Brisbane Show Grossed $1.7 Million, Tulsa On Sale March 20
The first show from Dolly's Blue Smoke World Tour to land on Billboard's “Box Score” concert ticket sales chart appeared Thursday at No. 2 on the weekly countdown. Her two-night engagement in Brisbane, Australia, last month saw about 77 percent of the 18,060 available tickets sold for a gross of $1.77 million. In other tour news, Tulsa World reported here on Thursday that tickets for her May 22-23 engagement at that city's Hard Rock Hotel & Casino will go on sale for $95 each and up starting March 20 via hardrockcasinotulsa.com, by phone at 918-384-ROCK or at the box office. Although the dates have been on the tour itinerary for months, no news had been released until this week regarding ticket sales.

Nelson Slides On The Chart
Elsewhere on the March 15 Billboard charts,, Willie Nelson's To All The Girls, with its Dolly duet, slips five to No. 45 in its 20th week on the country albums list.

See Dolly In Los Angeles Photo Exhibit
Dolly is among the artists whose images make up the new exhibit “Country: Portraits of an American Sound” at the Anneberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, it was announced this week. The exhibit runs May 31-Sept. 28 and is curated by representatives from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Open free to the public, it will use historical and contemporary photographs to explore how images shape the public identity of country music performers and the genre itself. In addition to images from several celebrated photographers, the exhibit features a half-hour documentary, country albums, film posters, archival artifacts from the Hall of Fame and more.

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March 5:
Producer: Bonus Tracks For U.S. 'Blue Smoke' CD
Kent Wells, Dolly's producer, on Tuesday let news slip that the U.S. release of her Blue Smoke CD on May 13 will contain additional tracks. He posted to his personal Facebook page that he had returned from her Australian tour and was in the studio mixing bonus tracks for the American version of the album (it was released just over a month ago in Australia).

Fan Talks To Paper About Meet-And-Greet
One Australian fan who got to meet Dolly backstage during the Down Under leg of her Blue Smoke World Tour told her story to The Northwest Star this week. Read it here.

March 2:
Aussie, Kiwi, Irish, British Chart Updates
With the Down Under leg of her tour over, Dolly's Blue Smoke starts its descent. The album falls three to No. 10 in its fourth week on the Australian pop albums chart, remaining at No. 1 country and falling off the digital albums chart, down from No. 39, while in New Zealand it slides a dozen digits to No. 29 pop. The Very Best Of Dolly Parton: Australian Tour Edition falls a dozen places to No. 40 in its 10th week on the New Zealand pop albums tally, while Down Under The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 stays at No. 2 country in its 319th week on the top 40 and rises 11 to No. 27 in its fourth week on the pop chart, while it loses one to No. 5 for a 36th week on the catalog albums list and five to No. 41 on the digital albums sales tally. Also on the Australian country albums chart, Dolly's The Hits remains steady at No. 9 in its third week, while The Essential Dolly Parton adds eight to No. 18 in its 67th week on the top 40. In Ireland, the 3-CD compilation The Real Dolly Parton dips 19 places to No. 68 in its 20th week on the Irish pop albums chart. And in the U.K., Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 1, released in 2011, loses two to No. 4 on the British country compilations chart in its 24th week back on the tally with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony, her Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) slips one to No. 6 in its 25th week on the same chart and Ronstadt's own Original Album Series (also from 2011 and featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) gains five to No. 15.

One More Item From Down Under
Check out a great review of Dolly's final concert in the Australian leg of her Blue Smoke World Tour from The West Australian here. In related tour news, the tour's next leg, a handful of select U.S. dates, kicks off in just over 11 weeks, and it includes a fundraising show in Richmond, Ky., which organizers at St. Mark Roman Catholic Church tell me is likely within just a couple of days from selling out. Get your tickets here, and don't forget to enter their contest to win a trip to London to meet Dolly and see her in concert on the European leg of the tour here!

