www.dollymania.net                News                          June 2012

June 30:
'Evening' Sales Drop Confirmed
As was projected here based on its chart drop this week, An Evening With . . . Dolly decreased 25 percent in sales last week to a total of 416 copies moved, the SoundScan data released this week showed, bringing its cumulative 12-week total to 44,974 units.

Another British Interview Posted
Dolly's promotions for the British opening of Joyful Noise continue with an interview in The Huffington Post UK here.

More Local '9 To 5' Reviews Published
Check out two reviews of local productions of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical. North Virginia Daily reviewed the Shenandoah University in Winchester version here, while The Wichita Eagle looked at the Musical Theatre of Wichita's show here.

Irish Chart Update
The late Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection, featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," regains eight spots this week to No. 44 on the Irish pop albums chart, it was revealed Friday.

Chenoweth Talks More About Dolly
Showbiz Deluxe this week posted the second half of its Kristin Chenoweth interview, including another Dolly mention. Check it out here.


June 29:
'Joyful Noise' In Press Before U.K. Opening
With Dolly's film Joyful Noise opening Friday throughout the U.K., reviews are coming out from multiple media outlets there this week. As in the U.S., most reviews are mixed, giving lackluster marks to the script and acting but saying mostly good things about the music and Dolly's performance in particular. Check out reviews from The Telegraph here, The Guardian here, Hey Guys here, Filmoria here and The Daily Mail, which says the film is so bad that it's a joy to watch, here. In related news, Dolly sat down with Glamour magazine to promote the picture (and the upcoming tour of 9 To 5: The Musical) in an interview here. Of note in it, she confesses that she doesn't currently have any plans for her next album and doesn't know when she'll put out another one. "I like to have a little breathing room to collect my thoughts," she said on the subject. Her most recent release, Better Day, came out a year ago Thursday. Also in the article, she expressed a desire to write with and work with British phenomenon Adele, who famously praised Dolly in her recent live DVD, exclaiming "I fucking love Dolly Parton!"

'Evening' Takes Another Tumble
Cracker Barrel's An Evening With . . . Dolly takes another major drop on this week's music video DVD chart, the July 7 Billboard tallies showed on Thursday, dropping another eight places to No. 24 in its 12th chart week. That decline likely meant another 25-30 percent sales loss to around 400 copies for the week. The Joyful Noise Soundtrack falls off the 50-position independent label albums chart, down from No. 47 in its 17th week there, while losing one to No. 20 soundtracks for a 19th week. It rises two to No. 22 Christian and gospel albums in its 23rd week there and two to No. 13 Christian albums in its 23rd week there, while remaining steady at No. 10 gospel albums in its 24th week on that list. On the digital gospel singles chart, film tracks "From Here To The Moon And Back" by Dolly with Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan dips four to No. 15 in its 12th week, Keke Palmer's "Man In The Mirror" falls three to No. 17 in its 13th week and "Higher Medley" by Dolly and Queen Latifah with the cast falls five to No. 23 in its 13th week. The late Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," falls another 20 places to No. 121 pop, nine to No. 17 pop catalog albums and three to No. 5 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. The Oak Ridge Boys' Back Home Again, featuring a cover of Dolly's "Coat Of Many Colors," falls off the charts, down from in its fourth week at No. 67 country albums, No. 42 Christian albums and No. 63 Christian and gospel albums. The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, featuring Dolly on three songs, holds steady on the bluegrass albums list at No. 13 for a 62nd chart week. Overall, Kenny Chesney's Welcome To The Fishbowl debuts at No. 1 country and No. 2 pop with 193,000 copies moved in its first week, while Luke Bryan's Tailgates and Tanlines gains one to No. 2 country and four to No. 8 pop with 28,000 units sold in its 46th week.

U.K. '9 To 5' Names Major Cast Members
The cast of the British version of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical has been announced. Broadway World revealed here that the show features Jackie Clune as Violet, Bonnie Langford as Roz, Natalie Casey as Judy, Ben Richards as Franklin Hart andAmy Lennox as Doralee. The show opens overseas Oct. 16 in Manchester and tours through Easter 2013. If the tour proves very successful, Dolly has said that a West End engagement (London's version of "Broadway") will happen. In related news, check out a story from The Tri Parish Times here about the local production opening July 12 at Le Petit Theatre de Terrebonne in Houma, La.

Another Dolly Interview Available
Thanks to Tony for alerting me to Dolly's cover story interview in the spring 2012 issue of online women's magazine Whoa. Unfortunately, you have to buy the digital copy (here) to read it.

Dolly Parties Heat Up Toronto, San Francisco
San Francisco gay bar The Midnight Sun on July 5 has scheduled its second Dolly tribute night, which kicks off that evening at 10 p.m. Performers will sing Dolly tunes, and drag queens will lip synch them. Thanks, Manuel! And across the continent in Toronto, Canada, fans were coming out Thursday night for its second annual "Steers & Queers" Night of 1,000 Dollys party, held at the Gladstone Hotel.


June 28:
'IWALY' Named To 'Taste Of Country' List
Music blog Taste of Country has for several weeks been counting down its critics' opinions of the top 100 country songs of all time, posting a new one each day. On Wednesday, they added Dolly's "I Will Always Love You" as the No. 9 song on the list, noting it "was chosen for its legacy, chart performance and influence on future generations of country and non-country singers." Read more of what they had to say about it here.

