March 27: Jeni's Dolly Cream Is Strawberry Pretzel Pie
I've teamed up with Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams to create my very own flavor in support of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library! Strawberry Pretzel Pie is available at Jeni's April 8 ?? jenis.com/dolly
Dolly and Jeni's on Thursday revealed her upcoming ice cream flavor to benefit her Imagination Library early childhood literacy program will be Strawberry Pretzel Pie. The flavor, to be released April 8 at Jeni's physical stores and for national online sales (no grocery store sales are planned), features "layers of salty pretzel streusel, subtly sweet and effortlessly tangy cream cheese ice cream, and lipstick red strawberry sauce" meant to remind one of a potluck triple decker strawberry pretzel pie. The limited flavor will only have about 10,000 pint-sized containers available, so the store recommends either waiting in line at stores prior to opening or ordering online as soon as they become available at noon Eastern time April 8 for best chances of successfully buying it. Purchasers are limited to two pints each, and while the purchase price has not been announced, all other flavors and past special edition flavors have sold for $12 a pint, so it is likely that will also be the price for Dolly's special flavor as well. Get more information here and see Dolly's social media announcement of the flavor on Facebook here or in the embedded post above. A photo of the product is shown at left; click on it for a larger view.
'Hamilton' Beats 'Christmas On The Square' At PGAs The Producers Guild Awards handed out their trophies this week, and unfortunately Netflix's Dolly Parton's Christmas On the Square did not take home Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures, losing to Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeffrey Seller for Disney+'s Hamilton.
Linda Sells Catalog To Private Investors Dolly's pal Linda Ronstadt is the latest to ink a deal for her back catalog, but unlike most recent big sales in the industry, she sold her ownership interest in her past vocal recordings rather than her songwriting copyrights, since she is a singer and not a songwriter. Irving Azoff's private venture Iconic Artists Group purchased the rights for an undisclosed sum, and Ronstadt and her manager plan to work with IAG to market the catalog and "preserve her legacy in the digital era." Presumably, the sale includes her share of the Trio recordings with Dolly and Emmylou Harris. In addition, it should include the first-ever cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," which Ronstadt recorded in 1975 on Prisoner In Disguise, and Dolly's two appearances on Ronstadt albums: the Trio's recording of "My Blue Tears" from 1982 on Get Closer and the top 10 country single "I Never Will Marry" with Dolly harmonies from 1977 on Simple Dreams. Read more from New York Daily Newshere.
Dolly Rented West Hollywood Home Now For Sale Turns out the home in West Hollywood up for $3.8 million that is being marketed as "Dolly's former home" was never owned by her. Instead, she rented it for about three years and lived there for a few months out of the year during the time she rented it. It was always owned by a third party who extensively renovated it just prior to her rental, The New York Times reported here.
U.S., U.K. Chart Updates The March 27 Billboard: charts released Tuesday see Barry Gibb's Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1), with its Dolly collaboration, tumbles 31 places to No. 85 current albums. Ultimate Dolly Parton slips two to No. 40 country albums, while Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" gains two to No. 11 Christian streaming songs and 13 to No. 5 Christian digital song sales. Overseas, Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1) loses 17 spots to No. 48 overall sales in its 11th week in the U.K. and 15 to No. 43 physical sales, dipping three to No. 7 Americana. On the U.K. top 100 pop albums tally, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 drops six to No. 94, while on the U.K. country albums list Jolene falls back out of the top 20, down from No. 20. On the British country compilations chart, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 holds steady No. 4, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe stays at No. 5, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) gains two to No. 12, The Essential Dolly Parton inches down one to No. 11, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) lifts three to No. 10, Ultimate Dolly Parton dips three to No. 19 and Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) falls back out of the top 20, down from No. 20.
Scots First Minister Supports Library Dolly recruited some pretty powerful help to promote her Imagination Library book program recently in Scotland. The nation's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who holds the highest political office in Scotland, recorded a video reading the children's book Mabel and the Mountain by Kim Hillyard for Children 1st to promote donations to the program there. Check out the video here or in the media player below.
March 23: Netflix Confirms April 7 MusiCares Premiere Date
Just as it was reported here a week ago that the announcement of the special would likely come on Monday, Netflix on Monday formally announced that Dolly's 2019 MusiCares Person of the Year concert tribute will begin streaming on their network on April 7. A trailer for the show was posted to YouTube on Monday here or in the media player above, and a poster graphic below also released (click on it for a larger view). In a press release, Dolly said: "I am so happy that Netflix is going to be showing the MusiCares tribute to me. MusiCares has done so much for the people in this industry and continues to be a beacon of light for those in need. I am so proud and impressed with all of the great artists. It was such a joy and a humbling experience to be able to sit and watch all of the great artists singing songs that I had written or had been a part of." The network did not release a list of which performances from the concert are being shown in the broadcast, but the trailer included almost all of them (appearing to be absent from the performance clips in the trailer were P!nk, Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood, Don Henley & Vince Gill, and Dolly & Linda Perry, but all other performers were shown at one point or another).