Feb. 28:
Dolly Announces Glastonbury Concert On Tour
Dolly took to Twitter early Thursday morning to announce her Blue Smoke World Tour's European leg has added a June 29 performance at England's Glastonbury Festival, that country's largest annual music fest. For years, she has been rumored annually as a headliner for the event, which does not announce its performers until after its 120,000 tickets have sold out, but each year in the past the rumors have turned out to be false. A London gossip tabloid a few months ago reported "insider" sources confirming her participation this year, but Thursday's announcement made it official. On Twitter, Dolly revealed: "I'm incredibly excited to FINALLY announce that the #BlueSmokeWorldTour is coming to @GlastoFest on June 29th! ;) Stay tuned for more info…" Coverage was all over the world, with a couple of examples coming from The Evening Times here and The Guardian here. Don't forget to enter the contest to win a trip to London to meet Dolly and see her in concert just before the Glastonbury date here. In related news, she wrapped up the Australian leg of her tour Thursday night in Perth. The concert garnered raves from The Daily Mail here and Perth Now here.

Nelson's CD Remains Almost Steady On Chart
Willie Nelson's To All The Girls, featuring a Dolly duet, inches up one digit to No. 40 in its 19th week on the Billboard country albums tally, the March 8 charts released Thursday confirmed. In other news, the magazine on Thursday counted down the top 50 movie songs of all time in advance of this weekend's Oscars, and Dolly's "9 To 5" ranked at No. 41 while Whitney Houston's cover of the Dolly-penned "I Will Always Love You" was No. 9. See the full list here.

Artist Covers Dolly Pic With Tatoos
Wonder what Dolly would look like with loads of tattoos instead of the handful she hides underneath clothing and/or make-up? Artist Cheyenne Randall has become famous for covering pictures of famous people with tats, including Dolly's 1978 Playboy pic. Check them out here.

See Behind-The-Scenes Of New Coaster
It's now just three weeks until Dolly unveils Dollywood's new FireChaser Express roller coaster at season pass holder preview day on March 21 before its debut to the general public when she is on park March 22. Check out a behind-the-scenes video the park released Wednesday here.

Dixie Stampede Opens For New Season
Dolly's Dixie Stampede dinner theatre in Pigeon Forge and Branson has opened for its 27th season featuring new video projection technology that fills the arena floor with moving images of stampeding horses during the show and a giant American flag during Dolly's "Color Me America" finale. In a press release, Dolly noted: "When I wrote 'Color Me America!,' I never dreamed the song would be brought to life quite like this. When that giant American flag fills the arena, you just swell with pride. Between the finale and a few other surprises we've worked into the show, I just know families will be talking about Dixie Stampede all the way home!"

Miley Cyrus Films Dolly Cover
Dolly's goddaughter Miley Cyrus has been performing her "Jolene" in concert on her Bangerz Tour, and Wednesday she filmed a selfie during the song and uploaded it to Instagram here.

Vincent Chats About Dolly In Interview
Rhonda Vincent talks about her treasured friendship with Dolly in part two of a two-part interview with Country Stars Central here.

Feb. 26:
Latest News From Australian Tour
As Dolly continues to move toward the end of the Australian leg of her Blue Smoke World Tour, the press continues its love affair with her. The Cairns Post reviewed her concert in that city here, and Tone Deaf called her new CD "fun, cheeky, tender, homely, sincere, star-studded, and uplifting across its dozen dazzling tracks, just like Ms Parton herself." Read the full review here. Finally, reader Chris Middleton sent in some photos from his meet-and-greet, including the one at left from Sydney. Thanks!

Dolly Helps Celebrate BMI Head
The Broadcasters Foundation of America on Monday presented its Golden Mike award to BMI president Del Bryant in a ceremony that featured video greetings from BMI songwriter Dolly, including her singing some of "I Will Always Love You" to Bryant. Read more from Broadcasting Cable here.

Dolly Inducted Into Another Hall Of Fame
The National Hall of Fame for Mountain Artisans has selected Dolly among its 2014 class of inductees. The others are woodcrafter John Brock and author Jeri Landers. Read more from Harland Daily here.

Dollywood Foundation Staffer Wins Award
Congratulations to Dollywood Foundation Operations Services Coordinator Karen Wilson, who has been named VIP Woman of the Year by the National Association of Professional Women. Read the press release here.