'Evening' Saw Slight Gain Last Week
Last week's one-digit rebound for An Evening With . . . Dolly on the music DVD video chart was due to a very slight increase in the title's Cracker Barrel sales for the week ending June 17, sales figures accessed Wednesday showed. The title sold 553 copies for the week, a 6 percent rise from the previous week, bringing its cumulative total to 44,558 since release over 11 weeks.

Dolly In Senior Magazine
Dolly has a brief cover story in the current issue of Senior Directory. I know she's on both the East Tennessee version and North Mississippi version, and it may also be carried in other markets. Check out the cover here.


June 27:
Conservative 'Watchdog' Doesn't Like Dolly's Library, Tax Credits
For the sixth year in a row, an anti-tax conservative think tank in Tennessee has named Dolly's early childhood literacy program to its list of supposedly wasteful expenditures of taxpayer dollars, but this year that's not her only appearance in the "Pork Report," published annually by the Beacon Center, formerly known as the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. This year she showed up a second time in the report, which also criticized approval by the Nashville City Council to provide a $5.8 million tax break to Dolly's new Dollywood Co. partnership with Gaylord Entertainment to build a new theme park in Music City. Although tax abatements are commonplace in economic development and government leaders say they encourage projects that bring new jobs to the community, the Beacon Center considers them "corporate welfare" that forces others to pay a greater share of taxes. The $50 million development is slated to employ 450 permanent workers and bring 500,000 visitors through its gates in the first year, providing millions of dollars in local sales tax revenue. In addition, Dolly has said construction is expected to employ as many as 5,000 temporary workers, and surrounding developments are anticipated to add another 1,500 permanent employees as a result of the park's opening bringing them additional customers. As the report has done for the past six years, it condemned use of $3.4 million in state funding to provide matching grants to local communities providing books to children under Dolly's Imagination Library, calling it wasteful and arguing it should only be funded by private dollars. Other examples it cited as among $468 million in so-called government "waste" were $300,000 in maintenance costs to keep up the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, $1.4 million to maintain interstate highway rest area welcome centers throughout the state and $50,000 to market a National Folk Festival in Nashville to tourists. Release of the report was covered by Nashville's News Channel 5 here.

New York '9 To 5' Auditions Announced
Want to perform in Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical in New York State? The Spa Little Theatre is holding auditions at Saratoga Spa State Park on Monday, July 9, The Troy Record reported here.


June 26:
Producers Still Working On New Dolly Concert DVD
The company working on Dolly's new concert DVD is still working on it, they noted on their Facebook page Monday. "Dolly Partons New DVD is well underway in post production and will be loaded with tons of content to please even the biggest of Dolly fans!" wrote Liquid Crystal Productions here. The company has for several months been putting the finishing touches on a new concert DVD recorded during the Australian leg of her Better Day World Tour last year. There has still been no word on when the set will be released. Thanks, Chuck!

New Ann Richards Doc Details
Thanks to Brian for passing along more Dolly details from attending a screening of the documentary Ann Richards' Texas. He tells me that the film starts with Dolly's voice talking about "Bubbas and Bubbettes," followed by a cartoon Richards while the entire length of Dolly's song "In The Meantime" plays. Dolly makes multiple interview appearances throughout the film, which also includes a clip from an archival interview she had given in maybe the early 1990s in addition to the current interview footage. Her song "9 To 5" also makes an appearance.


June 25:
Dolly Honors Mac Davis


A brief but stunning clip from Dolly performing "I Will Always Love You" at an event to honor friend Mac Davis was posted to YouTube over the weekend by the drummer for the performance, Shay Godwin. Check it out here or in the media player above. (In related news, your webmaster finally got around to posting a news video from the opening weekend at Dollywood. The cinematography isn't that great, as I was still learning how to use my new camera I had purchased only days before. Watch it on YouTube here.)

'9 To 5' Keeps Popping Up All Over
A couple more local productions of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical are getting coverage this week. The Merry Go Round Playhouse's staging in Auburn, N.Y., makes The Auburn Pub here, while Music Theatre of Whichita's version is highlighted in The Wichita Eagle here.

Houston Aussie Chart Update
The Ultimate Collection from the late Whitney Houston, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," slips one to No. 30 Australian pop albums and remains steady at No. 5 catalog albums Down Under this week.


June 23:
'Best Of Dolly' Makes 'Rolling Stone' List
Rolling Stone magazine on Friday chose Dolly's 1975 second solo compilation album, Best Of Dolly Parton, as the No. 32 selection in its new list "Women Who Rock: The 50 Greatest Albums Of All Time." Her entry here (although they mistakenly used the 1970 The Best Of Dolly Parton cover art) notes: "One of Nashville's toughest songwriters ever, putting her complex psychological epics over – from 'Travelin' Man' to 'Touch Your Woman' – with one of Nashville's most deceptively pretty voices. Essential moment: 'Jolene' is one of the most obsessively complex love stories ever captured in a country song."

Irish Chart Update
The Ultimate Collection from the late Whitney Houston, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," falls another dozen digits this week to No. 52 on the Irish pop albums chart, it was announced Friday.