Amazon Adds 'Heartstrings' For Digital Purchase Amazon this week added Netflix's Dolly Parton's Heartstrings: Season 1 to their Prime Video Service for ownership. So if you don't have Netflix but wish to watch the shows, or you've already seen them but would like to own them digitally, they are available for $18 for the entire season or $3 per episode here.
Dolly Comic Gets Mainstream Press Notice Also previously reported here – this time a couple of months ago – was that Dolly would be the subject of an upcoming graphic novel, or "comic book," about her life as part of the "Female Force" series. The news was picked up by Reuters news service here last week, prompting numerous stories in media outlets around the world about the March 31 release, which, as was also previously reported here, will be available in
kindle edition, hardcover, and paperback.
Kentucky Taking Imagination Library Statewide Kentucky is poised to join Tennessee, North Carolina, Delaware, Ohio, and Arkansas (and soon Colorado and Oklahoma as well) with a statewide Imagination Library program, as a bill authorizing it passed the state Legislature last week and is awaiting the governor's signature. The law would provide $800,000 in first-year matching dollars for local communities to support Dolly's early childhood literacy program with the intention to approve additional funding for the second and third years in next year's state budget. Learn more from WAVE here.
'Heartbreaker,' 'You're The Only One' Get New Publisher Song publisher Hipgnosis announced last week that it had purchased the catalogue of hitmaker Carole Bayer Sager, including taking on the song publishing copyrights for two of the biggest hits of Dolly's career that she didn't write herself: 1978's "Heartbreaker" (which was No. 1 on the country charts for three weeks) and 1979's "You're The Only One" (No. 1 country for two weeks). Other songs from the famous composer include "When I Need You" by Leo Sayer, Bond theme "Nobody Does It Better" by Carly Simon, "Ice Castles" theme "Through The Eyes Of Love" by Melissa Manchester, Celine Dion's "The Prayer," Patti LaBelle's "On My Own" (which was also covered by Reba) and the Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and Elton John collaboration "That's What Friends Are For."
Dollywood Makes Forbes' Best Employers List Forbes magazine last week named Dollywood to its 2021 list of the 500 best mid-sized employers in the country, placing Dolly's theme park as one of 20 in the "Travel and Leisure" category and the only theme park on the midsize list. The park ranked No. 6 in its category and No. 138 out of the full 500, which were chosen based on anonymous surveys of 50,000 American workers at companies with 1,000 or more employees to rate on a scale of 0 to 10 how likely they would be to recommend their employer to others and which other companies they would also recommend. Others ranked in the category included Choice Hotels, Best Western, Westgate Resorts, Major League Baseball, and the National Baseball Association. (The magazine's best large employers, those with more than 5,000 employees, included two other theme park companies: Hershey Entertainment and Resorts (which owns Hershey Park) and Six Flags.)
'Jolene' Gets Another Answer Song Country trio Chapel Hart last week released a cute video to their new song, "You Can Have Him Jolene," which, as the title implies, is a sequel to Dolly's classic. In their new track, the main character changes her mind and leaves her cheating partner, allowing the redhead to take him. Check it out here.
U.K. Chart Updates Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1), with its Dolly duet, slides 15 places to No. 31 overall sales in its 10th week in the U.K. and 13 to No. 28 physical sales, losing two to No. 4 Americana, but not selling enough copies to re-enter the overall Top 100 albums list, which is heavily dependent on streaming. On that U.K. top 100 pop albums tally, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 inches up two to No. 88, while on the U.K. country albums list Jolene holds steady at No. 20. On the British country compilations chart, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 holds steady No. 4, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe stays at No. 5, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) rises five to No. 14, The Essential Dolly Parton holds steady at No. 10, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) remains at No. 13, Ultimate Dolly Parton sticks at No. 16 and Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 2 (featuring one track with Dolly harmony and two tracks with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) re-enters the top 20 at No. 20.