Feb. 24:
'Blue Smoke' Falls From N.Z. Pop No. 1 Postiion
Dolly's Blue Smoke may have topped the New Zealand pop albums chart last week, its second on the tally, but it slips out of the top 10 this week, dropping 16 places to No. 17, while in Australia it gains one spot to No. 7 pop, slides eight to No. 39 digital albums and retains its No. 1 country position for a third week. The Very Best Of Dolly Parton: Australian Tour Edition drops 19 to No. 28 in its ninth week on the New Zealand pop albums tally, while Down Under The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 stays at No. 2 country in its 318th week on the top 40 and rises 17 to No. 38 in its third week on the pop chart, two to No. 4 for a 35th week on the catalog albums list and 14 to No. 36 on the digital albums sales tally. Also on the Australian country albums chart, Dolly's The Hits loses one to No. 9 in its second week, while The Essential Dolly Parton adds five to No. 26 in its 66th week on the top 40. In Ireland, the 3-CD compilation The Real Dolly Parton gains 16 places to No. 49 in its 19th week on the Irish pop albums chart. And in the U.K., Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 1, released in 2011, holds steady at No. 2 on the British country compilations chart in its 23rd week back on the tally with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony, her Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) rebounds four to No. 5 in its 24th week on the same chart and Ronstadt's own Original Album Series (also from 2011 and featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) re-enters the top 20 at No. 20.

Dolly's Aussie Tour Nearing End
The Australian leg of Dolly's Blue Smoke World Tour is getting close to wrapping up. Her final two dates are Monday night in Cairns and Thursday night in Perth. Then she takes a nearly three-month break before returning for her second American leg and the European leg. The Northern Daily Leader profiled the seamstress who helped Dolly in Tamworth here and reviews of her Brisbane concerts made News.com here and The Brisbane Times here.

Feb. 21:
Ronstadt Duets CD With Dolly Track Coming
In honor of her April 10 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Rhino Records on April 8 will release a career-spanning Linda Ronstadt Duets CD featuring 14 previously released tracks with various artists and one previously unreleased song with Laurie Lewis. The set will include her 1977 top 10 country single with Dolly, "I Never Will Marry," from her album Simple Dreams. Other recordings include three duets with Ann Savoy, two with Aaron Neville and one each with Carl Jackson, Emmylou Harris, Don Henley, J.D. Souther, James Taylor, James Ingram, Bette Midler and Frank Sinatra. Pre-order it here.

Porter & Dolly Price Tag Revealed
Although I haven't seen a U.S. importer put a price on the collection yet, German label Bear Family Records has added the May 5 complete recordings boxed set of Dolly and Porter Wagoner duets to its web store for 125.88 Euros, or approximately $175 U.S., if you order it directly from the label.

Latest From Aussie Tour
Dolly continues to entertain the fans Down Under with the Australian leg of her Blue Smoke World Tour. The Daily Mail had some photos of her out and about here.

Nelson Dips On U.S. Albums Chart
Willie Nelson's To All The Girls, with its Dolly duet, continues to drop on the March 1 Billboard charts released Thursday, losing four spots to No. 41 in its 18th week on the country albums chart.

AOL Chats Up Porter & Dolly Break-Up
AOL's country music blog, The Boot, this week profiled the 40th anniversary of Dolly's announcement that she and Porter Wagoner were starting the break-up of their prolific duet partnership. They didn't completely sever ties until two years later. Read the piece here.

Feb. 19:
Dolly Wows Australian Crowds
Dolly continues to earn rave reviews on the Australian leg of her Blue Smoke World Tour. The Brisbane Times praised her first Sydney show here, as did News.com here. In related news, Australia's ABC television network has a blog entry about a Tamworth seamstress who was on "rhinestone patrol" for Dolly at her show in that city. It is available here, and The Northern Daily Leader had a story about her Tamworth show here.

Billboard Celebrates Dolly's Achievement
Billboard magazine this week celebrated the 33rd anniversary of Dolly's "9 To 5" topping the pop Hot 100 singles chart. Check out the column here.