June 22:
U.S. Chart Updates Released
Cracker Barrel's An Evening With . . . Dolly rebounds slightly this week, gaining one to No. 16 on the music video DVD chart, the June 30 Billboard numbers revealed on Thursday for the title's 11th week of sales. The Joyful Noise tracks on the gospel digital sales tally dip a bit, as "From Here To The Moon And Back" by Dolly with Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan loses five to No. 11 in its 11th week, Keke Palmer's "Man In The Mirror" falls two to No. 14 in its 12th week and "Higher Medley" by Dolly and Queen Latifah with the cast holds steady at No. 18 in its 12th week. The Joyful Noise Soundtrack falls back off the top 200 current pop albums chart, down from No. 190 in its 14th week. Elsewhere, it was a mixed bag, as it gains one to No. 47 independent label albums chart for a 17th week and two to No. 19 soundtracks for an 18th week, while sliding three to No. 10 gospel albums in its 23rd week, nine to No. 24 Christian and gospel albums in its 22nd week and six to No. 15 Christian albums in its 22nd week there. The late Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," falls 22 to No. 101 pop, three to No. 8 pop catalog albums and one to No. 2 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. The Oak Ridge Boys' Back Home Again, with a cover of Dolly's "Coat Of Many Colors," slips in its fourth chart week one to No. 67 country albums but gains three to No. 42 Christian albums and one to No. 63 Christian and gospel albums. The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, with Dolly on three songs, rises two on the bluegrass albums list to No. 13 for a 61st chart week. Overall, Josh Turner's Punching Bag debuts at No. 1 country and No. 4 pop with 45,000 units sold in its first week, while Alan Jackson's Thirty Miles West slips one to No. 2 country and six to No. 8 pop with 37,000 copies moved in its second week.

'Joyful' Drops Off Rental Top 20
Seven weeks since its DVD release, Dolly's film Joyful Noise fell last week out of the top 20 North American movie rentals, the Nielsen numbers released Thursday showed. The title had been No. 17 on the list the previous week.

Another British Interview Released
Dolly continued her U.K. press coverage promoting this fall's 9 To 5: The Musical tour with a delightful interview in The Daily Mail. Read it here.

Lulu CD With Dolly Duet On Pre-Order
Ferguson Music is now taking advance orders for the Lulu Roman release At Last, which features her duet with Dolly on "I Will Always Love You." Pre-orders placed by July 4 will receive special pricing and an 8x10 photograph. The collection also includes duets with T. Graham Brown, Georgette Jones and Linda Davis as well as classics such as "Fever," "Summertime," "Killing Me Softly" and the title track. Place your order here.

N.C. Gets Show Of Dolly Music This Weekend
Those who are near the Parkway Playhouse in North Carolina will want to take in "An Evening Of Dolly" concert Friday night at 7:30 p.m. The event features three vocalists performing music of Dolly's as well as a preview of the theatre's upcoming production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical.

Fleetwood Loves Dolly's Godchild
Fleetwood Mac founder Mick Fleetwood is a Miley Cyrus fan and thinks she sounds like her godmother, Dolly, he said in an interview with The Daily Express here.

Library Expands In Connecticut
Connecticut is getting another affiliate of Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program, as Stamford Plus reports here that the program kicked off from the United Way of Western Connecticut at the New Fairfield Free Public Library.

Chasing Rainbows Winner Recognized In Paper
Joe Corsello, recipient of this year's Dolly Parton Chasing Rainbows Award, is profiled in his local paper, The Morris Daily Herald, talking about his visit to meet Dolly here.

Brandi And Dolly Duet?
It seems all kinds of singers cite Dolly as their dream duet partner. Now it's Brandi Carlile's turn, according to Twin Cities.com here.


June 21:
Dolly Promotes '9 To 5' Overseas
Dolly was back on British television Wednesday, this time on Scotland's ITV network, STV, promoting the upcoming U.K. tour of her 9 To 5: The Musical, for which tickets are available here. Check out the 10-minute interview here.


June 20:
Dolly: Richards Should Have Been First Female President


Dolly usually steers clear of any direct statement on American politics, but she says she felt her close personal friend Ann Richards, the take-no-guff Democrat who served as Texas governor from 1991 to 1995, would have made an excellent president of the United States. The comments are shown in the trailer for a new documentary on the late politician for which Dolly was one of several high-profile interviewees. The film, Ann Richards' Texas, premieres in its full length Thursday at the American Film Institute's Silverdocs Film Festival in Silver Spring, Md., following a preview of a short-cut of the picture at the Athena Film Festival in New York earlier this year. Other luminaries interviewed in the project include several other friends of the governor: fellow entertainers Willie Nelson and Lily Tomlin, politicians President Bill Clinton and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and journalists Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather. Richards, who passed away in 2006, lost the Governor's Mansion to George W. Bush in the 1994 election, setting the stage for him to advance to the White House instead of her. Watch the trailer in the media player above or by clicking here.

Dolly Celebrates American Eagle Day
In observance of American Eagle Day on Wednesday, the American Eagle Foundation on Tuesday released a new publicity photo of Dolly. The image, at left, shows her with American Eagle Foundation President Al Louis Cecere and bald eagle Mr. Lincoln and is courtesy Business Wire. For more than two decades, Dolly's Dollywood theme park has been one of the largest donors to the Foundation and its work to rebuild America's wild bald eagle population, including allowing for the operation of its bald eagle sanctuary and breeding program on the park's grounds in addition to running the park's daily Birds of Prey show. American Eagle Day is celebrated by resolution and proclamation in most states and nationally to recognize the anniversary of the adoption of the bald eagle as the nation's symbol, which Congress approved as the central image in the national emblem on June 20, 1782. In 1963, an estimated 417 nesting pairs of bald eagles remained in the wild across the continental U.S., a number that has grown to more than 12,000 nesting pairs today. Removed from the endangered species list in 2007, bald and golden eagles are still protected under federal legislation.


