm it is Adams' not Nudie's. The bar, however, has yet to retract their disproven claims or alter the mural to provide accurate credit. (Also, it is curious that perhaps the single most famous brand association with the suits was Porter, who is missing from the mural entirely, and it instead has Taylor Swift front and center, when she only wore a vintage Nudie suit in one television commercial.)
Nov. 13: Dolly Snags 54th Grammy Nomination
Dolly on Friday morning picked up her 54th career Grammy nomination (second only to Beyoncé for the most nominations by a female) thanks to her re-recording her first top 10 hit, "The Last Thing On My Mind."
Tom Paxton had originally written and recorded the song in 1964 and it was already a folk standard when Porter Wagoner chose it for his first duet single with his weekly TV show's new "girl singer," Dolly Parton, 56 years ago in 1967. It went to No. 7 on the country singles chart, her first credited top 10 single (she had previously hit the top 10 in a duet with Bill Phillips on her composition "Put It Off Until Tomorrow" a year earlier but she was uncredited on the single as a performer). She re-recorded the song last year for a tribute album to Doc Watson, who had recorded the song in 1966 and made it one of his signature tunes.
Also, while not named as an individual nominee for it, a project featuring her was nominated for Best Gospel Roots Album: Becky Isaacs Bowman's Songs That Pulled Me Through The Tough Times, which features a duet with Dolly on her classic "Early Morning Breeze."
Dolly has won 10 regular Grammys plus their Lifetime Achievement Award and has five recordings in the Grammy Hall of Fame (singles "I Will Always Love You" 1974 original, "I Will Always Love You" 1992 Whitney Houston cover as songwriter, "Coat Of Many Colors" from 1971, and "Jolene" from 1973 as well as her 1987 Trio album with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.)
Surprisingly, none of her rock singles released from Friday's release of Rockstarreleased during the eligibility period were nominated ("World On Fire," "Magic Man" with Ann Wilson of Heart, "Bygones" with Rob Halford of Judas Priest, "We Are The Champions," and "Let It Be" with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Peter Frampton, and Mic Fleetwood — the remaining songs were released or will be released after the close of this year's eligibility period) nor were any of her other songs released during the period ("Step By Step" with Natalie Grant, "Forever Young" with Daniel Grindstaff and Paul Brewster, "21 Forever" with Chris Jansen and Slash, "Seasons" with Bebe Rexha, "Peace Like A River" with Dionnne Warwick, "Jolene" with Olivia Newton-John (her final recording which was released posthumously), "Gonna Be You" with Belinda Carlisle, Cyndi Lauper, Gloria Estefan, and Debbie Harry, "Don't Make Me Have To Come Down There," "Bets On Us" with The Cheat Codes, and "Almost Too Early For Christmas" with Jimmy Fallon).
Her two most recent rock singles, "What's Up" with Linda Perry and "Wrecking Ball" with Miley Cyrus, were released after the eligibility period for this year closed.
Dolly Production Partner's Son Arrested For Murder
Sam Haskell IV, the 35-year old son of Dolly's former TV agent and longtime production partner Sam Haskell and 1977's Miss Mississippi Mary Haskell, was arrested last week in Los Angeles on suspicion of murdering and dismembering his wife and possibly his in-laws, who are missing.
According to reports, Haskell is allegedly seen on surveillance footage flagging down a moving van and hiring the day laborers inside $500 to remove and dispose of several bags of trash from his home. He claimed the bags contained rocks, but the workers said they felt squishy and moist like meat, so they opened one down the road and saw body parts. They returned to the house, gave Haskell the bags and money back, and said they didn't want to be involved. They said he claimed the body parts were Halloween decorations, but they didn't believe him, so they left and went to the California Highway Patrol to report the body parts, but they were turned away and told to visit the Los Angeles Police Department's local precinct, where they were also turned away and told to go outside and call in their report to 911.
Upon arrival by police at the home, the bags were gone so they left. Then a dumpster diver discovered one of the bags with a woman's torso in it inside a dumpster about five miles from their house and notified police, who pulled surveillance footage to find Haskell allegedly dumping the bag in the dumpster himself. Blood and other evidence was found in his home, but no other body parts have been recovered yet. The couple have three children who were in school at the time and have been turned over to protective services.
The elder Sam Haskell and his wife have not commented publicly on the matter yet. Sam and Dolly share an Emmy as producers of Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square and three additional nominations for her recent TV movies including a current nomination for Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas. Mary Haskell and her daughter Mary Lane Haskell have appeared in most of the Sam-Dolly productions, and Mountain Magic actually had a character of the elder Sam Haskell played by an actor.
'Rockstar' Week Arrives, Stern Show Scheduled The week of release for Dolly's rock album is upon us! Don't forget to get tickets here for the cinema preview of the album Wednesday night worldwide. It was announced last week that SiriusXM satellite radio will add a Dolly's Rockstar Radio channel in cars on Channel 14 from Wednesday through next Tuesday and on their app through Dec. 14. It will play songs from the album, stories from the recording, and songs from the guests who appear on the album. They also announced she'll appear as a guest on The Howard Stern Show Wednesday. The show airs at 7 a.m. mornings and repeats continuously throughout the day on Howard 100. Other coverage included Classic Rockhere, FOX 5 Atlanta here, Globe & Mailhere, Irish Timeshere, WGN here, CMT here, ABC Newshere and here, Consequncehere, Travel & Leisurehere and Conde Nast TravelerHere.
VMP Releases Dolly Titles To Public Vinyl Me Please last week announced several titles from their Vinyl Me Parton subscription service were becoming available for public purchase with limited stock on hand: 9 To 5 and Odd Jobs, Hello, I'm Dolly, Backwoods Barbie, Just Because I'm A Woman, Little Sparrow, Blue Smoke, and My Tennessee Mountain Home. In addition, the boutique label announced it will release a 2,000-unit limited edition pressing of Dolly's 1993 album Honky Tonk Angels with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette.