Feb. 17:
Dolly Tops New Zealand Pop Chart
In its second week, Dolly's Blue Smoke CD shot up over the weekend eight places on the New Zealand pop albums chart to reach No. 1, while in Australia the set advanced two to No. 8 pop, retained its No. 1 country position and slipped 15 spots to No. 31 Aussie digital albums. The Very Best Of Dolly Parton: Australian Tour Edition gained three to No. 9 in its eighth week on the New Zealand pop albums tally, while Down Under the chart combined that re-issue along with The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 and gave that title the No. 2 country position in its 317th week on the top 40, a re-entry for a second week on the pop chart at No. 38, a re-entry on the catalog albums chart at No. 6 for a 34th week and debut at No. 50 on the digital albums sales list. Also on the Australian country albums chart, a Dolly compilation called The Hits debuted at No. 8 and The Essential Dolly Parton rose seven to No. 31 in its 65th week on the top 40. In Ireland, the 3-CD compilation The Real Dolly Parton advanced 10 slots to No. 65 in its 18th week on the Irish pop albums chart. And in the U.K., Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 1, released in 2011, rebounded one to No. 2 on the British country compilations chart in its 22nd week back on the tally with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony while her Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) slid four to No. 9 in its 23rd week on the same chart.

Blue Smoke Tour Continues Down Under
Dolly's Blue Smoke World Tour continues to conquer Australia. She played Hunter Valley on Saturday and Tamworth on Sunday, with the first of her two Sydney shows on Tuesday. Check out a gallery from Hunter Valley by The Daily Mail here and one from Tamworth by The Northern Daily Leader here. The Courier Mail had a story on her Adelaide concert from last week here. Thanks to Jacob Jeffery for sending in some shots from Tuesday night's Melbourne concert, including the one at left. Check out the rest here. And Yahoo Singapore posted an Associated Press video about Dolly feeling like a rock star when she tours overseas. Check it out here or in the media player below.

May 5 Release For Porter & Dolly Set
Bear Family Records has announced the official release date for its upcoming six-CD, 160-song set Just Between You And Me: Complete Recordings 1967-76 that contains every duet Porter Wagoner and Dolly recorded during their partnership at RCA Records. The set is slated to come out May 5. Check out the label's page on the release here.

CMT Announcing 40 All-Time Best Hits
Dolly is among nearly 100 artists who helped CMT select the network's All-Time Top 40: Artist's Choice countdown. The songs will be revealed once-per-week starting March 15 and conclusing in December. Learn more here.

London Concert, Meet-And-Greet Contest Open
The contest to win a trip to London to see Dolly in concert and meet her before the show thanks to St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church (where she's performing a fund-raiser concert on May 27) went live on Saturday morning, and you may enter it here. Contestants receive one entry in the contest for each penny that is donated to the project, with a minimum 50-cent online donation. Those not wishing to make a donation may submit a mailed-in entry at no cost. Entries will be accepted through May 15 and the winner will be announced at Dolly's May 27 concert.

Feb. 14:
No Dollywood Meet-And-Greet Ride Auction This Year
Although Dollywood has offered charity auctions for the first seats on its new ride attractions featuring meet-and-greets with Dolly for the past several additions, next month's opening of the new FireChaser Express roller coaster will not feature such an auction, park officials confirmed to Dollymania.net. The Dolly meet-and-greet auctions had been offered last year for Splash Country's River Rush water coaster, 2012 for the Wild Eagle roller coaster, 2010's Sha-Kon-O-Hey show and 2007's Mystery Mine roller coaster. Dolly will be in attendance for the ride's opening and is expected to make her usual "surprise" appearances over the weekend. For the past several years, she has been on park for both the season pass holder preview, which this year falls on Friday, March 21, as well as the official park season opening day, which this year is Saturday, March 22. Image at left from Dolly's 2012 Wild Eagle meet-and-greet is © copyright 2012 T. Duane Gordon/www.dollymania.net.

Australian Leg Of Blue Smoke Tour Continues
Dolly continued the Australian leg of her Blue Smoke World Tour this week, playing Adelaide on Thursday night. A review of that concert is available from Adelaide Now here. In addition, check out a humorous tale of one writer bribing his son to go to the concert with him from News.com here. Finally, additional coverage of her Imagination Library expansion Down Under made News.com here and The Age here. A new publicity image for the program's Australian chapters has also been released. Click on it at left for a larger view.

Dolly Plays Her Slots For First Time

London Contest Starts Saturday
Don't forget that midnight Saturday morning begins the start of St. Mark Roman Catholic Church's contest to win a trip to London to meet Dolly and see her in concert. The church's pastor, Rev. James W. Sichko, will appear on Lexington's WLEX-TV Sunrise on Friday to publicize the contest. Get more information starting Saturday here.