'Soul Sisters' Headed To Finland With Dolly, Queen Latifah
Dolly's film Joyful Noise opens Friday in Finland under the title Soul-Siskot, which translates to "soul sisters." Then next week it opens Friday, June 29, in Ireland and the U.K., a delay from the previously-announced April 27 scheduled opening in those countries. In addition, its Brazilian opening was moved from earlier this month to Nov. 30.



'Evening' Sales Drop Confirmed
Sales figures for the Cracker Barrel release An Evening With . . . Dolly for the week ending June 10 were obtained on Tuesday, confirming the week's sales drop was even worse than first projected here when the chart positions came out last week. As was reported, the set fell five spots to No. 17, which it was noted probably correlated to an additional 10-20 percent decline in sales to about 600 copies moved for the week nationwide, but the actual numbers were only 520 units sold, which constituted a 26 percent drop in sales. In the 10 weeks since its release, the title has sold 44,005 CD/DVD sets.

Catch Dolly On BBC One This Wednesday
Thanks to Tracey for alerting me that the BBC Breakfast show on BBC1 Wednesday morning is slated to include a taped interview with Dolly to promote the British tour of her 9 To 5: The Musical. Likely, this is another interview taped last weekend during her visit to Dollywood (complete coverage of which is available in a special section of this site here). It should air at about 8:45 a.m. British time.


June 19:
Splash Woman Photo Galleries Posted


Three galleries of shots from Dolly's Splash Woman appearance at Dollywood's Splash Country over the weekend have been added to that section of the website here. Also, her interview with British personality Ross King filmed on Saturday aired on ITV's Daybreak program Lorraine, which someone has posted to YouTube, available in the media player above or by clicking here.

'Noise' Falls Out Of Top 30 DVD Sales
The list of top 30 best-selling DVDs for the week ending June 10 was released Monday, and it showed that Dolly's movie Joyful Noise dropped out of the top 30 for unit sales (to around No. 31 or 32 for the week), moving only about 19,000 copies that week at about $610,000 in value, down from No. 10 for more than 60,000 copies the previous week (or No. 16 on the Nielsen chart based on dollar value of product for that week's $1 million in sales). Since release, the DVD has moved 720,659 copies for a sales value of $10,489,502.

Help 'H2D' To Get Final Copyright Agreements Paid
The guys behind the Dolly fan documentary Hollywood To Dollywood have opened an IndieGoGo fundraising page to collect donations for covering final copyright agreements that need to be paid for television clips used in the movie. Check out the page here.


June 18:
Splash Woman (aka Dolly) Saves Splash Country


Saving the world and providing water-based adventure, Splash Woman made her debut Saturday on a stage at Dollywood's Splash Country. Donning a blue, bedazzled, figure-hugging catsuit with matching headpiece, shimmering red cape and red armbands, boots and glasses, Dolly appeared to be having a blast on stage during a 10-minute ceremony to announce the water park's 2013 addition: RiverRush, which will be Tennessee's first water coaster. The hydromagnetic coaster will climb, plunge and twist riders through a 1,175-foot path starting with a high-speed conveyor belt pushing the four-person toboggan-style boat 237 feet for a 25-foot, 45-degree drop. Three additional drops powered by linear induction motors bring riders to hairpin turns and dark tunnels. In a press release announcing the ride, Dolly said: "At Dollywood, we made history with Wild Eagle, the country's first wing coaster, so I thought, why not do it again at Dollywood's Splash Country with my new RiverRush water coaster. You know me. I love making a big splash, and RiverRush is all that and a whole lot more!" Also on Saturday, Dolly took in a park tour at Dollywood. While on park, she also held a number of private events Friday and Saturday, including photo sessions with park employees, major corporate sponsors to her Imagination Library literacy program, the annual Dolly Parton Chasing Rainbows Award winner and the annual Dolly Parton Scholarship recipients from Sevier County. She also was interviewed Saturday afternoon by a film crew from the BBC and on Sunday made a private surprise appearance for the kick-off of the annual conference of American Coaster Enthusiasts' "Coaster Con" gathering. Your official Dollymania.net coverage of the appearances begins here tonight in that new section of the website. Audio from her Splash Country appearance has been uploaded, as has a gallery of shots from her park tour and a video news report (also available in the media player above or by visiting YouTube here). Check out additional coverage of the Splash Country announcement from The Mountain Press here, NewsChannel 5 here, WBIR here, Knoxville News Sentinel here, Local 8 here and Thrill Network here. A few galleries of Splash Woman still to come, and then some special shots from one of our correspondents. Stay tuned! Image at right, click on it for a larger view, is copyright © 2012 T. Duane Gordon/Dollymania.net and may not be reproduced without prior written permission. Image below is an artist's rendering of the RiverRush ride provided by Dollywood's Splash Country.

Houston Overseas Chart Tallies
The Ultimate Collection from Whitney Houston, which features the late singer's cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," inched down two places to No. 40 on last week's Irish pop albums chart, while rising three to No. 29 Australian pop albums and two to No. 5 catalog albums Down Under this week.