U.K. Charts Updates Dolly's 1984 duet with Kenny Rogers on "Islands In The Stream" dips 13 to No. 69 U.K. downloads and a dozen digits to No. 77 sales, it was revealed Friday. Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 falls back off the top spot, losing one to No. 2 on the British country compilations albums chart, while Dolly's Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection holds steady at No. 3. Elsewhere on the tally, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series falls back out of the top 20, down from No. 17.
Library Goes Statewide In Missouri Dolly's Imagination Library early childhood literacy program has expanded statewide yet again, this time in Missouri, it was revealed last week. Check out Dolly's message about it here.
Nov. 6: Dolly Opens Heartsongs Resort At Dollywood
Dolly stopped by Dollywood's new Heartsong Resort on Friday to officially open the hotel complex at her theme park. Check out the ceremony courtesy Dollywood's Facebook feed here. The 302-room hotel features an outdoor pool with waterfall, splash pad, and year-round hot tub with gas fire pits. Food comes from seasonal poolside dining, Ember & Elm full service restaurant, High Note casual dining and drink, and Songbird Market for grab-and-go options. (Restaurants are open to the public.) The Acoustic Lobby is a private dining room designed with touches of Dolly around every corner including a glittering acoustic guitar chandelier and a changing display that starts with the wardrobe she wore for the resort's June 2022 media event and a display of her instruments. It also features 26,000-square-feet of flexible indoor and outdoor meeting space in a two-story event center and event lawns. As with the DreamMore resort, guests will receive free shuttle service to the park and water park as well as complimentary TimeSaver passes, early entry on Saturday mornings to a select ride, and in-room delivery of park purchases free of charge. The park's Smoky Mountain Christmas Festival opened Saturday with a new nightly drone and fireworks show, and while Dolly was originally expected to parade through the park grounds in her traditional park tour, it was cancelled. Check out coverage from WATE here, WCYB here, WBTV here, Knoxville News-Sentinelhere, CNN here and WBIR and here (as well as on YouTube here or in the media player above).
Latest In-Depth Dolly Interviews
Dolly is the cover girl (click on image at left for a larger view) for the Nov. 10 edition of Newsweek magazine hitting newsstands this week. Her wide-ranging interview is available digitally here with a sidebar on her career as a barrier-breaker here and the full 43-minute unedited interview the article is based on available on YouTube here or in the media player above. An even wider-ranging interview appears in The Hollywood Reporterhere (with a sidebar here of other stars praising Dolly). Their story features her reaction to Tennessee's anti-drag and anti-trans laws ("I just want everybody to be treated good . . . I just see how broken-hearted they get over certain things and I know how real they are. I know how important this is to them. That's who they are. They cannot help that any more than I can help being Dolly Parton, you know, the way people know me. If there's something to be judged, that is God's business. But we are all God's children and how we are is who we are."), that she included Kid Rock on the album because she loves everyone and forgives everyone ("I love everybody. I don't criticize, I don't condone nor condemn. I just accept them. But anyhow, just because I love you don't mean I don't love Kid Rock in that God way."), how she became so close with Michael Jackson through their mutual manager Sandy Gallin, those who wanted to be on the rock album but didn't find time, that Stevie Nicks wrote the song they recorded together with the intention of it being recorded by Fleetwood Mac but they never did, and how she never felt she was "big enough" to do the Super Bowl halftime show but now that she's doing the Thanksgiving game she'd consider it after having turned down the Super Bowl invitation multiple times.
Catch New ABC Dolly Special Tuesday Night
ABC last week announced as part of this year's CMA Awards coverage this week they will air an hour-long biographical special on Dolly from her early years to her rock album that comes out in another week and a half. Watch the trailer on YouTube here or in the media player above and tune in to ABC at 10:01 p.m. Eastern Tuesday to catch Dolly Parton: From Rhinestones To Rock & Roll, featuring a new Robin Roberts interview with Dolly and is hosted by Luke Bryan.
Another Thanksgiving Football Commercial
The NFL and Salvation Army released another commercial last week featuring "Coach Dolly" and the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders "preparing" for Dolly's halftime show at the Thanksgiving Day game. Watch it here or in the media player above.
'Behind The Seams' Gets Second Week On 'NYT' Best Seller List Dolly's Behind The Seams: My Life In Rhinestones loses 10 places to No. 14 in its second week on The New York Times Best Seller List for hardcover nonfiction titles. The book falls off the 15-position combined hardcover and e-book nonfiction list, down from No. 5. It falls off the 25-position hardcover fiction tally by Publisher's Weekly after one week at No. 6 and off the 150-position USA Today list of all best-selling books of all genres and all publication dates, down from one week at No. 28.
Dolly To Present At Australian Music Awards Australia's ARIA Awards last week announced Dolly as a presenter for this year's awards, airing live from Sydney at 1 a.m. Eastern U.S. time (5 p.m. Eastern Australian time) on Stan streaming, followed by a presentation on Channel 9 at 7:30 p.m. Australian time that evening, Rolling Stone Australia reported here. It hasn't been revealed whether she will travel there in person or appear via satellite.
'Wrecking Ball' Falls Off U.K. Charts Dolly's duet of "Wrecking Ball" with goddaughter Miley Cyrus falls off the top 100 download singles overseas in the U.K. after one week at No. 93, the charts released Friday revealed. Her 1984 duet with Kenny Rogers on "Islands In The Stream" slides five to No. 56 U.K. downloads and No. 65 sales. Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 moves up one to No. 1 and Dolly's Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection gains one to No. 3 on the British country compilations albums chart this week. Elsewhere on the tally, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series loses two to No. 17 and Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 falls back out of the top 20, down from No. 18.
Dolly Music Dominates 'Priscilla' Conversation With the release of Sofia Coppola's Priscilla, several stories came out last week about how the film ends with Dolly's original 1974 recording of "I Will Always Love You," why that is, and how it came to be in the film. Check out interviews with the filmmakers discussing it in Voguehere, USA Todayhere and Varietyhere.
ACMs Return To Amazon Next Year Although it hasn't been announced yet whether she will host again, but the Academy of Country Music (ACM) revealed last week they have reached an agreement for the awards to be handed out on Amazon Prime for two more years and for it to return to the Dallas Cowboys stadium again next year. In a press release, ACM CEO Damon Whiteside said: "Thanks to the biggest host pairing of all time, Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks, the comprehensive, cross-platform program with our partners at Prime Video and Amazon Music and the dedicated fans in Texas and around the world, the May 2023 show was a groundbreaking success and illustrates that our pioneering and innovative move to streaming was absolutely the right one at the right time!"
Nov. 1: Enter Now To Win Cracker Barrel 'Rocker'
As promised, Cracker Barrel on Monday revealed its partnership with Dolly to promote her rock album and the restaurant's new rewards program with a commercial viewable here or in the media player above and a sample Dolly Rockin' custom rocking chair at each of the chain's 662 locations. As was first reported on Dollymania.net, the black chairs will be given away through a contest, and it was noted here that "about 500" chairs would be available, or roughly one per store. It turns out that one rocker will be given away per store plus five additional ones nationwide for a total of 667. It was also revealed that it was incorrectly reported here that the chairs would only be available in the contest, as the restaurant said a "limited number" of chairs will be sold in "select" stores and online starting Dec. 5 while supplies last. Also, beginning on the album's Nov. 17 release date, "limited quantities" of Rockstar-themed merchandise including t-shirts and hats will also be available in the stores. Each person is limited to one entry regardless of how many email addresses one has, and you must create a free rewards account to enter. Upon entry at http://rocklikedollysweeps.crackerbarrel.com/, the system will assign you to a local Cracker Barrel as long as one is located within 20 miles of your home address, and you will be entered into that store's drawing for the chair. If you win, you must pick up your chair at that local restaurant. If you do not live within 20 miles of a Cracker Barrel, you will be entered in the national contest for which five winners will be drawn and the winning chair shipped to them. Entries will stop Dec. 4, after which on Dec. 8 winners will be drawn and notified via email. While the chair sale price hasn't been revealed, the contest rules list its value as $350, so that is likely the price they will charge at retail for the chairs. In a press release, Dolly said: ""Cracker Barrel and I have had a relationship for many years, and I am happy to say it continues with the launch of my new Rockstar album on Nov. 17 and Cracker Barrel's Rewards That Rock campaign. They surely are giving you the Rockstar treatment!" (Click on the photo for a high-resolution version.)
New Dolly Interview On Making Decisions
Dolly appears this week on the We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle podcast. Check out a preview here or in the media player above and check out the full 41-minute conversation with Glennon, her wife Abby and sister Amanda about how Dolly makes decisions here.
'Wrecking Ball' Debuts On Sales Charts In its first week of release, Dolly's cover of "Wrecking Ball" with goddaughter Miley Cyrus didn't get enough streams to break the Hot 100 pop singles chart but it does debut at No. 6 rock digital song sales and No. 13 country digital song sales, the Nov. 4 Billboard charts released Tuesday showed. Also, while the holiday song charts haven't returned yet, this week marks the annual return of the Top Holiday Albums tally for the new season and A Holly, Dolly Christmas re-enters at No. 16 for a 39th chart week.
Matthews Does Dolly Drag For Halloween RuPaul Drag Race judge Ross Matthews donned drag himself for the first time ever on Monday's Drew Barrymore Show, dressing as Dolly herself to Barrymore's Bob Ross. Check out a clip here.
Oct. 30: 'Seams' Opens At No. 4 NYT Best Sellers
Dolly's latest coffee table autobiography Behind The Seams: My Life In Rhinestones, the second in her trilogy of "My Life In" books, debuts this week at No. 4 hardcover nonfiction and No. 5 combined hardcover and ebook nonfiction on the coveted New York Times Best Seller List. The tome also debuts at No. 6 on the Publisher's Weekly nonfiction list of best sellers in current titles for the week and comes in at No. 28 on the USA Today list of all of the best-selling books of the week regardless of genre. Dolly previously made the Times nonfiction hardcover list at No. 3 with the first installment in the series, Songteller: My Life In Lyrics, her advice book Dream More at No. 19, and her original autobiography from 1994, My Life And Other Unfinished Business. She also hit No. 1 on the paper's hardcover fiction list for five weeks with James Patterson and their novel Run, Rose, Run and No. 6 on the paper's Children's Picture Books best seller list earlier this year with Billy The Kid Makes It Big. The companion exhibit to the book opened at Lipscomb University in Nashville and Dolly was present to cut the ribbon. Check out footage of the ribbon cutting from Nashville's FOX 17 here or in the media player above and a gallery of images from the opening posted by the University in the embedded post here or below.
'Mama He's Crazy' Duet Drops
Dolly's duet with Lainey Wilson on "Mama He's Crazy" from the new Judds tribute album dropped Friday. Stream it here or in the media player above and download it here. Watch Dolly talk about the collaboration on her Facebook feed here or in the media player below.
Cracker Barrel Says More Dolly Detail Monday
Hours after news first appearing anywhere on Dollymania.net of the coming Dolly "Rockin' Chair" give-a-way at Cracker Barrel, the restaurant last week released a teaser video for the upcoming promotion of their new rewards program indicating more information will be revealed on Monday. Check out the video here or in the media player above.
'Wrecking Ball' Debuts On U.K. Chart Dolly's duet of "Wrecking Ball" with goddaughter Miley Cyrus didn't sell or stream enough in its first week of release overseas to break the British top 100 pop singles chart but it does debut at No. 93 download singles for the week, the charts released Friday revealed. Its U.S. debut should be known on Tuesday. Her 1984 duet with Kenny Rogers on "Islands In The Stream" slips seven to No. 51 U.K. downloads and 13 places to No. 60 sales. Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 moves up one to No. 2 and Dolly's Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection remains steady at No. 4 on the British country compilations albums chart this week. Elsewhere on the tally, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series holds steady at No. 15 and Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 re-enters the top 20 at No. 18.
Broadway Dolly Bio Gets Table Read Actress Kerry Butler revealed last week that she recently participated in a table read of a book for Dolly's Broadway musical based on her life story that she hopes to bring to The Great White Way in spring 2025. She noted the project doesn't even have a director yet, so a table read is a very preliminary step toward Broadway, but she was nonetheless thrilled to have played a part in it. Check out more from Broadway Worldhere.
'9 To 5' Makes New 'Trolls' Sequel Comedian and singer Zosia Mamet appears on the soundtrack to the film Trolls Band Together with a cover of Dolly's "9 To 5." The soundtrack recently came out digitally here and you may stream the song here or in the media player below.
Oct. 26: Cracker Barrel To Offer Dolly Rockin' Chairs
Dolly is partnering with Cracker Barrel again, this time to promote her new rock album. The company's CEO disclosed in an investor call about a month ago that the chain would collaborate with her starting in "late October" to highlight their new rewards program and promote the album, which will be sold in the restaurant upon release. Dollymania.net has learned the core of the promotion will be a special limited edition Dolly Rockin' Chair in black with the album logo on one side and Dolly's signature and butterfly logo on the other. We're told the chairs will not be available for sale but instead will be limited to a nationwide contest to sign up for their rewards program and be entered to win one of about 500 Dolly Rockin' Chairs, or almost one winner per store. Click on the image above for a larger view.
'Rockstar' Cinema Event Finally Announced
Dolly's management on Wednesday officially announced the upcoming international cinema preview party for her Rockstar project, which was first reported on Dollymania.net two and a half weeks ago. The preview will provide first listens to selections from the album as well as never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage, music videos, an exclusive interview with Dolly, a never-before-seen performance of "Circle Of Love" and a performance of "9 To 5." A portion of proceeds from ticket sales will benefit Music Will, the largest nonprofit music program in the U.S. public school system. In a press release, Dolly said: "I am excited to know that my fans around the world will be able to come together and be the first to hear a sneak peek of my Rockstar album. I am so proud of this music, and I am humbled by all the wonderful artists who joined me. I cannot wait for people to hear it!" Newsweek reported here it will be shown in about 600 U.S. cinemas and about 400 outside the U.S. in 18 additional countries. Watch the cinema event trailer, which premieres the title track, here or in the media player above, and order tickets here.
Mo Heart 'Walks In' On Dolly's Closet
Amazon Music on Monday night premiered the new season of The Walk In With Mo Heart featuring Dolly and her costumes. Check out the episode on YouTube here or in the media player above.
'What Would Dolly Do? Radio' Podcast Premieres The first installment of the four-part Apple Podcast series What Would Dolly Do? Radio dropped on Wednesday here. "The Glamour Girl" examines her looks and legacy. New episodes drop weekly.
Oct. 23: Rock Icons Auction Adds Three More Dolly Capes
Three more of Dolly's stage-worn custom chiffon capes from the 1970s have been added to next month's "Played, Worn, & Torn: Rock 'N' Roll Iconic Guitars and Memorabilia" auction in Nashville, Julien's Auctions has announced. The catalog for the second and third segments of the auction was released on Friday and revealed three additional capes, one in pink, another in salmon, and a third in black with white lace center, each adorned in rhinestones and sequins. As was previously reported here weeks ago, three more famous capes are included in the auction's opening night on Nov. 16 (the current bids on each of those are above $2,000) while these three are in the morning auction on Nov. 17, bringing the total to six. They are each estimated to bring in between $800 and $1,200, and the starting bids on each are $200. As of press time, the pink had one bid at $200 and the other two each had two bids at $250. Check them out in the catalog here.
'Wrecking Ball' Released As Next Single
Dolly on Friday released her next single from the rock album, "Wrecking Ball" with goddaughter Miley Cyrus. Stream it here or in the media player above and download it "here. Dolly released an exclusive video to Billboard, which they shared on their Instagram here or in the media player below, on why she recorded the song.
Dolly sits down Monday evening for a chat with RuPaul's Drag Race alum Mo Heart and their Amazon Music series The Walk In, where celebrities show off their closets as part of her publicity blitz to promote last week's release of the book Behind The Seams: My Life In Rhinestones and next month's CD Rockstar. Check out a preview clip here or in the media player above. In related news:
American Greetings, with whom Dolly has published greeting cards and partnered on interactive video greetings, is taking entries through Oct. 31 to win a trip for two to Nashville to meet Dolly at the album's Nov. 16 release party including roundtrip airfare, one hotel room for two nights, car transportation to/from the party, $400 spending stipend, and the meet-and-greet with Dolly. Enter here.
CBS posted Norah O'Donnel's full 22-minute interview with Dolly online in its Person To Person series after showing excerpts on CBS Mornings. Watch the full interview here or in the media player below.
USA Today spoke with Dolly about the book here, and The Washington Post talked with her here.
She appeared on ABC's The View on Wednesday, and they shared the first two and a half minutes of her interview online here.
She gave a radio interview with Jessie Scott available here from WMOT.
Salon offered six major revelations about her look here and Vogue shared her six fashion rules here.
Few More 'Rockstar' Cinema Details A few more cinema chains have added Dolly's Nov. 15 listening event to celebrate her new rock album to their upcoming attractions pages, revealing a little more information. Once Dolly's management has publicly announced the event, which was first reported anywhere on Dollymania two weeks ago, I'd expect further information but for now all we know is that although individual cinemas will sell their own tickets for the screenings, a centralized ticket information site will be launched at dollyrockstarevent.com, although the site wasn't yet operational at press time. In addition, a promotional poster for the project was revealed by more than one cinema, and it notes that select cinemas will show encore screenings on Nov. 16. As was previously reported here, 75-minute worldwide fan listening party (although some cinemas are listing it at 65 minutes) will feature "first listens" to select tracks from the project as well as an exclusive performance of a holiday song and "9 To 5." It is rated PG. Click on the poster image for a larger view.
Like Willie Wonka With Boobs Seven families worldwide got their golden tickets in the form of special bookmarks in the September editions of Dolly's Imagination Library selections to celebrate the program's 200 millionth book being distributed. Each of the seven winners will enjoy a virtual visit with Dolly herself. The winners hailed from Portland, Victoria, Australia; South Lanarkshire, Scotland; Dublin, Ireland; Ontario, Canada; and three U.S. locations: Beaver, Okla.; Clay, N.Y.; and Sterling, Ill. The children also receive a personalized signed letter from Dolly, an autographed photo, and tickets to her theme park. Their local Imagination Library affiliate receives $2,000. The program currently mails a book a month to more than 2.6 million children worldwide in five countries. "I know there are children in communities around the world with big dreams and the seeds of these dreams are often found in books," Dolly said in a press release. "It's been one of my greatest gifts in life to help instill a love of reading through my Imagination Library. Reaching 200 million books worldwide is a major milestone that I'm so very proud of, and I want to thank all of our local program partners, funders and supporters from the bottom of my heart. But we're just getting warmed up, we have so much more to do! Together, we can inspire even more children to dream more, learn more, care more and be more."
Dolly On 'Billboard' 500 Greatest Pop Songs The critics at Billboard last week released the list of the 500 Greatest Pop Songs of All Time, and Dolly appeared twice. First, she was at No. 191 for her 1981 No. 1 hit "9 To 5," and she showed up as a songwriter on the No. 60 for Whitney Houston's cover of her classic "I Will Always Love You."
Station: Drones Return To Dollywood Next Month Although the park hasn't announced it yet, Knoxville's WVLT reported here that Dollywood is adding a nighttime drone show to its Smoky Mountain Christmas festival starting next month.
U.K. Chart Update Overseas, Kenny Rogers and Dolly's 1984 hit "Islands In The Stream" inches up two to No. 47 British song sales chart and No. 44 U.K. download songs chart, it was revealed Friday. Also, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 and Dolly's Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection remain steady at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, on the British country compilations albums chart this week. Elsewhere on the tally, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe falls back out of the top 20, down from No. 18, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series re-enters the top 20 at No. 15.
Oct. 17: Dolly Playing Thanksgiving Halftime Show
It's not the Super Bowl, but Dolly will headline this year's Halftime Show at football's traditionally-second-most-watched game of the year, the NFL's Thanksgiving afternoon broadcast of the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Washington Commanders. The game airs at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Nov. 23 on CBS. It also serves as a kickoff fundraiser for the annual Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign. Dolly said in a press release: "Wow! What an honor to get to kick off The Salvation Army's Red Kettle Campaign with the halftime show during the Dallas Cowboys game this Thanksgiving. Those Red Kettles have long been a symbol of hope for our friends and neighbors who are facing hard times. My goal is to encourage everyone who can to donate and support their neighbors in need. Every small act of generosity helps, and together, we can all love our neighbors this holiday season and beyond."
Making the announcement on CBS Mornings, a segment of a Norah O'Donnell interview with Dolly aired in which she explained she will have six-to-six-and-a-half minutes to perform her biggest hits and end with something from her new rock album. Watch that clip here or in the media player above. Further clips from the interview will air on the CBS Evening News Tuesday night and CBS Mornings Wednesday morning. Check out the promo video here or in the media player below. (Click on images for larger views.)
Dollywood 2024 Season Details Announced
A return of the classic show Paradise Road, a new show about the Trio, the return of the "I Will Always Love You" Festival and opening a week earlier are among the surprises in Dollywood's Monday announcement of its 2024 season details on the first day existing passholders may renew their season passes. Among the news:
Season pass preview day, which usually includes an appearance by Dolly, will be Friday, March 8, as the park features its earliest opening ever. The public opening is March 9.
The park will offer 280 operating days for the 2024 season, 23 more than in the 2023 season. One week of that comes from opening early, while the other two weeks come from eliminating previous traditional park closing days on most Tuesdays and Thursdays in March and September, most Tuesdays in May and October, and most Mondays in November.
In May, the new Dolly Parton Experience will open featuring a reimagining of her Chasing Rainbows Museum into an immersive and interactive journey alongside Dolly from Locust Ridge to stages around the world. The entire Adventures in Imagination area will be transformed into this multi-building experience including the Behind The Scenes wing on her costumes housed in the former Dolly's Closet and the Precious Memories wing in the former Dreamsong Theater where her family show, Harmonies of the Heart, is located. The attraction is billed as three times the size of her former museum. Check out the revised concept art above (click on it for a larger view).
Lightning Rod closes Oct. 30 to be retrofitted for the 2024 season with a high-speed chain lift to replace its often-malfunctioning launch feature.
After celebrating the 50th anniversary last year of Dolly writing "I Will Always Love You," they are bringing back the songwriting-focused "I Will Always Love You" Festival in 2024 March 9-April 14 with an updated version of the 1990s show on Dolly's life Paradise Road and a new show on the Trio album.
The Flower & Food Festival returns April 19-June 9
The Smoky Mountain Summer Celebration returns June 15-Aug. 11 with the Gazillion Bubble Show coming back.
Harvest Festival Sept. 9-Oct. 28 with Great Pumpkin LumiNights.
Smoky Mountain Christmas Nov. 1-Jan. 5.
'Red Carpet' Interview Available ABC has posted its Dolly interview from the new "Icons" series of its On The Red Carpet program. Check it out here.
Oct. 16: Costume Book, Audiobook Released This Week
The second installment in Dolly's trilogy of coffeetable autobiographies, Behind The Seams: My Life In Rhinestones, hits stores in the U.S. on Tuesday and U.K. on Thursday, as does also an unabridged audiobook of the tome, which is 262 minutes long and features Dolly narrating along with additional audio from co-author Holly George-Warren and many members of Dolly's crew over the years who have worked on her wardrobe including Rebecca Seaver, Ann Roth, Cheryl Riddle, Debra McGuire, Frna Strine, Iisha Lemming, Robert Behar, Stacie Huckeba, Steve Summers and more. The audiobook, a preview of which is in the media player above, also comes with a bonus PDF featuring photos from the book. Get the audiobook here or hardcover here. Dolly is scheduled to promote the book Wednesday, the day after its release, on ABC's The View. The Washington Post reviewed the book here, and the U.K.'s The Daily Mail interviewed her about it here.
'Rockstar' Promos Hit HSN, 'Rolling Stone'
Promotions continued last week for Dolly's Rockstar album. Rolling Stone released a preview of her performing "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," one of the three bonus tracks on the HSN-exclusive version of the project, here or in the media player above. On Friday night, she promoted the album and assorted swag including blankets and pillows and bags and caps on HSN in two televised appearances and one streaming appearance. Watch the streaming HNS+ interview here. The first HSN televised appearance is on YouTube in six segments here, here, here, here, here, and here. The second HSN televised appearance is available on YouTube in three segments here, here, and here. She also appeared on ABC's On The Red Carpet Sunday night.
New Dolly Podcast Lands Oct. 25
Today announced last week that Dolly will release a weekly temporary four-part podcast What Would Dolly Do? Radio on Apple Music this month. The show airs weekly on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern starting Oct. 25. Country singer and Apple Music personality Kelleigh Bannen will co-host. In it, Dolly promises to share her stories, wit, and wisdom. The episodes will focus on 1) her look and legacy and how she went from country star to icon, 2) her businesses from the stage to the screen, 3) her philanthropy, and 4) her upcoming rock album. Check out the story from Today in the media player above or by clicking here.
Dolly Inducts Keith Urban Into Hall Of Fame Keith Urban was inducted last week into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame by none other than Dolly herself. He told American Songwriterhere that she had a bigger influence on his career and music than any other artist and that he considered her "peerless" and was shocked when she accepted his invitation to induct him into the Hall of Fame, which he delivered to her in a handwritten letter. Check out additional coverage of the evening from American Songwriterhere.
Dollywood Pass Sale, Interview On Park Dollywood season passholders may begin renewing their passes to the park for 2024 at 8 a.m. Monday for special presale pricing and perks previously reported here on Dollymania.net. The presale will continue through Oct. 29, after which 2024 passes go on sale to the general public starting Oct. 30. In addition, Atlanta Magazine last week offered a great interview with Dolly about the park and its future expansion plans surrounding the upcoming Nov. 4 Grand Opening for its second resort, HeartSong Lodge, although the hotel actually soft opened early a few days ago. As was previously reported here, the article repeats the park's plans to have five resorts plus a high-end campground by the end of 2030 and open the immersive Dolly museum The Dolly Parton Experience next year. Read more here.
U.K. Chart Updates Overseas, Kenny Rogers and Dolly's 1984 hit "Islands In The Stream" sees a sudden resurgence, re-entering the British song sales chart at No. 49 and U.K. download songs chart at No. 46, it was revealed Friday. Also, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 and Dolly's Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection remain steady at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, on the British country compilations albums chart this week. Elsewhere on the tally, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe inches down one 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) falls back out of the top 20, down from No. 18.
Oct. 11: Julien's To Auction Three Dolly Capes Next Month
Three stage-worn classic chiffon capes of Dolly's will be auctioned off next month by Julien's Auctions in Nashville as part of its "Played, Worn, and Torn. Rock & Roll Iconic Guitars and Memorabilia Auction in honor of the auction house's 20th anniversary. I would describe the custom-made capes as shawls, but they all have a similar cut and are studded with rhinestones. One fabric is rainbow colored which appeared in a photograph in National Geographic in a 1978 article about Music City, one pink she wore in a series of famous performance photographs taken in August 1977 in Niles, Ill., and one black which she wore in an iconic late 1970s photograph sitting on a park bench with one leg up and the stoned word Dolly across her leg. Each cape has a $500 starting bid and is expected to bring between $2,000 and $3,000. The auction is 7 p.m. Nov. 16 and also features several items from Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, and more. The expected biggest ticket item is Eric Clapton's guitar, which is estimated at between $1 million and $2 million. Next is Paul McCartney's 1972 Wings tour bus for $200,000-$300,000. Items in second and third auctions to be held Nov. 17 and 18 will be announced Oct. 20. Bid here and check out a promo video here or in the media player above.
See Dolly On HSN Friday, Get Bonus Tracks Of 'Rockstar'
She appeared Monday on TalkShopLive where she was given a renewed Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, following her original Seal in 2001, as she is the only person to be bestowed the Seal. They also gave the album a Good Housekeeping Seal and announced exclusive versions bearing the Seal will be sold through TalkShopLive, which also has the exclusive cassette version of the project plus randomly-autographed copies of the book. Watch the interview here or in the media player above. She revealed in the interview that when she called an entirely new recording session for the album's 30th and final song, "World's On Fire," they went ahead and recorded three more to use as bonus tracks.
And presumably, those three songs are the bonus tracks that will appear on a version of the album sold exclusively by HSN, the network announced this week. And Dolly will be on hand to promote the special edition with the three bonus tracks on the HSN television network live at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern Friday and on their HSN+ streaming service for an interview at 8 p.m.
'What's Up?' Falls Off Digital Rock Chart Dolly and Linda Perry's "What's Up?" from Rockstar, falls off the top 25 Rock Digital Song Sales chart dated Oct. 14 after one week on the tally, down from No. 24, Billboard revealed Tuesday.
Dollywood Creates Official Passholder Facebook Group Dollywood this week opened an official Dollywood Season Passholders group on Facebook, Check it out here.
In Memoriam: Buck Trent, 85 Banjo and guitar legend Buck Trent died Sunday. He was 85. The instrumentalist invented the electric banjo, which created a signature sound for both Dolly's and Porter Wagoner's recordings of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was a member of the Wagonmasters on The Porter Wagoner Show from 1962 to 1972 but continued to play on their recordings after leaving the show including Dolly's 1974 Jolene. Read his obituary here. Image of Trent with Dolly at her 50th Grand Ole Opry anniversary taping (c) Copyright 2019 T. Duane Gordon/Dollymania.net. All rights reserved. Click on it for a larger view.
Oct. 9: 'Rockstar' Cinema Party Coming Nov. 15, Live Interview Tonight Block out your calendars for Nov. 15 because Dollymania.net can confirm you will want to head to your local cinema that day for a Global First Listen Event for Dolly's Nov. 17 30-track rock album Rockstar. Hosted by Dolly herself, this 75-minute worldwide fan listening party will feature "first listens" to select tracks from the project as well as an exclusive performance of a holiday song and "9 To 5." It is rated PG. Many cinema chains are expected to allow advance ticket purchases as soon as Halloween. More details are expected soon, and check your local cinemas for participation. Thanks, Dalton! In related news, Dolly announced last week she will return to TalkShopLive for another interview Monday night about the album, kicking off Good Housekeeping Live Shopping Week with Nancy O'Dell from TalkShopLive and Lauren Matthews of Good Housekeeping. TalkShopLive will be selling random autographed copies of her book Behind The Seams: My Life In Rhinestones, coming out Oct. 17, and is the only retailer for a cassette version of the rock album. The interview starts at 7 p.m. Eastern Monday.
Dolly, Reba Duet Gets Second Life Reba's Not That Fancy, featuring a reissue of her Dolly duet from two years ago on "Does He Love You," hit shelves on Friday, leading to several interviews where she spoke about recording the song with Dolly. Read one from the AP here.
Aussie Impersonator Flick Gets Second Release Seriously Red, the Rose Byrne-produced Australian film about a Dolly impersonator which she made with Dolly's blessing, gets a reissue on Monday on BluRay and DVD after a limited release back in March.
Shine Girl Gets In Magazine Dolly's moonshine-making niece is profiled by Garden & Gun magazine here.
Oct. 4: Dollywood Adds Dates, Lowers Prices For 2024 Passes Dollywood fans will see nearly an extra month's worth of play at the park next season, it was revealed Tuesday, plus new passholder perks such as hot and frozen drinks being once again free in a season-long refillable cup and free monthly cinnamon bread for the highest-level passholders. Pass prices are also decreasing this year.
The park released the first information about its 2024 season passes in the season passholder newsletter released this week prior to the Oct. 16-29 advance purchase period for pass renewals by current passholders (click on image at left for larger view). The biggest news is that the park plans to add more than 20 days to its 2024 season calendar compared to this year. In addition, the price for the entry level Silver Pass is going down $20 from its current price of $169 to $149, while the Gold Pass is decreasing $10 from $234 today to $224 for a one-park pass (the price to add a Splash Country Water Park pass, $55 this year, has not been announced for 2024). The two-park Diamond Pass, which sold out Dec. 31 last year, will cost $324. Usually, the new year passes for early renewal cost the same as the current pass purchase price, so it is unusual to see a decrease. Compared to the renewal presale prices last year, Silver remains the same price as it was last October, while Gold and Diamond each increased $10 over last October.
A park spokesperson verified that rather than starting the season significantly earlier or ending it significantly later, the extra days being added to 2024's calendar will primarily come from operating on days during the season that they were closed midweek this year. For example, the park is typically closed most Tuesdays and Thursdays in March, August, and September, most Tuesdays in April, May, and October, most Mondays in November, and the first week of November.
Also new is that while the adult Silver Pass (for ages 10 and up) is blacked out from Thanksgiving forward this year, prohibiting use for the final two-thirds of the Smoky Mountain Christmas Festival, those who renew during the October presale will receive a one-day admission between Nov. 27 and Dec. 17 during that second third of this year's Christmas fest.
The park spokesperson confirmed to Dollymania.net that 2024 adult Silver Passes will have basically the same blackout schedule as 2023 and that child Silver Passes (ages 9 and under) will remain blackout-free for 2024. Silver Passes will receive two Bring-A-Friend-Free tickets that will also again be subject to blackouts.
Gold Passes receive two Bring-A-Friend-Free tickets without blackouts, free general parking, and the souvenir refill mug good for free fountain drink refills the day of redemption and $1.99 fountain drink refills thereafter.
Diamond Passes receive four Bring-A-Friend-Free tickets without blackouts, free general parking, and a new all-season free refill tumbler that will allow free fountain refills, hot drinks, or frozen drinks (hot and frozen drinks were removed from the free refill program a couple of years ago), a new Diamond Passholder Appreciation Bag, and one free loaf of the park's famous cinnamon bread each month during the 2024 season.
All passes are eligible for 10-month payment plans and must be renewed during the Oct. 16-29 period to receive all perks and lowest pricing.
The park spokesperson also explained the list of perks contained in the season passholder newsletter was meant to be highlights not comprehensive, and he confirmed the traditional food, merch, lodging, and additional ticket discounts for Gold and Diamond Passes will repeat next season at the same levels as this season. More details of the benefits and the 2024 season are scheduled to be announced in a press release on Oct. 16, the day the passes go on pre-sale for current passholder renewals.
Ed. Note: This story has been edited to reflect that on Wednesday the park sent out a revised version of the newsletter stating the original one had some errors. The most notable difference between the two ads for next year's season passes were that the number of new days to be added was reduced and a specific number of operating days for the new year was deleted. In the original version, it noted there would be "30+" additional operating days in 2024 but the numbers disclosed for planned operating days equaled 41 more than in 2023, but the revised version lowered the estimate to "20+" and removed the number of planned operating days. The original ad, available here, noted Silver Passes next year will be able to attend the park 268 days, compared to 223 days this season, while Gold and Diamond Passes will have access to 304 days, compared to 263 this season, an increase of 41 operating days, although those numbers no longer appear to be accurate. An image of the new ad has replaced the old one in the upper left corner of this story -- click on it for a larger version. In addition, the revised email included a link to a different partial list of perks on the park's website here which included a 15 percent discount on "select dining and shopping" for Gold Passes and 20 percent discount on "select dining and shopping" for Diamond Passes, which as was reported here prior to the posting of the new page to their website are the same as in 2023.
In related news, the park's famous coal-fired stream locomotive derailed some of its passenger cars Sunday evening, requiring evacuation of the passengers. Witness reports on social media said the train experienced severe shaking and tipping before at least two cars left the tracks, causing the train to stop. Media reported no injuries and that everyone was safely evacuated. Read more from WBIR here.
'What's Up' Debuts On Rock Digital Sales Chart
"What's Up?" with Linda Perry, Dolly's latest single from her upcoming rock album, Rockstar, debuts at No. 14 on the Rock Digital Song Sales chart dated Oct. 7 for downloads in its first week of sales, Billboard revealed Tuesday.
Koman Gives Dolly Promise Award Breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen on Friday presented Dolly with its 2023 Promise Award recognizing her philanthropic efforts and commitment to Komen's mission to end breast cancer. She accepted the award from Komen Tennessee State Executive Director Joshua Daniel and Development Director April Douglas (click on photo at left by J.B. Rowland for larger view) at a private ceremony in Nashville. In a press release, Susan G. Komen President and CEO Paula Schneider said: "As a wonderful partner to Komen, Dolly has long used her talents to inspire, educate and raise critical funds for the breast cancer community. There's no doubt, the world is a better place with Dolly Parton in it, and we're honored to present her the 2023 Promise Award." A longtime Komen supporter, Dolly sang on the breast cancer anthem "Pink" in 2020 and headlined the first Kiss Breast Cancer Goodbye concert at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
New Dolly Interview In 'Forbes' Check out a new interview with Dolly in Forbes about her rock album and the Imagination Libraryhere.
Doggy Parton Goes To Shelter While Dolly herself isn't expected to attend, her Doggy Parton line of pet apparel is helping sponsor a National Dog Adoption Week event Saturday at the Williamson County Animal Shelter in Franklin, Tenn., as part of a nationwide campaign to host events that day at animal shelters, American Songwriter reported here.
Oct. 2: Dolly Inks ESPN Deal For 'Rockstar'
Dolly on Monday announced a deal with ESPN to promote her Rockstar album with clips from several of its songs appearing as intro/outro music for the network's broadcasts of NFL's Monday Night Football this month. On Monday, a clip of "Night Moves" premiered (check out a sample on YouTube here or in the media player above. Then on Oct. 16, a clip from "Heartbreaker" with Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo will be used, followed by "Magic Man" and "Rockstar" in various Monday Night Football games for the remainder of the year following the album's Nov. 17 release. "I am excited for ESPN to spotlight songs from my new Rockstar album," Dolly said in a press release. "When I decided to do a full-blown rock album after they put me in the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame, I thought it would be fun to call the album Rockstar. The athletes who give their all everyday are most definitely rock stars, and I love that these songs will be a small part of celebrating their achievements." In related news about the album, Southern Living reported here behind-the-scenes of the elementary school where the video for "What's Up" was filmed, Dolly spoke with USA Todayhere about trying to get Tina Turner on the project to duet on "Stay Out Of My Bedroom" but she passed away, and an expansion of Dolly's University of Tennessee partnership was announced with a limited edition Vols edition of the album here featuring "Rocky Top" live as a bonus track and additional t-shirts sold through Livylu here. Finally, although it had previously been revealed by Dolly and noted here, her cover of "Freebird" for the album is also being used (minus the original Ronnie Van Sant vocals that appear on her album) for a Skynyrd tribute album, the project was officially announced last week. Anthems: Honoring The Music Of Lynyrd Skynyrd will be released by BFD/Orchard on Feb. 2.
'Mountain Magic Christmas' Available For Streaming Although the DVD of Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas is coming on Halloween, the streaming version of the Emmy-nominated holiday movie became available last week. Rent or buy it on Amazon here.
Hospital In Dolly Ancestral Home Receives Gift Union Medical Center, the hospital serving the South Carolina county where Dolly's mother Avie Lee Parton was born and raised, recently received a $100,000 gift from Dolly to support a campaign to add nature spaces and walking trails at the hospital, WSPA reported here.
Louisiana Expands Library Statewide Louisiana has become the next state to announce statewide expansion of Dolly's Imagination Library early childhood literacy program, Read more from BR Proudhere.
Happy Birthday, 'Dollymania' Sunday marked the 25th anniversary since a two-year-old personal blog called "Duane's Dolly Pages" transitioned into an online newsmagazine called Dollymania.net, and I just wanted to say thank you to our readers and fans for the quarter-century of shared Dolly love online!
For the archive of monthly news stories, click here.
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