Feb. 23:
'Blue Smoke' Nears Bottom Of U.K. Pop Charts
After 37 weeks on the charts and about 375,000 copies sold since its release in Europe, Dolly's platinum-selling Blue Smoke appears poised to drop out of the British top 100 pop albums chart, dropping 37 places to No. 92 on the U.K. tally this week, it was revealed Sunday. The album maintains its No. 1 position on the country compilations album tally for a 37th consecutive week. The Real Dolly Parton falls off the top 100 pop albums, down from No. 78 in its ninth week. On the country albums tally, the re-issue of her Dolly boxed set, re-enters the top 20 at No. 18. On the country compilations chart, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony) rises two to No. 4 while her Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) holds steady at No. 8 and Ronstadt's own Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) gains three to No. 7.

Fashion Designer Finds Inspiration From Dolly Song
Fashion designer Jeremy Scott was recently in New York with his spring collection debut, "Dolly Pattern." He tells The Examiner here that the season was inspired by Dolly's "Coat of Many Colors" and dolls. He used leather patchwork and silks into the pieces of his collection to represent Dolly's patchwork coat. He also used her "Jolene" near the close of the runway show for the collection.

Feb. 21:
Dolly's Academy Award Connections Recalled
In observance of the Oscars, Entertainment Weekly tabulated the 10 women who appeared the most times on Mr. Blackwell's worst dressed list, and Dolly was on it. Read the list here. In related news, New York Daily News put Dolly's loss for "Travelin' Thru" to "It's Hard Out There For A Pimp" as one of the 10 biggest upsets in Oscar history here.

Sambora's Dolly Performance Led To New Manager
Richie Sambora told The Wall Street Journal this week about his experience playing with Dolly in London last year, which actually led to him signing with her manager, Danny Nozell. Read more here.

Foo Fighters Series With Dolly Heading To DVD
The Foo Fighters have announced this week that their HBO music series Sonic Highways will be released on DVD April 7 with extended interviews with several of the series' participants, including Dolly.

'9 To 5' Getting LA Screening March 5
9 To 5 is getting a big screen showing in Los Angeles March 5. The screening is in honor of the exit of the executive director of LGBT film festival Outfest, since it is one of her favorite movies. Get tickets here. Thanks, John!

Doctored 'Dolly Bus' Goes Viral Online
A photoshopped image of a bus in Woking, England, on which someone changed the bus number to 925 to make it a Dolly-themed joke went viral this week. Check out a story about it here.

Feb. 16:
'Blue Smoke' No Longer In Top 50 Overseas
Dolly's Blue Smoke falls out of the top 50 U.K. pop albums chart this week, sliding six spots to No. 55 in its 36th week overseas, Sunday's charts revealed, while the CD maintains its No. 1 position on the country compilations album tally for a 36th consecutive week. The Real Dolly Parton gains 10 places to No. 78 for a ninth week on the pop albums list. On the British country compilations chart, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony) dips two 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) inches down one to No. 8 and Ronstadt's own Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) drops two to No. 10 while Ultimate Dolly Parton falls back off the top 20 country compilations tally down from No. 19. Down Under, The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 falls back off the top 40 Australian country albums chart, down from No. 36 in its 348th chart week since its release in 2007.

British Fan Profiled By Major Newspaper
British mega-fan Joe Skelly, webmaster of Dolly Part'ners UK, was profiled over the weekend in The Daily Mail. Read about his collection here.

Feb. 14:
New Stampede Show, Background Opens In Pigeon Forge
Dolly's Dixie Stampede flagship dinner theatre in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., unveiled its new show, music and special effects on Friday night. Check out coverage from Local 8 here.

Baby Center Profiles Dolly's Imagination Library
Dolly's Imagination Library is highlighted on the Baby Center blog this week here.

Newcomer Loves Dolly, Wants Duet
Rising star Elle King dreams of collaborating with Dolly, telling People magazine: "My dream duet would be with Dolly Parton! She's the queen, are you kidding me? She wrote '9 to 5' by smacking her nails back and forth and made a beat. And she wrote it in between takes of that movie." Read her interview here.

Feb. 12:
DreamMore Resort Toured By Press, Pool Announced
Dollywood on Wednesday took the local media through the incomplete DreamMore Resort to see a construction update. Unfortunately, construction delays prevented an exact opening date from being revealed but the park expects to open it sometime in the summer. The originally-announced opening was May 2015, but now it appears it will be later in the summer. The park also announced its outside pool, pictured below, which has a waterfall at one end just outside the lobby's three-story windows and a zero-entry level at the other end allowing families to wade in on a gradual slope just like a natural pond or lake to depths of five feet. There will also be a family splash pad. Coverage is available from Knoxville stations Local 8 here, WBIR here and WATE here in addition to The Knoxville News Sentinel here.

Feb. 11:
'Blue Smoke' Sells Another 1,500 Overseas
Dolly's Blue Smoke moved another 1,500 units in Britain last week, bringing its 35-week sales total to about 373,000 copies since release overseas. As was previously reported, the former multi-week No. 2 pop album in the U.K. came in last week at No. 49 pop albums there.

Year's Book List For Dolly's Library Released
Dolly's Imagination Library on Tuesday announced that its 2015 book lists for the U.S./Canada, Australia and the U.K. have been issued. In a press release, Dolly commented: "Every year our Blue Ribbon Committee sits down with the great folks at Penguin Random House to make some very difficult choices. It's an honor for me to join these talented writers and illustrators in our effort to inspire kids to love books and to love reading. Last year we worked with our local partners to put 9 million books in the hands of children—it just doesn't get any better than that!" Providing one free, age-appropriate book every month from birth to age 5 for any child in one of more than 1,600 participating communities, the lists of 2015 books to be mailed are available here.

Tennessee Press Association Names Dolly Year's 'Headliner'
The Tennessee Press Association recently honored Dolly as its Headliner of the Year for 2014, recognizing an individual or group that generated the most-positive press within the state during the year. Her award was accepted by Dollywood Foundation Executive Director Jeff Conyers. Check out a photo in The Columbia Daily Herald here.

ACM Awards Feature Dolly On New 'Now!' CD Set
The Academy of Country Music on Tuesday revealed the upcoming release of an anniversary double-CD set in the Sony/Universal "Now! That's What I Call" series titled Now! That's What I Call ACM Awards 50 Years on March 31. Dolly is among the ACM winners featured on the collection, although her song has yet to be revealed.

Check Out New Clip Of Dolly's Statue
Cinemarr Studios on Sunday posted to YouTube a cool time-lapse video of Dolly's statue on the Sevier County Courthouse grounds in her native Sevierville, Tenn. Check it out here.

'Dolly Mixture' Performances Coming To More Cities
You may have recalled reading here about Aberdeen Opera Company in Britain debuting a new Dolly Mixture show celebrating her. Organizers saw the report and asked me to pass along that they're touring the concert after its Feb. 25 premiere in Inerbervie, Scotland. They will play Midmar, Fraserburgh and Aberdeen in Northeast Scotland on the 26th, 27th and 28th.

Miley Tour DVD Coming March 24
Dolly goddaughter Miley Cyrus has scheduled a DVD release from her Bangerz World Tour's stops in Barcelona and Lisbon for March 24. While the track listing has not been released, she performed covers of Dolly's "Jolene" at almost all concerts on the tour and also her "Love Is Like A Butterfly" at several dates as well. No word yet on whether either of those songs is included in the DVD.

Feb. 9:
Dolly Moves On British, Aussie Charts
Dolly's platinum-selling Blue Smoke dips seven places this week on the U.K. pop albums chart to No. 49 in its 35th week overseas, Sunday's charts showed, while the CD maintains its No. 1 position on the country compilations album tally for a 35th consecutive week. The Real Dolly Parton re-enters the top 100 pop albums chart at No. 88 for an eighth week. On the British country compilations chart, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony) gains two to No. 4 while her Original Album Series, Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) holds steady at No. 7 and Ronstadt's own Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) rises three to No. 8 while Ultimate Dolly Parton re-enters the top 20 country compilations tally at No. 19. Down Under, The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 re-enters the top 40 Australian country albums chart at No. 36 to log a 348th chart week since its release in 2007.

Taking A Look At Dolly's Songwriting Genius
A couple of critics in recent days posted examinations of Dolly's songwriting genius. One with the New Zealand site Stuff opined here that "Jolene" represents a romantic triangle in the vein of the great classics of literature and that her appeal to a social contract by asking the other woman to not take her man brings to mind philosophical theories of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes and David Hume. He adds: "Seldom has a country singer squeezed so much erudition into just one song, but such is Parton's genius." And Brooklyn Rail reprinted Dave Hickey's study of her songwriting abilities that originally served as the basis of a 1974 piece for Country Music magazine. Read it here.

New Book Looks At Country's History Via Dolly
NPR over the weekend posted an essay by the author of a recent book, released by the University of Chicago Press back in November, that uses five case studies to examine the development of various music genres: Dolly's career to represent country music, The Isley Brothers for R&B, Elton John for Top 40, Cleveland radio station WMMS for rock, and record label A&M for adult contemporary. The book, Top 40 Democracy: The Rival Mainstreams of American Music, is available from Amazon here. Check out the NPR story here.

British Baby Loves 'Applejack'
British newspaper The Press And Journal shared a cute story of a baby who can only be calmed by playing a recording of Dolly singing "Applejack." Check it out here.

Dolly Fan Dinner Near Sell-Out
Organizers of the unofficial Dolly Fan Dinner in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., May 1 tell Dollymania.net that the event is getting close to selling out. Tickets are available here or by clicking on the picture below.

Feb. 4:
Chenoweth Releases Another Dolly Cover Clip

Knoxville Television Celebrates Dollywood's Anniversary
Knoxville television station WVLT has scheduled a series of special reports this month focused on Dollywood's 30th anniversary season which starts next month. The first installment, on the history and growth of the theme park, aired Tuesday, with a profile of employees celebrating their 30th anniversary of working there on Wednesday. Future installments include craftsmen on Feb. 10, Splash Country on Feb. 17 and DreamMore Resort on Feb. 24.

British Opera Company Celebrates Dolly
Aberdeen Opera Company in Inverbervie, Scotland, has scheduled a night of Dolly-related music called "Dolly Mixture" on Feb. 25 at Burgh Hall. The evening is a preview of the company's amateur premiere of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical in July. Learn more from The Meams Leader here.

Feb. 3:
Site: Dollywood's 2016 New Ride Teased
Dollywood's 2016 attraction addition may be car-related, a teaser clip leaked to theme park blog Screamscape on Monday indicated. The very short animated clip shows a truck speeding off and leaving behind a car tag with "DW 2016" on it. The site notes that rumor has it the addition could be a launch coaster with a vehicle theme and that a park spokesperson had a year ago revealed that its 2016 addition would be on the cost scale of Wild Eagle, which ran over $20 million. Read more here and see the clip on YouTube here.

'Blue Smoke' Approaches 375,000 Copies In U.K.
Dolly's Blue Smoke last week sold another 2,000 copies in Britain, bringing its 34-week U.K. sales total to about 372,000 units since release overseas.

Giddens' CD With Dolly Cover Streams Online
Rhiannon Giddens' solo debut album comes out next week, and as was reported here a few weeks back, the Carolina Chocolate Drops member features a cover of Dolly's "Don't Let It Trouble Your Mind." NPR this week is hosting the full CD for streaming audio in its "First Listen" series. Take a listen here and reserve your copy of the Feb. 10 release, Tomorrow Is My Turn here.

Feb. 2:
'Blue Smoke' Holds Steady On U.K. Pop Tally
Dolly's Blue Smoke holds steady this week on the U.K. pop albums chart at No. 42 in its 34th week overseas, Sunday's charts revealed, while the CD maintains its No. 1 position on the country compilations album tally for a 34th consecutive week. On the British country compilations chart, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series, Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony) holds steady at 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) holds steady at No. 7 and Ronstadt's own Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) inches up one to No. 11.