June 15:
'Evening' Falls Again On Charts
An Evening With . . . Dolly, the Cracker Barrel-exclusive re-issue of Dolly: Live From London, has taken another drop on the chart, the June 23 Billboard numbers released Thursday showed. The set falls another five places to No. 17 on the music video DVD tally, indicating a likely drop of another 10-20 percent to somewhere around 600 copies sold for the week that ended on Sunday, its 10th week since release. Elsewhere on the charts, "From Here To The Moon And Back" by Dolly with Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan begins to slide back down after the previous week's resurgence thanks to more than 9,000 downloads following her performance of the song on The Bachelorette. The track falls off the 50-position digital tracks chart, down from one week at No. 41, and it loses 36 places to No. 38 in its fifth week on the Christian digital singles list, 39 spots to No. 42 in its fifth week on the Christian and gospel digital singles tally and four digits to No. 6 in its 10th week for gospel digital singles. Other songs from Joyful Noise remaining on the gospel digital singles chart are Keke Palmer's "Man In The Mirror" dipping three to No. 12 in its 11th week and "Higher Medley" by Dolly and Queen Latifah with the cast falling three to No. 18 in its 11th week, while "Baby I'm Amazed" by Palmer and Jordan drops off the tally, down from No. 19 in its ninth week. The Joyful Noise Soundtrack falls back off the top 200 pop albums chart, down from No. 171 in its 11th week there, while dipping 63 places to No. 190 current pop albums for a 14th week, 21 to No. 48 independent label albums chart for a 16th week, nine to No. 21 soundtracks for a 17th week, four to No. 7 gospel albums in its 22nd week, eight to No. 15 Christian and gospel albums in its 21st week and four to No. 9 Christian albums n its 21st week there. Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," drops 11 to No. 79 pop and two to No. 5 pop catalog albums while remaining steady at No. 1 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. The Bodyguard soundtrack, which also features the song, falls off the top 25 soundtracks, down from No. 21. The Oak Ridge Boys' Back Home Again, with a cover of Dolly's "Coat Of Many Colors," loses in its third chart week six to No. 66 country albums, 10 to No. 45 Christian albums and 14 to No. 64 Christian and gospel albums. The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, featuring Dolly on three songs, loses two on the bluegrass albums list to No. 15 for a 60th chart week. Overall, Alan Jackson's Thirty Miles West moved 73,000 copies in its first week to debut at No. 1 country and No. 2 pop, while Carrie Underwood's Blown Away dips one to No. 2 country and three to No. 9 pop with 27,000 copies sold in its sixth week.

'Joyful' Falls On Charts, Too
Joyful Noise, Dolly's most recent film outing, falls out of the Nielsen top 20 DVD sales chart this week, down from No. 16 the previous week, its fifth since release. However, I've discovered that tally is based on value of units sold rather than number of units sold and it doesn't include all retailers, so it is possible that based on number of copies sold it could still be in the top 20, as its price per unit has been a little lower than most other titles out at present. Those estimates were not yet available for the week that ended Sunday, however, Nielsen did have it as the No. 17 rental for the week, down three spots from the previous week. I also located a more precise total of cumulative sales, showing that as of a week ago it stood at an estimated 706,825 copies sold for a total sales price of $10.26 million.

Another Huffington 'H2D' Piece Posted
The Huffington Post on Thursday offered another piece on the Dolly fan documentary Hollywood To Dollywood, this time getting much more in-depth with the analysis and including interview comments from several of the film's cast, including Gary and Larry Lane, Leslie Jordan and Beth Grant. Read the new article here.

'9 To 5' To Raise Money For Library In N.Y.
Albany, N.Y., is taking advantage of a nearby production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical to have actors from the show perform its music as part of a fund-raiser to benefit the local affiliate of Dolly's Imagination Library early childhood literacy charity, Auburn Pub reported here Thursday.


June 14:
'NCIS' Actress Praises 'H2D' Film


Actress Pauley Perrette, best known as Abby Sciuto from CBS series NCIS, on Wednesday posted to her YouTube feed a video celebrating the Dolly fan documentary Hollywood To Dollywood, using the film as a springboard for expressing her support for LGBT civil rights. Check out the video in the media player above or by clicking here.

Details On Dolly's Weekend Appearances Revealed
Dolly is returning to her water park this weekend to announce a new "super thrill ride" which will be the "largest expansion in Dollywood's Splash Country's history and a first for the state of Tennessee," according to a media advisory issued Tuesday. It marks just Dolly's third water park appearance since it opened adjacent to her theme park, the other two both being in 2001: its grand opening that May and the filming of a Graham Norton television special that September. The Knoxville News Sentinel on Wednesday reported on the appearance here. She is also expected to be at Dollywood on Saturday for several private events, with likely her only public appearance being a 3 p.m. park tour running from Heartsong Theatre to Showstreet Palace in what will probably be her final drop-in of the year at the park.

'Evening' Sales Drop Confirmed
Sales figures were received early this week for the Cracker Barrel exclusive DVD/CD An Evening With . . . Dolly, and they confirmed the extrapolation first published here last week that it sold between 600 and 700 copies for the week ending June 3. As was previously reported, the collection dropped last week from No. 7 to No. 12 in its ninth week on the DVD music video chart reflecting sales for that period. The 39 percent decrease in sales to 704 copies for the week followed a 61 percent drop the previous week and a 34 percent slide the week before that. Since release, the set has sold a total of 43,531 copies.