March 17: Dolly Ice Cream Coming Soon
Jeni's, kind of the Midwest's version of socially-conscious ice cream manufacturers Ben & Jerry's (and President Biden's favorite ice cream), announced Monday it would soon reveal a special flavor collaboration with Dolly, sales of which will benefit her Imagination Library early childhood literacy program. No further details were released of the flavor or when it would be available, but the Columbus, Ohio, ice cream manufacturer has a page here to sign up for notification when more is revealed. The chain's most recent special flavor, which was available in its 40 stores across 11 states and the District of Columbia as well as online ordering nationwide, was White House Chocolate Chip in January to honor the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
Billboard: Dolly's MusiCares Concert Heading To Netflix Stumbled across a sentence buried in a Billboard article from about a month ago that revealed that Netflix has purchased the broadcast rights to Dolly's 2019 MusiCares Person of the Year tribute concert from the Grammys and -- as of the time of the report a few weeks ago -- planned to air it this coming April. No other details were given and no further mentions have been made since then as far as your webmaster can tell. As of today, the show does not appear on the list of programs for the streaming service next month, but it isn't expected to release its full list of the month's additions until sometime next week, so it could still be added. The concert, which raised $6.7 million for the Grammys' MusiCares charity, featured the following line-up, concluding with a reunion of the Trio:
P!nk — "Jolene"
Brandi Carlile and Willie Nelson — "Everything's Beautiful (In Its Own Way)"
Lauren Daigle — "The Seeker"
Miley Cyrus, Shawn Mendes & Mark Ronson — "Islands in the Stream"
Chris Stapleton — "9 to 5"
Katy Perry and Kacey Musgraves — "Here You Come Again"
Norah Jones and Puss N Boots — "The Grass Is Blue"
Don Henley and Vince Gill — "Eagle When She Flies"
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood — "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You"
Mavis Staples, Leon Bridges and Jon Batiste — "Not Enough Love"
Yolanda Adams — "I Will Always Love You"
Jennifer Nettles, Cam and Margo Price – "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind"
Dolly and Linda Perry — "Coat of Many Colors"
Presentation of the MusiCares Person of the Year Award to Dolly by Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt
U.S. Chart Updates The March 20 Billboard: charts released Tuesday see Barry Gibb's Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1), with its Dolly collaboration, lose 19 spots to No. 54 current albums and drop off the top 100 overall album sales, down from No. 56. Ultimate Dolly Parton holds steady at No. 38 country albums, while Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" slips one to No. 13 Christian streaming songs and seven to No. 18 Christian digital song sales.
March 15: Dolly Wins 10th Regular Grammy Award Dolly on Sunday night won her 10th career regular Grammy Award, or 11th including her Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, as "There Was Jesus" with Zach Williams won Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song, which she had previously won last year with For King & Country. The award is given to both the performers and songwriters (Williams, Jonathan Smith, and Casey Beathard). On social media, Dolly reacted saying: "Thank you Jesus, thank you Zach Williams, and thank you to the GRAMMYs and all of our fans. I am very humbled but proud." Williams and Smith accepted the award remotely prior to the televised broadcast of the ceremony, with Williams speaking and thanking Dolly "for being a champion from day one for this song." It wasn't the only Dolly-connected win for the evening. The documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice, which interviewed Dolly about her friend and collaborator, won Best Music Film, and 1987's Trio album by Dolly, Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, Dolly's fifth entry following her 1974 recordings of "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene," 1971 recording of "Coat of Many Colors" and as a songwriter for Whitney Houston's 1992 recording of "I Will Always Love You." It is Ronstadt's second Hall of Fame entry and Harris's first.
Dollywood Opens For Season Sans Dolly Dollywood this weekend opened for its 36th operating season, albeit without Dolly on park to kick things off for season passholder preview day Friday or public opening day Saturday. While she usually makes appearances at both events, she released a statement Friday explaining: "I wish I could be there for the opening, but the doctors said I need to wait until after I've had the second dose of the vaccine. Let's all be patient. All of this stuff is going to be over soon, and I know it won't be long until we can be together." Dolly had her first dose of the Moderna vaccine, early research into which she funded with a charitable gift to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, on March 2. Her second shot is recommended on March 30, from which she would achieve maximum immunity around April 13. There is no word when she will plan to make a visit to the park. She missed all of its 35th anniversary season last year, leaving town due to Covid the day before preview day/media day and cancelling all of her appearances for that day, and then the park decided to postpone public opening day for several weeks, which turned into several months, and it didn't open until summer, operating at limited capacity under a mask mandate since then. Dolly said further in her statement: "Our people are doing a great job to care for our guests, and I'm just glad that everyone is seeing what the good folks at Dollywood have been doing to make it one of the best family destinations in the entire country. What we have is special. It's a place where folks can come to enjoy those precious moments they will cherish forever. This season looks bright, and I just know families are going to love making a lot of great memories this year." