Forty-four years ago Monday, Porter and Dolly record “Is Forever Longer Than Always;” their only unreleased material issued to the public between their 1976 break-up and their 1980 lawsuit-settlement album, it makes it to No. 8 as a single 13 months later. Thirty-eight years ago Thursday, 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs marks its final of 10 weeks at No. 1 on the country album charts (Dolly's fourth and longest stay atop the chart); it also reaches No. 11 pop and gold status for more than 500,000 copies sold (Dolly's fifth). That same day, “But You Know That I Love You” debuts on the adult contemporary singles chart, where it would peak at No. 14; the song also becomes Dolly's 15th country No. 1 and reaches No. 41 pop. Twenty-seven years ago Thursday, the Straight Talk soundtrack debuts on the album charts; it reaches No. 22 country, No. 138 pop. Twenty-six years ago Friday, Slow Dancing With The Moon is certified gold (the 11th of her 14 gold albums) for sales in excess of 500,000 copies; it passes the million mark for platinum certification (Dolly's sixth and most recent) six months later. Sixty years ago Saturday, Dolly's first single, “Puppy Love,” recorded two years earlier on the independent Goldband label in Louisiana, is released; it doesn't chart. Twenty-three years ago Saturday, I Will Always Love You And Other Greatest Hits, her Columbia best-of package and the sixth of her career, debuts on the country album charts; it peaks at No. 47. Fifty years ago Sunday, Porter & Dolly record “Just Someone I Used To Know;” released as their sixth duet single six months later; it peaks at No. 5 and earns them the first of four Grammy nominations for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group (the first of Dolly's 47 career nominations). Forty-nine years ago Sunday, Porter & Dolly record “Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher Man;” released as a single four months later, it reaches No. 7 and is their second duet nominated for a Grammy. Forty-six years ago Sunday, My Tennessee Mountain Home debuts on the country albums chart; it peaks at No. 19. Forty-five years ago Sunday, Porter & Dolly in Salina, Kan., make what is believed to be their final concert appearance together as their original duo; they don't share the stage again for 14 years. Fifteen years ago Sunday, Dolly hosts the CMT Flame Worthy Video Music Awards live on CMT.
Charts
U.K., April 8 edition:
The Complete Trio Collection No. 5 country compilation (no change; 135th week; peaked at No. 1 for 30 weeks)
Upcoming television appearances
(All times Eastern unless noted)
April 16, 9:35 p.m., Cinemax, The Beverly Hillbillies (re-runs 6:30 a.m. April 22)
April 20, 1 p.m., Lifetime, Joyful Noise (re-runs 10:30 a.m. April 21)
April 23, 7 a.m., Freeform, Reba
Sept. 15-18 and 22-25, 8 p.m., PBS, Country Music
In-person Dolly (scheduled live
appearances, some are tentative)
May 10-11: Dollywood Wildwood Grove Opening, Pigeon Forge
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
'Say Forever You'll Be Mine' Available For Download Retailers on Thursday night began showing the 1975 Porter Wagoner and Dolly album Say Forever You'll Be Mine available this Friday for downloads, making the duo's 1980 lawsuit settlement album of older unreleased cuts, Porter & Dolly, their only RCA studio recordings not presently available for download (although eight of its 10 tracks were released recently on the rare recordings collection The RCA Sessions (1968-1976) and the other two are available on some other compilations, so some may consider that album technically available as well) in addition to two unavailable solo Dolly RCA albums, Bubbling Over and In The Good Old Days.
Dolly Helps Announce Titans Schedule Music City's NFL team, the Tennessee Titans, this week released their schedule for the 2019 season and had several country music artists introduce each opposing team on the list, which concludes with Dolly encouraging fans to “Titan Up!” Watch the video here!
Drumstruck Returns Home To Africa South African drum group Drumstruck recently returned home at the end of Dollywood's Festival of Nations, garnering several stories in the local media about their performances in the U.S. including one from satellite channel ENCA here.
'Little Sparrow' Makes Top 100 Albums List Thanks to Chuck for alerting me that Taste Of Country put Dolly's Little Sparrow at No. 69 of the top 100 best country albums of the 2000s, also placing Brad Paisley's Time Well Wasted (which features his “When I Get Where I'm Going” duet with Dolly) at No. 25. See the entire list here.
Paula Deen Added To Knoxville Parade Although Dolly won't be returning to her former Dolly Parade in Pigeon Forge this year, now called the Music In The Mountains Spring Parade, another big-mouthed southern broad will be making an appearance. The city announced this week that Paula Deen, who operates a restaurant in Pigeon Forge, will join Hal Ripken Jr., who replaced Dolly as grand marshal last year after 30 years, as co-grand marshal this year. Read more from The Knoxville News-Sentinelhere.
Behar To Talk Of Designing For Dolly Dolly's personal dress designer, Robert Behar, will be offering a Master Style Class in Los Angeles next week where he'll talk about the inspiration behind several of his iconic creations for Dolly, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, and Naomi Campbell, among others, he revealed on his Instagram here. The lecture takes place at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 28, at the Guild Theatre in Hudson Theatre, Tickets may be purchased from Robertbeharevents@gmail.com.
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
April 16: Baranski Joins Dolly Christmas Special Musical theatre legend Christine Baranski apparently will appear in Dolly's Netflix holiday special, she told Page Six's Cindy Adams at this year's Hollywood Reporter party. Adams quoted her here saying: "I'm doing a Dolly Parton Christmas special for Netflix. Just we two together. I think I'm the Grinch." Not much else has been released about Christmas On The Square other than that Dolly wrote all of the music for it. Recently, the network was casting for dancers to appear in the film, which will shoot in the Atlanta area.
Dolly Interviewed About Kenny For Doc Dolly was in a studio Monday taping an interview for an upcoming documentary on Kenny Rogers, Nashville's Boardwalk Productions revealed on Instagram. Thanks, Chuck!
April 15: 'Very Best' Hangs In On Top 20 Down Under The "gold series" re-issue of The Very Best Of Dolly Parton (Australian Tour Edition) regains one to No. 16 in its 395th chart week on the Australian country albums chart since its original 2007 release, it was revealed Saturday.
Dollywood Receives Another Industry Top Honor Dollywood on Saturday was presented with the Themed Entertainment Association's (TEA) highest honor, the Thea Classic Award, at the 25th annual Thea Awards Gala in Anaheim, Calif. Although Dolly could not be present, she sent an acceptance speech via video, and the park's president Craig Ross accepted the honor in person, according to Theme Park Insiderhere.
April 13: '9 To 5' Goes Where No Song Has Gone Before Dolly's classic "9 To 5" played a prominent role in Thursday night's episode of the science fiction comedy/drama series The Orville on FOX. In one of the series' more serious episodes, the ship discovers a colony of women on a hidden planet from a society that finds females disgusting and forces all children born as girls to have gender reassignment surgery to become male. Those who disagree with the practice have developed an underground railroad to ferry girls prior to any surgery to this settlement where they are raised to become women instead of men. With their discovery, the ship's captain suggests petitioning the Union of planets for recognition as an independent member so that the residents are not arrested and taken back to their home planet for forced surgery and imprisonment. On the ship to Earth, she asks if the captain's planet lets women express themselves. He gives her access to the database of female artists and she randomly selects "9 To 5." As it plays, she is spellbound, exclaiming Dolly is singing with the voice of a hundred warriors and will be the voice of their revolution. When she addresses the Union to make her case, she quotes the lyrics of the song as coming from one of Earth's great poets. When her home planet chooses to attack the colony and the ship's crew steps in to protect them, the ground phaser battle and space battle were choreographed to "9 To 5" (similar to the opening scene of Deadpool 2). And when the issue is resolved and the women are safe, their leader asks the captain, "Do you think Dolly Parton would be proud of us?" He answers, "Yes, I think she would." The gag shows the genius of show creator Seth McFarlane's comedy. His best humor comes from a place of truth and irony. An obvious Dolly fan given his use of several of her songs in his other shows in the past (most notably on American Dad), he is likely aware that she is held in high regard by serious music critics as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, but her image as perceived by the general public not aware of her vast catalog is not that of a poet but a big-boobed late night talk show joke, so when the character finds inspiration in her labor anthem and calls her one of the planet's greatest poets, the dialogue is designed to elicit laughter from most of the audience, unaware that the lines are truthful and that – as Dolly is fond of saying – the joke is on them.
'9 To 5' Also Makes It To 'Late, Late Show' Broadway's Ben Platt last week appeared on The Late Late Show With James Corden for a "Soundtrack To A Bromance" performance telling the story of two friends over the course of their lives. Among the songs performed was Dolly's "9 To 5," which the Facebook feed of the West End version of Dolly's musical based on the film shared this week. Check out the clip here.
U.K. Chart Updates The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe by Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt holds steady at No. 5 on the British country compilation albums chart in its 135th chart week, it was revealed Friday. Also on the U.K. country compilation albums chart, 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 Ronstadt) rises three to No. 6, while her Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) gains one to No. 16 and Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) inches down one to No. 17. The Essential Dolly Parton slips one to No. 20.
April 11: Dolly To Make NFL Debut With Voice-Over Duties The NFL Draft will take place in Nashville this year, and the city's team, the Titans, announced on Wednesday that the NFL Network has tapped Dolly to record the voice over introduction for the channel's special three-day coverage April 25-27 under the theme "A Star Is Born." Learn more here.
Paper: Put Dolly In Rock Hall Of Fame With the recent induction of Stevie Nicks, The Houston Press opined Wednesday on 15 other women who should be in the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame, including two country icons, Dolly and pal Loretta Lynn. Read their reasons here.
April 10: Hear Rare Porter & Dolly 'Coat Of Many Colors' Recording
Rolling Stone on Tuesday chose an obscure Porter & Dolly reference for its flashback segment on its website, looking at the 50th anniversary of Porter Wagoner recording the first unreleased version of Dolly's classic "Coat Of Many Colors." They also dug up and shared a video of the recording someone obtained and posted eight years ago to YouTube, featuring Porter's lead vocals and Dolly's on harmony leading the usual RCA background singers. (That version, however, is unlikely the April 9 recording, since RCA's masters notes list that version as "rejected," and the rejected tracks were usually destroyed. Instead, it's most likely the second version that Porter recorded of the song six days later on April 15, which RCA's masters notes list as simply "unreleased." I have no idea where the YouTube poster obtained the recording, since it has not been released on any compilation to my knowledge. He did record it again in 1982 and release it on his album One For The Road, but that is a different version than this one.) Porter's recording came a little more than a month before Dolly recorded the song for an unreleased track, a year before she performed it at her live album recording at her high school (although that version wasn't released until the album was re-issued on CD), and two years before she recorded the actual version that was used as the single and title track to the album of the same name. Read Rolling Stone's story here and take a listen to the recording here or in the media player above.
BBC Scotland Chats With Dolly About Songwriting An interview with Dolly recorded during her recent stop in London to open the West End production of 9 To 5: The Musical aired Tuesday night on BBC Radio Scotland. Take a listen to Another Country With Ricky Rosshere. The first hour features classic Dolly songs and covers, while the second hour features an interview focused mostly on her songwriting and interspersed with songs being played.
'Independent': Dolly's 1983 London Gig Was One Of All-Time Best Critics for Britain's The Independent were asked recently to list the greatest concerts they have ever attended to compile a list of modern music's 18 best performances ever, and Dolly's 1983 stop at London's Dominion Theatre to film an HBO special was included here. The reviewer revealed he remained after the main concert after its posh audience of paid attendees left and about half an hour later a large group of punks and goths were brought in and Dolly provided them an "impromptu extra set, which was full of risqué jokes and blue banter." The reactions of the young audience members were filmed and then inserted into the footage of the real audience from the filmed concert earlier in the evening to give the impression that the audience was more diverse and younger than it actually was.
Ken Burns Praises Dolly In Documentary PBS documentarian Ken Burns spoke with West Virginia Public Radio about his upcoming Country Music project here and gave much praise to Dolly, who participates in the project. At one point, he calls her one of the genre's all-time greatest songwriters and notes the simplicity of the lyrics to "I Will Always Love You" but the complexity she gives the song in performance. He also said the first episode includes a look at how multiple generations took "Mule Skinner Blues" and made it their own, from the original Jimmy Rodgers recording in 1930 through Dolly's 1970 version.
Ross Matthews Visits Dollywood Former Tonight Show intern and current RuPaul's Drag Race judge Ross Matthews enjoyed a day at Dollywood this week and shared some of the images on Facebook here. He promises to talk about the trip on his Straight Talk podcast here.
Dolly Moved BTS Member To Tears K-Pop group BTS this week released several clips of footage from their experience at this year's Grammy Awards, including one of member Jungkook being moved to literal tears during Dolly's tribute segment as she was performing "After The Goldrush." Check it out via Twitter here.
April 9: Did Maren Morris Steal '9 To 5' Melody For New Song? Did newcomer Maren Morris steal from Dolly? After she and The Brothers Osborne performed their new song, "All My Favorite People," on last weekend's ACM Awards, many observed that the tune (credited as being written by Morris with her husband Ryan Hurd and Mikey Reaves) bore a striking resemblance to the melody of Dolly's classic "9 To 5." Buffalo, N.Y., radio station WYRK noted the "déjà vu" here, while Go Buz opined here that the song "lifts its melody from Dolly Parton's '9 To 5.'" Even Slate said in its review of her new album here that "the verse's cadences are a clone of" Dolly's song and wondered if Morris copied it as "inadvertent pilfer or deliberate homage." In related news, KXXV in Waco, Texas, shared their creative services director's tribute to Dolly with a "9 to 5" music video staring her pet chicken, Nugget. Watch it here.
Harling Talks 'Steel Magnolias' As Anniversary Approaches With its 30th anniversary just around the corner, sentimentality is setting in for Steel Magnolias, including a new interview with playwright Robert Harling where he recalled the excellent cast here with Closer Weekly. As Dollymania.net reported back in January, the film is returning to select theatres in May for the anniversary. Tickets are on sale for May 19, 21, and 22 in 500 cinemas across the country via Fathom's website here.
April 8: Dolly Car Places Second At Bristol Race
Dolly's NASCAR debut was a strong one, as her face on the hood of Tyler Reddick's No. 2 Camaro led the race for most of the day at Bristol Motor Speedway but lost the lead and came in second in the overall race. The Associated Press offered a story about the car she sponsored with her business interests covering it, available via ABC News here, and check out her videotaped message to the team, which FS1 aired during the first section of the race, here via Facebook or in the media player above.
Australian Chart Update The "gold series" re-issue of The Very Best Of Dolly Parton (Australian Tour Edition) loses four to No. 17 in its 394th chart week on the Australian country albums chart since its original 2007 release, it was revealed Saturday.
Dolly Singing Contest Deadline Extended According to Knoxville television station WVLT here, the deadline to submit audition recordings for the annual Dolly-composed song singing competition in her hometown, Sevierville's Mountain Soul Vocal Competition at the Bloomin' BBQ and Bluegrass Festival May 18, has been postponed a week. Originally due with an April 5 postmark, the deadline to mail an audition recording has been extended to Friday, April 12. Now in its 15th year, winners of the competition receive cash prizes and entry fees are $10 for the 13-and-up category and $5 for the 12-and-under category. The entry form and rules are available here. Contestants must perform a song composed by Dolly, regardless of whether she performed it or not, and organizers encourage contestants to visit Dollymania.net's list of her songs here to determine if their selection was written by Dolly or not.
April 6: Dolly Receives New U.K. Gold, Platinum Awards BPI (The British Phonographic Industry) on Friday announced two Dolly recordings had reached new certification levels last week. On March 29, the single "Jolene" was certified platinum for sales in excess of 600,000 since its digital release in 2004 (it had previously been certified gold in the U.K. in 2017 for 400,000 units and silver in 2014 for 200,000), and the 2013 compilation The Real Dolly Parton was certified gold for sales in excess of 100,000 (after going silver for sales of 60,000 in January 2018).
Sony Releases 22 Rare Porter & Dolly Tracks Sony Music on Friday issued a new Porter & Dolly compilation featuring almost all of the rare and previously-unreleased tracks that first saw the light of day in the German label Bear Family Records 2014 boxed set Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner: Just Between You And Me, Complete Recordings 1967-1976. Since fall 2018, the label has been releasing the classic Porter & Dolly duet albums for the first time ever on digital download. This week, instead of releasing one of the two albums currently unavailable (1980's Porter & Dolly and 1976's Say Forever You'll Be Mine), the label put out a new compilation of 22 rare tracks. The RCA Sessions (1968-1976) contains seven of the nine tracks that were first released on the complete recordings boxed set (missing for some reason are 1971's "Waldo The Weirdo" and 1976's "Golden Streets of Glory"), a 1969 track that was first released on a 2012 compilation, four alternate recordings of previously-released songs that were first released on the boxed set, their 1973 charity single duet "Here Comes The Freedom Train" and its B-side Porter solo "All Aboard America" (which on the boxed set was remastered from your webmaster's 45 single in my personal collection), and eight of the 10 songs that were overdubbed and remixed for their final album, 1980's Porter & Dolly (missing are the album's two singles, "If You Go, I'll Follow You" and "Making Plans") – which were the original, non-overdubbed versions on the boxed set and presumably also on this collection. Download the collection here!
U.K. Chart Updates The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe by Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt dips one to No. 5 on the British country compilation albums chart in its 134th chart week, it was revealed Friday. Also on the U.K. country compilation albums chart, 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 Ronstadt) rises six to No. 9, while her Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) loses six to No. 17 and Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) moves down two to No. 16. The Essential Dolly Parton re-enters the top 20 at No. 19.
Knoxville Dolly Exhibit Opens The Dolly art exhibit previously reported on here a few weeks back opened on Friday in Knoxville at the Rala gallery, WVLT reported here.
April 5: Dolly Die Cast Car Coming, Too Lionel Racing, the official die cast maker for NASCAR, confirmed on Thursday that a model of Dolly's No. 2 Camaro which will debut at the Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday will be forthcoming. Although a date for release has not been announced, a spokesperson told Dollymania.net: "Yes we do plan to offer this die-cast. We'll post it on our web site and here on Facebook when we're approved to do so, so stay tuned!"
Dollywood Planning 'Dear Dolly' Kid Feeback Series Thanks to a reader who alerted me that Dollywood is soliciting input from the park's youngest visitors for a new "Dear Dolly" segment. Children are encouraged to submit written or video questions about the park, observations or suggestions via e-mail and Dolly will address selected ones in an upcoming video series. Example questions included: "Dear Dolly, can you make a ride where I get to be invisible? Dear Dolly, I don't like that they serve vegetables in the restaurant. Dear Dolly, why don't you have more ice cream in the park? Dear Dolly, please do a show about unicorns." Emails are due here by April 15.
Celine Takes On 'Jolene' Celine Dion this week released a weird video – but most things Celine does are rather odd :) – announcing her upcoming World Tour and she threw in a little Dolly. Watch the clip to the end here to see her belt out a little "Jolene."
April 4: Dolly Gets Race Car At Bristol
Richard Childress Racing on Wednesday announced Dolly's NASCAR debut with her very own vehicle to be raced this weekend. Tyler Reddick's No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro will be Dollyized for Saturday's Alsco 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Dolly's face graces the hood above her signature logo to represent "Dolly Records," while Dollywood logos are found on the rear quarter panels, her official website, DollyParton.com, is across the rear roof as well as DreamMore Resort and her Imagination Library charity on the back fascia, and Stampede, Splash Country and Pirates Voyage on the deck lid. "It's an honor to represent Dolly Parton and her variety of businesses on our No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway," Reddick said of the bright pink vehicle. "Dolly is an icon and has had a lot of success in her career, which is something I admire while trying to build my own success in NASCAR. Hopefully, we can take Dolly and the No. 2 Camaro to Victory Lane this weekend in her home state of Tennessee. I think that would be really special for everyone who is a fan of hers." Reddick is the 2018 Xfinity Series champion and enters the event in Thunder Valley with RCR as the current series leader. He is fresh off a second-place finish in last weekend's event at Texas Motor Speedway and will be competing in Xfinity Racing's Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus this weekend. The Facebook posting of the announcement is available here and the official press release is available here. The news quickly went viral throughout the day and was featured on several major news outlets.
Netflix Holiday Movie Casting Dancers Dolly's Netflix Christmas musical Christmas On The Square is currently casting dancers age 8 and older with technical training to film in Atlanta. An open casting call will take place in Los Angeles on Saturday and Sunday, Backstage reported here.
Night Of 1,000 Dollys Returning Next Month Organizers of the annual Night of 1,000 Dollys in Knoxville have announced details of their 10th anniversary celebration. The show will take place Saturday, May 11, with 11:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. showtimes at Club XYZ Doors open at 9 p.m. with $10 cover. Age 21 and up. The shows star The Queenz with Trixie Lynn and hosted by Raz. Productions from past shows will be revisited as well as Best Little Whorehouse and Joyful Noise and new Dolly songs. A Dolly-look-a-like contest takes place at midnight as well as a raffle to benefit Imagination Library featuring several prizes including Dollywood season passes. (The event is not affiliated with Dolly Parton, Dolly Parton Productions, Dollywood, or Imagination Library. Dolly will not be at the event.)
April 3: 'Jolene' On 'American Idol'
ABC's American Idol on Monday presented its top 20 artists, who performed solos for the panel of judges, and Riley Thompson went with a Dolly classic, "Jolene." Check out video of her performance here or in the media player above.
New Musical To Feature At Least One Dolly Song Lively McCabe Entertainment, which recently inked a deal with Theatrical Rights Worldwide and BMG to develop theatrical musicals using previously-released songs, this week announced its first three projects, one of which be a stage musical featuring country music including Dolly. May We All will feature a book (script) written by Troy Britton Johnson and Todd Johnson and focus on disappearing small-town America as seen through the hopeful eyes of its youth when a fledgling country singer reluctantly comes home after a rough start in Nashville. Other artists whose music will be featured include Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill, Loretta Lynn, Tim McGraw and Florida Georgia Line. Read more from Deadlinehere.
April 2: Dollywood Gets In The April Fools' Jokes
Dolly's theme park got a few national and regional media mentions Monday thanks to Pigeon Forge Guide's April Fools' Day joke here that Dollywood had been purchased by Kanye West. The park also got into the act with a video promoting Dream More Spa mud facials on location at the Wildwood Grove construction site using the site's own red clay mud, noting it is a limited-time offer until the new area's May 10 scheduled opening. Watch the video here or in the media player above. In related news, The Knoxville News-Sentinel promoted several coming attractions to the area, including Wildwood Grove, which it noted will have a recognizable voice providing rotating stories starting in June about the Wildwood Tree's origins, animals in the Smokies and the seasons. Read that here.
April 1: 'Very Best' Still On Aussie Charts The "gold series" re-issue of The Very Best Of Dolly Parton (Australian Tour Edition) loses three to No. 13 in its 393rd chart week on the Australian country albums chart since its original 2007 release, it was revealed Sunday.
March 30: 'Love And Music' Gets First-Ever Digital Release Sony Music on Friday released the 1973 Porter Wagoner and Dolly duet album Love And Music for digital download for the first time ever, leaving now just four of Dolly's 42 RCA-era original titles unavailable digitally: her two final Porter duet albums, Say Forever You'll Be Mine and Porter & Dolly, and two early solo albums, In The Good Old Days and Bubbling Over. Download the album, which contains fan favorites including "There'll Always Be Music" and "I Get Lonesome By Myself," here!
Dolly Recording New Collaborations With International Partners Thanks to Chuck for alerting me that producer Ron Fair shared on his official Twitter feed that he was in the studio this week in Nashville with Dolly recording vocals for projects by Swedish electronic dance duo Galantis and Australian contemporary Christian duo For King And Country. "Dolly on FIRE!" he exclaimed. No word on exactly what projects she is helping these two acts out on yet.
Survey: Dolly Still Among Sexiest Older Women Dolly is the world's fourth-best-aged celebrity woman, according to a new survey by British wellness brand Foreo. Yahoo's UK style section reported here Friday that 73-year-old Dame Helen Mirren topped the list, followed by Her Highness Queen Elizabeth the Second with 60-year-old Madonna, 73-year-old Dolly and 72-year-old Cher rounding out the top 5. Next were Judi Dench, Tina Turner, Kim Basinger, Sharon Stone and Susan Sarandon at No. 10.
Several New Interviews Available Dolly had a handful of recent interview opportunities from recent weeks make their way to the public this week. An interview about her upcoming Netflix projects and Christmas musical was published by The Knoxville News-Sentinelhere and shared by USA Today, British publication Clash Music magazine revealed here she has a cover story interview for Issue 111 hitting newsstands next week, and pal Kathie Lee Gifford interviewed her for NBC's fourth hour of Today in a package that aired Friday and is viewable here.
Dolly Cover Wows Ken Burns Concert Crowd Dolly did not participate in filmmaker Ken Burns' companion concert to his Country Music PBS documentary in Nashville's Ryman Auditorium Wednesday night, but her influence loomed large, literally. Both The Tennesseanhere and Rolling Stonehere agreed Vince Gill's haunting solor rendition of her classic "I Will Always Love You," performed with a large image of her projected on stage behind him, was the highlight of the evening.
British, U.S. Chart Updates The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe by Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt regains four to No. 4 on the British country compilation albums chart in its 133rd chart week, it was revealed Friday. Also on the U.K. country compilation albums chart, 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 Ronstadt) drops five to No. 15, while her Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) gains one to No. 11 and Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) moves up two to No. 14. Stateside, Tuesday's Billboard charts dated March 30 saw her 2003 compilation Ultimate Dolly Parton fall back out of the top 50 country albums, down from No. 48 in its 52nd chart week.
Dollywood Wins Another International Honor Dollywood will be honored April 13 with the Themed Entertainment Association's (TEA) highest honor, the Thea Classic Award, at the 25th annual Thea Awards Gala in Anaheim, Calif., In Park Magazine reported here this week. The award recognizes parks that embody excellence and have stood the test of time.
Dolly Inspires Another Fashion Line The spring 2019 collection from design house Valfre was released this week inspired entirely by Dolly under the theme "What Would Dolly Do." Check out samples from Elite Dailyhere.
March 26: PBS 'Country Music' Documentary Tour Visits Dolly's Hometown Documentarian Ken Burns was in Sevierville Monday making a pilgrimage to Dolly's statue on the courthouse grounds to promote this fall's PBS series Country Music, in which Dolly is one of the prominent interview subjects. He is currently on a 30-city tour to promote the project and kicked it off Sunday in Bristol, Tenn., known as the "birthplace of country music." Monday's Sevierville stop was part of the Knoxville-area promotions. Check out footage from WVLT here.
Sevierville Preps For Mountain Soul Competition The Sevierville Chamber of Commerce is taking audition recordings for the 15th Annual Mountain Soul Vocal Competition honoring Dolly the songwriter. Recordings are due with an April 5 postmark, and finalists will be invited to perform at the Bloomin BBQ and Bluegrass Festival in the city May 18. Winners receive cash prizes and entry fees are $10 for the 13-and-up category and $5 for the 12-and-under category. WATE profiled the competition here and the entry form and rules are available here. Contestants must perform a song composed by Dolly, regardless of whether she performed it or not, and organizers encourage contestants to visit Dollymania.net's list of her songs here to determine if their selection was written by Dolly or not.
March 25: CBS 'This Morning' Profiles Imagination Library
Dolly and her Imagination Library were profiled on CBS This Morning Saturday this weekend. Check out the segment here or in the media player above.
Australian Chart Update The "gold series" re-issue of The Very Best Of Dolly Parton (Australian Tour Edition) gains three to No. 10 in its 392nd chart week on the Australian country albums chart since its original 2007 release, it was revealed Sunday.
For the archive of monthly news stories, click here.
"Dollymania: The Online Dolly Parton Newsmagazine. Your premier resource for Dolly Parton news and information." These pages are not affiliated with Dolly Parton, Dolly Parton Enterprises or Dollywood. Original text and images are copyrighted by Duane Gordon/www.dollymania.net or by their respective owners and published here with permission. These may not be reproduced without prior written consent.