In Memoriam: Frances Preston
Frances Preston, longtime head of songwriters' publishing clearinghouse BMI, passed away Wednesday at age 83. She was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. BMI writer Dolly released the following statement about her passing: "We've lost our beloved Frances Preston. She was the heart of BMI, not only for me but for every BMI writer. She was a great leader and a great friend to us all. Frances, you were very loved and you will be truly missed." Read more from Billboard here.

I'm Back!
Apologies for the lack of updates for the past couple of days, as your webmaster was at a work-related conference and in transit back home.


June 11:
'Steel Magnolias' Hitting Blu-Ray Sept. 11
Dolly's second most successful film, Steel Magnolias, is coming out on Blu-Ray DVD this fall, but the release is only going to be available to the first 3,000 pre-orders. Twilight Time, a niche DVD manufacturer that focuses on licensing titles from major studios that have never been released on Blu-Ray and putting them out in 3,000-unit limited editions for collectors, has announced it has licensed the 1989 picture for their program. Their original DVDs are sold exclusively through online retailer Screen Archives Entertainment here. Pre-orders should be able to be placed starting about one month prior to the Sept. 11 release. No word on whether any bonus features from the previous DVD release (available here) will be carried over onto the Blu-Ray version, although I understand historically Twilight Time releases don't usually include bonus features. Unfortunately, licensing to a niche manufacturer indicates that a regular market release anytime in the near future is unlikely.

Overseas Chart Updates
The late Whitney Houston's Ultimate Collection, including her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," tumbles again 24 spots to No. 38 on last week's Irish pop albums chart. Down Under, her Ultimate, which also features the song, re-enters the Australian pop charts at No. 32 and rises one place to No. 7 on the pop catalog albums tally there this week. And in Great Britain, The Little Willies' For The Good Times, with Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," falls back off the U.K. country albums chart, down from No. 20 in its 19th week on the tally.


June 8:
'Noise' Gains A Little On The Chart
Dolly's latest film, Joyful Noise, sold about another 60,000-70,000 DVDs last week, or about another $1 million worth, to push its cumulative sales in its first five weeks of release to about 770,000 units, or about $12 million, in addition to its $31 million U.S. box office gross. The numbers allowed it to gain two spots on the week's Nielsen VideoScan First Alert chart to come in at No. 16 for sales. Over on the rental chart, the film slipped two to No. 14 for the week. In related news, check out a profile of one of the film's co-stars, Jeremy Jordan, about his Broadway career and current Tony nomination, including a mention about Dolly, from Rolling Stone here, and fans in the Houston, Texas, area will be able to take in the film on the big screen one more time with a showing at the Miller Outdoor Theatre Friday night, The Houston Press reported here.



'Evening' Out Of Top 10, 'Moon' Gets New Peak
The Cracker Barrel exclusive An Evening With . . . Dolly takes another tumble this week on the June 16 Billboard charts released Thursday. The title appears to have suffered another drop in sales of probably in the 50 percent range to between 600 and 700 copies for the week, plunging it out of the top 10 music video DVD tally. The set loses five places to No. 12 in its ninth week of release. Since release, it has sold a little over 43,000 copies. Elsewhere on the charts, Dolly's appearance on ABC's The Bachelorette to sing "From Here To The Moon And Back" catapulted that song to several new peaks on various song charts. The track by Dolly with Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan re-enters the Christian digital singles tally at a new high point of No. 2 to log a fourth week on that list and re-enters the Christian and gospel singles tally at No. 3, also a new peak in its fourth week there, and it rises 14 places to No. 2 gospel digital singles, also a new peak and its ninth week on that list. Other songs from Joyful Noise remaining on the gospel digital singles chart are Keke Palmer's "Man In The Mirror" holding steady at No. 9 in its 10th week, "Higher Medley" by Dolly and Queen Latifah with the cast dipping four to No. 15 in its 10th week and "Baby I'm Amazed" by Palmer and Jordan loses two to No. 19 in its ninth week. The appearance also buoys the Joyful Noise Soundtrack, which gains 24 places to No. 171 pop albums in its 11th week, 14 spots to No. 127 current pop albums for a 13th week, three to No. 27 independent label albums chart for a 15th week, one to No. 12 soundtracks for a 16th week, two to No. 3 gospel albums in its 21st week and one to No. 7 Christian and gospel albums in its 20th week. It slides only on the Christian albums tally, dipping one to No. 5 in its 20th week there. Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," loses a dozen digits to No. 68 pop but gains two to No. 3 pop catalog albums while remaining steady at No. 1 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. The Bodyguard soundtrack, which also features the song, drops six to No. 21 soundtracks and falls off the R&B/hip-hop catalog albums chart, down from No. 20. The Oak Ridge Boys' Back Home Again, with a cover of Dolly's "Coat Of Many Colors," falls in its second chart week 31 to No. 60 country albums, 24 to No. 35 Christian albums and 36 to No. 52 Christian and gospel albums. The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, with Dolly on three songs, rises seven on the bluegrass albums list to No. 13 for a 59th chart week. Overall, Carrie Underwood's Blown Away stays at No. 1 country and dips three to No. 6 pop with 32,000 copies sold in its fifth week, while Luke Bryan's Tailgates and Tanlines gains one to No. 2 country and six to No. 9 pop with 24,000 copies sold in its 43rd week.

Fan's Dolly Collection Profiled
Charlotte, N.C., television station WBTV has profiled fan Solomon Willis and his Dolly collection, noting he has turned his home's music room into a Dolly museum. Check out their story here.


June 6:
'Hollywood To Dollywood' Used As PBS Fundraiser
Los Angeles-area PBS viewers will be getting an eyeful and earful of Dolly for this year's spring pledge drive, as the fan documentary Hollywood To Dollywood will see its world television premiere as the centerpiece for public television station KLCS's fundraising starting with its broadcast next Tuesday, June 12, at 9 p.m. The movie, which was released on DVD last week after a year of making the film festival circuit and winning numerous documentary awards nationwide, follows the Lane Twins as they cross the U.S. in an RV named Jolene in search of meeting Dolly at Dollywood. Along they way, the openly gay brothers speak with numerous fans, including several Hollywood heavyweights, while coming to terms with their mother's refusal to accept their sexuality. Following the premiere, the film will repeat at 1 a.m. nightly for two weeks. Those making pledges of $125 or more during the drive will receive a DVD of the film, and anyone pledging $500 or more will receive a hand-crafted birdhouse replica of Dolly's home. Learn more about the broadcast here and check out coverage from The Huffington Post here.

New York State Library News
A partnership between the Albany, N.Y., affiliate of Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program and a local hospital made the Hudson Valley's Your News Now here.


June 5:
Dolly's 'Dream More' Book Announced
A new tome by Dolly was the big news Monday from the annual BookExpo America trade show. Penguin Publishing, Dolly's partner in her Imagination Library literacy program, announced that its G.P. Putnam's Sons imprint will release her Dream More in hardback on Nov. 27. The publisher calls it a book of "inspirational wisdom . . . exploring the four great hopes she has for each of us: to dream more, learn more, care more, and be more, drawing on examples from her own life." Largely, the title will expand on the commencement address she gave to the University of Tennessee's Class of 2009 in Knoxville, which itself expounded on her longtime Imagination Library motto: "Dream More, Learn More, Care More, Be More." (Watch Dolly's commencement address on YouTube here or in the media player below -- and look back at your Dollymania.net coverage of the event here.) In a statement, Dolly said: "I know that I've learned some things in my life that are important to me, and I think maybe they might be good ideas to pass along to you. Not as advice, but as information that I have found has helped me over the years. Enough to share, and a little to spare. If you're lucky, your dreams will never die, you may not always achieve them, but if you always have dreams and reach for them, you'll never be a failure. I still have dreams of what I want to do next." Amazon.com immediately began taking pre-orders for the release here at the publisher's suggested retail price of $19.95.

"Everyone knows Dolly Parton," Ivan Held, president of the publishing imprint, said in a statement. "It's an honor and a privilege to be able to publish her words of deep and abiding wisdom. Dream More is her wish for each of us — and the philosophy she's developed over many decades." The book will be edited by Jake Morrissey. Following publication of the hardcover version, a paperback will be released via the Riverhead imprint and a young readers' edition will also be published later. Coverage included The Los Angeles Times here, USA Today here and Publisher's Weekly here. Dolly is previously a New York Times Bestsellers author, penning her autobiography Dolly: My Life And Other Unfinished Business for Harper Collins in 1994. She also saw Harper Collins turn her favorite song into a children's book with Coat Of Many Colors in 1996. She returned to the genre in 2009 with the Putnam Juvenile imprint publication of her children's book I Am A Rainbow. Her first book, however, was a compilation of her song lyrics that Blue Mountain Press put out as a poetry book in 1979 under the title Just the Way I Am: Poetic Selections on "Reasons to Live, Reasons to Love and Reasons to Smile" from the Songs of Dolly Parton.

No Dolly For KidsFest, She's There A Week Early
Dolly is heading to Dollywood a little early for her traditional summer appearance, Dollymania.net confirmed on Monday. Instead of her usual pop in to celebrate the opening of KidsFest, which will start June 22 without her, Dolly will be on park a week early, participating in a media announcement on Saturday, June 16, a spokesperson said.

Dolly Scholarship Recipient Named
One of the things she usually does while at the park in the summer is present her Dolly Parton Scholarship, a $15,000 award given to one graduating senior at each of the four high schools in Sevier County, Tenn. One of this year's honorees was profiled this week in The Seymour Herald here.

Poll: Bruce, Dolly Should Write National Anthem
A new poll commissioned by 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair asked Americans who should compose a new national anthem for our country, and Dolly nearly had the votes to win. Bruce Springsteen barely beat her out with 22 percent of the vote, compared to Dolly's 19 percent. Coming in third was Stevie Wonder at 18 percent, followed by Bob Dylan at 11 percent, John Williams at 10 percent, Jay-Z at 8 percent and Madonna at 5 percent. Read more from Politico here.


June 4:
More Dollywood Pics Posted
We took a little break for a few days, but we're back with new shots by Dollymania.net correspondent Harrell Gabehart from Dolly's Homecoming appearances at Dollywood last month. They've been added to that section of the website here!

'H2D' Doc Ships To Fans
The Dolly fan documentary Hollywood To Dollywood officially came out on DVD Friday and pre-orders were shipped to fans around the country, the Lane Twins who star in the movie tell me. In addition to Dolly herself making an appearance and providing her performances of 15 songs for the soundtrack, the young men chat with Leslie Jordan, Chad Allen, Beth Grant, Ann Walker, Dustin Lance Black and fans (including your webmaster) as they drive cross- country to deliver a script to Dolly while delving into their own complicated relationship with their mother and her unwillingness to accept their sexuality. Dolly's Imagination Library benefits from 10 percent of each order. If you haven't ordered your copy, get it here.

Van Doren, Anderson Duet Hits iTunes
Hollywood legend Mamie Van Doren's duet with Lynn Anderson on Dolly's song "Best Woman Wins" has been released. The song appears on a re-issued iTunes version of Van Doren's first country album, Still A Troublemaker, that came out over the weekend. Get the track here.

Overseas Charts Updated
The Little Willies' For The Good Times, featuring Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," re-enters the 20-position U.K. country albums chart at No. 20 for a 19th week, it was announced Sunday. Also overseas, Whitney Houston's Ultimate, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," shoots up 13 places on the Australian pop catalog albums chart to No. 8, while her Greatest Hits falls off the 50-position tally, down from No. 50 the previous week.


June 2:
'Evening' Sales Drop 61 Percent
Last week's sales of An Evening With . . . Dolly in Cracker Barrel stores dropped a massive 61 percent to just 1,145 copies sold nationwide in its eighth week in stores, the Soundscan sales figures released Friday confirmed. That came on top of a 34 percent drop the previous week to just under 3,000 units sold. As was previously announced, the collection fell on this week's charts from No. 3 to No. 7. Since release, the set has sold 42,781 total copies.

New Gaylord Deal Won't Impact Dolly
Gaylord Entertainment's new deal to have Marriott hotels manage its four convention center hotel properties, including the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, won't impact the company's plans with Dolly and Dollywood to develop a water park and snow park in Nashville across the street from the Grand Old Opry, The Tennessean reported here Friday. The paper noted that the Marriott partnership also won't impact the company's non-hotel Nashville enterprises, including the Opry and the Ryman Auditorium.

Houston Gains On Irish Tally
The late Whitney Houston's Ultimate Collection, including her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," regains seven spots to No. 14 on this week's Irish pop albums chart, it was announced Friday.


June 1:
'Noise' Appears To Be Close To End Of Chart Run
Dolly's latest film is nearing the bottom of the top 20 bestselling DVDs in the country just four weeks after its home video release, the numbers released for the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert charts on Thursday showed. Joyful Noise dropped another six places for the week of sales ending on Sunday to land at No. 18 in its fourth chart week. It also fell from the top 10 for rental titles that week, dipping five spots to No. 12. Its sales position indicates it likely moved about 60,000-70,000 units for the week, bringing its cumulative sales to somewhere around 700,000 copies since release. The DVD had originally debuted at No. 1 with about 400,000 copies sold in its first six days in stores. It has sold about $11 million in DVDs to add to its $31 million U.S. theatre gross.



'Evening' Sales Also Fall Significantly
That's not the only Dolly title taking a slide in this week's numbers. The June 9 Billboard data showed her Cracker Barrel-exclusive DVD/CD An Evening With . . . Dolly tumbles four places on the music video DVD chart to come in at No. 7 in its eighth week. Since release, the collection spent its first four weeks and No. 2 then was No. 3 for its next three weeks. However, the debut of two new DVDs from Sade and Alice Cooper pushed it down, and reduced sales pushed it below two older titles it had out-sold for the past seven weeks as well. For the past several weeks at No. 3, the set has sold about 4,500 copies per week, but the drop to No. 7 likely corresponded to moving only about 1,200 copies the previous week, a massive 75 percent drop in sales. The decrease coincided with the removal of most promotional posters and fliers for the live release from stores, as they began promoting their new CD from Ronnie Dunn instead. Since release, Dolly's album – a re-issue of her previous release Dolly: Live From London – has sold a little under 45,000 copies, although it has been certified as a gold DVD for shipping to stores more than 50,000 copies.

Oaks CD With Dolly Cover Debuts
In other chart news, The Oak Ridge Boys see their new gospel collection Back Home Again, which features their cover of Dolly's classic "Coat Of Many Colors," debut at No. 29 country albums, No. 11 Christian albums and No. 16 Christian and gospel albums. On the digital gospel songs list, Joyful Noise songs remain with "Man In The Mirror" by Keke Palmer inching down one to No. 9 in its ninth week, "Higher Medley" by Dolly, Queen Latifah and cast losing two to No. 11 in its ninth week, "Here To The Moon And Back" by Dolly, Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan dropping one to No. 16 for an eighth week and "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Palmer and Jordan losing five to No. 17 for an eighth week. "Man In The Mirror" falls back off the 50-position Christian digital songs, down from No. 49 in its fifth week there. The Joyful Noise Soundtrack plummets 39 spots to No. 171 pop albums in its 10th week, 28 places to No. 141 current pop albums for a 12th week, nine to No. 30 independent label albums chart for a 14th week, four to No. 13 soundtracks for a 15th week, two to No. 5 gospel albums in its 20th week and one to No. 8 Christian and gospel albums in its 19th week. It rises only on the Christian albums tally, gaining one to No. 4 in its 19th week there. The late Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," sold about 7,800 copies for the week to slip four places to No. 56 pop and lose three to No. 5 pop catalog albums while remaining steady at No. 1 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. The Bodyguard soundtrack, which also features the song, inches down one to No. 20 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums and three to No. 15 soundtracks. The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, featuring Dolly on three songs, falls seven on the bluegrass albums list to No. 20 for a 58th chart week. Overall, Carrie Underwood's Blown Away stays at No. 1 country and No. 3 pop with 45,000 copies sold in its fourth week, while Lionel Richie's Tuskegee remains at No. 2 country and rises three to No. 6 pop with 33,000 units moved in its ninth week.