March 30: New Dollywood Images Added Your official Dollymania.net coverage of Dolly's recent appearances for the season opening of Dollywood continues tonight with the next page of pictures, which have been added to that section of the website here. More to come!
'Deportee' Profiled On NPR Thanks to David for alerting me that a Dolly clip made this week's "Tell Me More" segment on NPR focusing on a 1947 plane wreck that prompted Woody Guthrie to write his song "Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)." The segment closed with an excerpt from Dolly's recording of the track. Take a listen here.
March 29: New Videos Available From Last Weekend At Dollywood
Dollywood on Thursday released a YouTube video of photos from Dolly's weekend appearance at the park to open it for the 2013 season. Check it out here or in the media player above. In addition, WBIR released an interview with her from the weekend talking about former park performer Janelle Arthur on American Idol. Watch it here or in the media player below. (Your official Dollymania.net coverage of her appearances will resume soon – your webmaster had some conflicts Wednesday and Thursday that prevented me from getting back to choosing the photos to post.)
'Joyful,' 'Evening' Sales Updates The Cracker Barrel release An Evening With . . . Dolly will likely pass 56,000 units sold this week, SoundScan data indicate. Last week, the set moved just under 200 copies for a cumulative sales total since release of 55,935 units, making it the 47th best-selling music DVD of the week, too low to make the official 40-position April 6 chart from Billboard. Also selling well was her soundtrack to the film Joyful Noise, which moved 414 copies for a cumulative total of 132,417 since release, which caused it to slip three places to No. 34 in its 63rd week on the gospel albums chart. I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, featuring the late singer's version of Dolly's title track, loses six spots to No. 39 R&B/hip-hop albums in its 19th week. Overall, Kacey Musgraves' Same Trailer, Different Park debuts at No. 1 country, No. 2 pop with 43,000 copies sold, while Luke Bryan's Spring Break . . . Here to Party dips one to No. 2 country and No. 4 pop with 38,000 units moved in its third week.
Lennox Gives Another '9 To 5' Interview The U.K. tour of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical continues to cross the Isles, and Wales Online on Thursday featured an interview with Amy Lennox about playing Dolly's character of Doralee. Read it here.
March 27: More Dollywood Coverage: Photos Added To Website Your official Dollymania.net coverage of Dolly's weekend appearances at Dollywood continues tonight with the first photo galleries, which have been added to that section of the website here. The grand opening received stories on Tuesday from The Knoxville Daily Sunhere and an interview with Dolly and Uncle Bill (in which she repeats her desire to have a park resort hotel – which she adds she hopes is "in the not-too-distant future") from The Mountain Presshere.
March 26: Dollywood Video Report Posted To Site
Your official Dollymania.net coverage of Dolly's weekend appearances at Dollywood to open the park for the 2013 season continues tonight with the posting of the Dollymania.net News Video report from the events. Check it out via YouTube (once it finishes uploading) in the media player above or by clicking here.
Dolly: '9 To 5' Moving To London's Theatres Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical sounds like it's heading to Britain's version of Broadway, London's West End. In an interview promoting the season opening of Dollywood posted to WBIR's website here on Monday, she revealed that the show will open in London this fall. It has been on tour of the British Isles since October and is currently scheduled to continue as a touring company through August. Dolly had said if the tour proved successful – which it has – that there was a possibility that an engagement on England's professional stage district was likely, and it sounds from her comment that this is going to happen. The show played on America's Broadway for a little over four months in 2009.
Dolly Slots At Native American Casino Trade Show Dolly's slot machines are making another industry show debut, it was announced Monday. Her Dolly Video Slots, "9 To 5" Slots and "Two Doors Down" Slots will be showcased by manufacturer IGT at the National Indian Gaming Association's Indian Gaming 2013 Tradeshow and Convention Tuesday and Wednesday at the Phoenix Convention Center.
Davies Tribute Sells Out On Amazon The CD Unsung Hero: A Tribute To The Music of Ron Davies, which features Dolly covering his "It's Too Late," was released on Monday and by the end of the day, the limited-release album was already sold out on Amazon.com.
With the official "premiere" Sunday of the final two episodes of the limited series Song By Song: Dolly Parton from Ovation (even though they've actually been airing since last Monday night), the network over the weekend released three additional "exclusive" bonus footage videos to YouTube. The first, available in the media player above or by clicking here, focuses on "growing up Dolly." The second, available in the media player below or by clicking here, looks at her childlike personality. The final clip, available in the last media player below or by clicking here, lets Kelly Pickler tell her story of first meeting Dolly. The show continues in repeats through at least early April. Check out the TV listings on the left-hand column of the news page to see when they will next air.
'Very Best' Slides Down Under On Chart The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 slips six spots this week to No. 38 in its 263rd week on the top 40 Australian country albums chart.
'Evening,' 'Joyful' Chart, Sales Updates Just two slots shy of re-entering the 40-position music video DVD chart in the March 30 Billboard tallies, the Cracker Barrel release An Evening With . . . Dolly sold 223 units the previous week to rack up 55,741 copies moved since release, updated SoundScan data confirmed. In addition, her Joyful Noise soundtrack sold 451 units for the week for a cumulative total of 132,003 copies since release. Those sales resulted in it dipping five places to No. 31 in its 62nd week on the gospel albums chart. The Veggie Tales' Bob & Larry Go Country, featuring covers of Dolly's "9 To 5" and "I Will Always Love You", falls off the 75-position country albums chart, down from one week at No. 65. I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, with her version of Dolly's title cut, falls off the 200 position pop albums chart, down from No. 195, and off the 200-position current albums chart, down from No. 149, having spent 17 weeks on each. It slips six to No. 33 R&B/hip hop albums in its 18th week there and falls back off the top 100 pop albums in Ireland, down from No. 87 the previous week. Overall, Luke Bryan's Spring Break . . . Here to Party holds on at No. 1 country but falls two to No. 3 pop with 61,000 copies sold in its second week, while Florida Georgia Line's Here's To The Good Times remains at No. 2 country and descends seven to No. 14 pop in its 15th chart week.
March 21: Check Out 2013's Dolly Dollars Thanks to an insider who provided a picture of Dollywood's new 2013 Dolly Dollar, which features the Wild Eagle roller coaster on the obverse and reverse, along with the Splash Country 2013 addition River Rush water coaster on the obverse and this year's new Great American Summer festival – including its fireworks – on the reverse. See the picture at left and click on it for a larger version. In addition, the park on Wednesday issued a press release touting the new season's attractions focusing on the summer festival with its extended 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. hours and nightly fireworks. In the release, Dolly noted: "I know one of the best things I have to offer folks is more Dollywood time to enjoy and spend together. This year, we're going to share more showtime, more nighttime, more summertime, more fun time but, most especially, more good old-fashioned family time. And to me, that's the best time of all!" The park opens to season pass holders on Friday and to the public on Saturday. Dolly is expected to make multiple surprise appearances through each day in addition to park tours, weather permitting. The Knoxville News Sentinel previewed the new season here.
Ovation Promos Final Two 'Song By Songs' With the final two episodes of Ovation's Song By Song: Dolly Parton having premiered on Monday night, the network on Wednesday posted to YouTube the final commercial for the show. Watch it in the media player below or by visiting the site here.
March 20: Dolly Plans Weekend Dollywood Parades Dollywood is putting the finishing touches on everything in preparation for opening weekend. In an e-mail to season pass holders on Tuesday, the park confirmed Dolly will be making "surprise" appearances throughout the day Friday for season pass holder preview day in addition to a 4 p.m. park parade, weather permitting. Operating hours Friday will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Its website also notes her being on park for the public opening day on Saturday with a weather-permitting park tour at 4 p.m. that day as well. Saturday's operating hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
'9 To 5' Tickles Reviewers' Funny Bones Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical opened in Bristol on its U.K. tour, earning raves from the local press. The Gazette called it "downright hilarious" here, Guide 2 Bristol said it was "foot tappingly fun" here and This Is Bristol deemed it a "rousing, anthem-led night out" here.
March 19: Dolly Sets Up Tumblr Account For Fan Art Dolly on Monday announced the launch of her official Tumblr page, which will showcase fan creations. Be sure to tag "Dolly Parton" for a chance to be considered for featuring on the page here.
Dollywood, Pigeon Forge Suffer Wild Fires Several dozen Pigeon Forge cabins were destroyed Sunday and Monday as a fire raged through a resort area, following a smaller fire that was quickly contained on the other side of town in an undeveloped portion of Dollywood property. Read more from Reuters here. No residents were injured, although reports indicated a couple of firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion. Neither fire is expected to impact Friday's season pass holder preview day or Saturday's public season opening.
Lambert Modeling Her Career After Dolly's Miranda Lambert wants to follow in Dolly's footsteps with her career and businesses, she told CMT here.
March 18: Final Ovation Episodes Premiere Monday Night
Ovation on Monday night premieres the final two episodes in its six-part limited series Song By Song: Dolly Parton focusing on "Travelin' Thru" and "It's All Wrong, But It's All Right." As the series' conclusion approaches, the network has released two additional "exclusive extra" videos to YouTube. The first, available in the media player above or by clicking here, asks the celebrity interviewees about their first recollection of hearing Dolly, while the second, available in the media player below or by clicking here, looks at her career cross-over to Hollywood.
March 15: Dollyites Online Fan Club Disbands Dolly's subscription-based online fan club will soon be no more. DollyPartonMusic.net, the official website of her record label, Dolly Records, quietly disbanded the Dollyites fan club earlier this month with a posting on the site that was brought to the attention of Dollymania.net this week. The club was created in 2007 with the launch of the website. In the notice, posted here, the site alerted fans that the club concluded on March 6 and would refund all memberships renewed after Jan. 1, while those renewed prior to Jan. 1 will remain active on the site until their scheduled expiration, but all Dollyite areas of the website will be permanently removed upon the expiration of the final current membership. The reason given for the disbanding was the popularity of her other social media outlets. The notice specified that future contests, including Dolly meet-and-greet opportunities, will be handled through her official Facebook page and Twitter feed. Thanks, Tony!
Singing Veggies Chart With Dolly Covers The new Veggie Tales CD, Bob & Larry Go Country, featuring covers of two Dolly numbers, debuts this week on the March 23 Billboard country albums chart at No. 65. The digital album, available here, features the cartoon characters' versions of "9 To 5" (available as a single MP3 download here) and "I Will Always Love You" (available as a single MP3 download here). In other chart news, SoundScan shows her Joyful Noise soundtrack sold 558 copies for the week, giving it a cumulative sales total since release of 131,552 units. Those numbers allowed it to slip one spot to No. 26 in its 61st week on the gospel albums chart. I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, featuring the late singer's cover of Dolly's title cut, loses 52 places to No. 195 pop in its 17th week and 31 to No. 149 current pop albums, holding steady at No. 27 R&B/hip hop albums. Overall, Luke Bryan's Spring Break . . . Here to Party debuts at No. 1 country and pop with 150,000 copies sold, while Florida Georgia Line's Here's To The Good Times holds steady at No. 2 country and shoots up 11 digits to No. 7 pop with 26,000 units moved in its 14th chart week.
Canada Gets Another '9 To 5' Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical is heading to Alberta, Canada. The Daily Herald Tribune in Grande Prairie reports here on the local production opening March 22 and running through April 20 at the GP Performing Arts Guild.
Heading Out Of Town, To Dollywood Opening Next Week Please excuse any interruptions in the site's reporting over the coming week, as your webmaster is heading out of town on Friday for a week, concluding next weekend with a visit to Dollywood for its annual opening weekend festivities. Members of the media have been invited to preview the season's new entertainment shows with Dolly at the season passholders' preview day on March 22, and I understand she is also expected to be on the park grounds making "surprise" appearances on the public opening day on March 23 as well. In a press release celebrating the annual opening and the Festival of Nations, running March 23 through April 22, Dolly said: "During all my travels, I've seen so many amazingly talented performers. I love having them entertain during my Festival of Nations so that folks can come and experience all the beautiful sights and sounds of this big ole world right here in my Smoky Mountain home." This year's headliners are Cirque Shanghai at DP's Celebrity Theatre and Mystic India at Showstreet Palace Theatre. In addition to several additional foreign cultural and artistic performances throughout the park, international cuisine is also highlighted in the World Passport To Food.
March 13: Concert Vault Offers Free Dolly Concert Download Members of Concert Vault this week may download for free Dolly's 1977 cross-over concert at The Bottom Line Club in New York City. The show has been available for streaming listening and download from the service for several years and has previously been reported here. You must be a full paid member to download it (the free trial membership doesn't count), and the free download opportunity expires Friday.
Dolly Slots Win Casino Industry Award Dolly's new casino slot machines have won their first award. Casino Journal on Wednesday revealed its Top 20 Most Innovative Gaming Technology Awards for 2013 and the Dolly Music Player in the Dolly Video Slots, Dolly "9 To 5" Slots and Dolly "Two Doors Down" Slots made the list. The device gives the player control of a music playlist to entertain them with Dolly songs while playing the game.
Willie Chats Up Dolly Duet Again Willie Nelson continues to play up his previously-reported upcoming duets album, which will feature a pairing with Dolly on her "From Here To The Moon And Back." See what he had to say about the album in The New York Timeshere.
Groban Wants Some Kenny & Dolly If Stranded Thanks to Don for alerting me that singer Josh Groban's playlist for a desert island was printed in USA Weekend and featured Kenny & Dolly's "Islands In The Stream" at No. 2. Check out his complete list here.
March 12: Next Ovation Episodes, Promo Premiere
Ovation on Monday premiered its next two episodes of Song By Song: Dolly Parton: "Coat Of Many Colors" and "Jolene." The network on Monday also released a new promo clip to YouTube for the programs, although their commercials still say the shows are premiering on Sunday night even though they're actually premiering six days earlier each week. Watch it in the media player above or by clicking here.
March 11: NPR Talks Of '9 To 5' In 'Movies I've Seen A Million Times' Dolly's 1980 film debut was lauded Saturday on NPR's All Things Considered Weekend. The latest installment of "Movies I've Seen A Million Times," a frequent segment about movies that film professionals never tire of watching, profiled 9 To 5 over the weekend as the pick for writer Emily Spivey, who has worked on Saturday Night Live, Parks And Recreation and Up All Night. Of note, she says she adores Dolly, thinks she's an amazing comedic actress who is very underappreciated and her favorite scenes are the one where Mr. Hart is sexualizing Dolly and the fantasy where Dolly sexualizes Mr. Hart. Read a transcript here and take a listen here. In related news, check out another interview with Bonnie Langford, who plays Roz in the U.K. touring production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical based on the film, from This Is Bristolhere.
Chart Update From Down Under The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 slips eight places this week to No. 35 in its 261st week on the top 40 Australian country albums chart.
Ovation TV Reminder For 'Song By Song' Don't forget that the third and fourth episodes of the Ovation limited series Song By Song: Dolly Parton premiere Monday night on the channel, focusing on "Coat Of Many Colors" and "Jolene." The first two episodes, "I Will Always Love You" and "9 To 5," will continue in repeats throughout the month. In related news, check out a review of the show from Knoxville News Sentinel columnist Terry Morrow here. He finds that the series does not delve deep enough into each song, saying "there's little true dissecting going on."
'Idol' Hopeful Wants To Do Dolly Number Could a Dolly number be coming to American Idol this season? Contestant Janelle Arthur says she hopes to sing one of Dolly's tunes at some point on the show. Read more from CNN here.
March 8: 'Joyful Noise' Falls Off Two Charts After coming back for one more week, Dolly's Joyful Noise soundtrack falls back off the Christian albums chart, according to the March 16 Billboard charts released Thursday. The CD leaves the 50-position tally, down from No. 42 in its 44th chart week, also falling off the 75-position combined Christian and gospel albums chart, down from No. 61 in its 46th week. It loses two places to No. 25 gospel albums in its 60th week there. I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, with her cover of Dolly's title cut, descends 26 to No. 143 pop in its 16th week, 12 to No. 118 current pop albums and three to No. 27 R&B/hip hop albums. Overall, Taylor Swift's Red remains at No. 1 country and dips four to No. 14 pop in its 19th week, while Florida Georgia Line's Here's To The Good Times regains one to No. 2 country and No. 18 pop in its 13th chart week.
March 7: 'Evening' CD/DVD Set Passes 55,000 Copies Although no longer on the chart, the Cracker Barrel release An Evening With . . . Dolly last week sold 230 copies to bring its cumulative total since release to 55,336 units and to make it the 42nd best-selling music DVD of the week. Elsewhere in the SoundScan sales data, her Joyful Noise soundtrack was the 58th best-selling soundtrack of the week with 607 units moved for a cumulative total since release of 130,994 copies.
Another Ovation Clip Comes Out Ovation on Wednesday released a new clip from its Song By Song: Dolly Parton series that premiered Monday. This brief collage features comments by Dolly goddaughter Miley Cyrus from her interview for the program and was released via Entertainment Tonight. Watch the clip here.
March 6: Anka Track Listing Released With Dolly Duet Sony's Legacy Recordings imprint on Tuesday released the complete track listing for the Paul Anka album Duets, which it was previously reported here will come out April 9 and feature a collaboration with Dolly. All-new recordings are "Find My Way Back To Your Heart" with Tita Hutchison, "I Really Miss You" with Leon Russell and "Pennies From Heaven" with Michael Buble. Tracks that add new vocals and/or instrumentation to previously-recorded songs are "Do I Love You (Yes, In Every Way)" with Dolly, "Walk A Fine Line" with George Benson and Michael McDonald, "This Is It" with the late Michael Jackson, "Think I'm In Love Again" with Gloria Estefan, "Crazy" with Willie Nelson, "Les Filles de Paris" with Chris Botti and "My Way" with the late Frank Sinatra. The collection will also include four previously-released duets from 1998: "You Are My Destiny" with Patti LaBelle, "It's Hard To Say Goodbye" with Celine Dion, "She's A Lady" with Tom Jones and "Hold Me 'Til The Morning Comes" with Peter Cetera. Get your copy here!
'I'm Goin' To Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come' Dolly's Imagination Library is coming to Kansas City, Mo., The Kansas City Star revealed Tuesday. The project will operate there in the Kansas City, North Kansas City, Independence, Shawnee Mission and Center school districts through the United Way of Greater Kansas City's Women's Leadership Council. Learn more here.
British '9 To 5' Updates The Milton Keynes engagement for the U.K. tour of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical got several reviews on Tuesday. Check them out from Luton Todayhere, Leighton Buzzardhere and Bedford Todayhere. Also, Gazette Series interviewed Roz actress Bonnie Langford in advance of the show's Bristol stop here.
March 4: 'Very Best' Rises Again Down Under The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 regains 11 spots this week to No. 27 in its 260th week on the top 40 Australian country albums chart.
'Song By Song' Premieres Monday Don't forget that Ovation's Song By Song: Dolly Parton series premieres Monday night with the episodes on "I Will Always Love You" and "9 To 5" debuting on the channel at 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Eastern, respectively. Check the TV listings on the right-hand side of the news page for repeat times.
Another '9 To 5' In California Lighthouse Repertory Theatre in California is less than a week away from opening a production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical, The Del Norte Triplicate reports here.
March 2: IGT Dolly Slot Videos Posted To YouTube
Casino manufacturer IGT recently released promotional videos for its new Dolly slot machines which became available to gaming facilities earlier this year. Check them out in the media players above and below or by visiting YouTube to see one on the Dolly video slots here, "Two Doors Down" slots here and "9 To 5" slots here.
'Joyful Noise' Passes 130K Copies Sold Although still no longer in the 25-position soundtrack albums chart, Dolly's Joyful Noise soundtrack was the 49th biggest selling movie album of the week with 730 copies moved for a cumulative total since release of 130,388 units sold, SoundScan's data showed Friday.
'9 To 5' Continues To Travel In Europe Check out another brief interview with a cast member of the U.K. tour of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical. Luton Today speaks with Jackie Clune, who plays Violet in the production, here.
Houston Falls Off Irish Chart I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, featuring the late singer's cover of Dolly's title track, falls off the top 100 Irish pop albums chart this week, down from No. 84 the previous week.
March 1: 'Joyful Noise' Returns To Christian Chart After a one-week absence, Dolly's Joyful Noise soundtrack returns to the Christian albums tally in the March 9 Billboard charts, it was revealed Thursday. The CD re-enters the 50-position Christian albums chart at No. 42 for a 44th chart week, rises nine places to No. 61 in its 46th week on the combined Christian and gospel albums chart and descends four slots to No. 23 gospel albums in its 59th week there. I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, with the late singer's version of Dolly's title cut, loses 18 to No. 117 pop in its 15th week, 16 to No. 106 current pop albums and six to No. 24 R&B/hip hop albums. Overall, Taylor Swift's Red remains at No. 1 country and slips six to No. 10 pop with 28,000 units moved in its 18th week, while Tim McGraw's Two Lanes Of Freedom holds on at No. 2 country and dips one to No. 13 pop in its third week.
Ovation Adds Dolly Page To Website Days before Monday's premiere of the first two episodes of the new Ovation limited series Song By Song: Dolly Parton, the network on Thursday premiered a special section of its website dedicated to the show and featuring a ballot for your favorite of the six songs profiled in the series, links to the videos that have been released to promote it (and previously embedded on this site), pictures and more. Visit the page here.
NDSU Produces Dolly's '9 To 5: The Musical' The Spectrum, the student newspaper of North Dakota State University, on Thursday reviewed the school's production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical. Read what they had to say here.