American Chart Update Shows Nelson Dips
Willie Nelson's To All The Girls, with its Dolly duet, declines on the Feb. 22 Billboard tallies released Thursday. The set drops 14 places to No. 37 in its 17th week on the country albums chart and falls back off the top 200 pop chart and current albums chart, down from No. 174 and No. 131, respectively.

LGBT Channel Adds 'Hollywood To Dollywood'
Hollywood To Dollywood, the award-winning Dolly fan documentary, has been added to premium LGBT cable network Here TV. The film appears on the network as well as its premium subscription YouTube channel.

Study: Dolly Wrote Third-Most-Perfect Love Song
In honor of Valentine's Day, Spotify scientifically studied what makes the best love song and the experts named the Dolly-penned "I Will Always Love You" (noting both the Dolly and Whitney Houston versions) No. 3 on the list of the most perfect love songs. The characteristics of a good love song were sentimental lyrics, a slow tempo, a syncopated rhythm, major key and standard chord protection. The list placed Adele's version of the Bob Dylan song "Make You Feel My Love" at No. 1 and Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" at No. 2. Read more here.

Feb. 12:
More Coverage Of Dolly's Australian Arrival
The Australian media are going crazy over Dolly's return Down Under. Reviews of her first night in Melbourne made The Age here, The Herald Sun here, Take 40 here and The Guardian here. Photos made The Daily Mail here. An interview made Sunrise here while a story made SBS here. Press conference coverage included News here and The Sydney Morning Herald here and here. A piece on her business empire came from BRW here, and her Imagination Library's Aussie expansion was covered by The Australian here.

Dolly Singing Contest Returns
The Sevierville Chamber of Commerce is now accepting entries for the May 17 10th annual Mountain Soul Vocal Competition, the world's only yearly singing contest that relies solely on Dolly-written songs. Contestants will be accepted in age 12-and-under or age 13-and-up age divisions. Applications are available at BloominBBQ.com and are due by April 11 with an audition tape, CD, VHS or DVD. A total of 30 finalists will be invited to perform at the event with the older winner takes home $500 and a recording session, while the younger winner takes home $100 and Dollywood season passes. Entrants are asked to use the Dollymania.net list of songs Dolly has written and recorded here to confirm her authorship of one's chosen performance piece.

Feb. 11:
Dolly Lands In Australia For Blue Smoke Tour

Sony Officially Announces CD Release
Although it was reported here several days ago, Sony Masterworks on Monday officially announced the May 13 U.S. release of Dolly's Blue Smoke album. In a press release, Dolly observed: "On this CD I think there are all of the colors of my life in all the areas of music that you've allowed me to dabble in through the years. You will hear my old world mountain voice on songs like 'Banks of The Ohio' and 'If I Had Wings' my tender side on songs like 'Miss You - Miss Me' and 'Unlikely Angel.' My country/bluegrass side of songs like 'Home,' 'Blue Smoke' and 'Don't Think Twice' and my funny tongue-in-cheek side on 'Lover du Jour.'" The track listing confirms the American version will contain the same 12 songs as the Australian release that came out at the end of January. Reserve your copy here!

Feb. 10:
'Blue Smoke' Makes Aussie, Kiwi Pop Top 10s
The Australian release of Dolly's Blue Smoke CD sees big debuts Down Under this week. The album enters the New Zealand pop albums tally at No. 9 and the Australian pop albums list at No. 10. The set is the week's No. 1 country album in Australia and No. 16 Aussie digital album. (In related news, a review and gallery of images from one of her two New Zealand shows made Libel magazine here.) The Very Best Of Dolly Parton: Australian Tour Edition rises four to No. 12 in its seventh week on the Australian country albums chart and gains two to No. 22 in its ninth week on the New Zealand pop albums chart. The original The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 resurges 24 places to No. 16 in its 308th week on the country top 40 list Down Under, while The Essential Dolly Parton re-enters the top 40 Australian country albums list at No. 38 for a 64th week. And in the U.K., Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 1, released in 2011, holds steady at No. 3 on the on the British country compilations chart in its 21st week back on the tally with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony while her Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) rebounds two to No. 5 in its 22nd week on the same chart. Ronstadt's own Original Album Series (also from 2011 and featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) falls back off the top 20, down from No. 15.

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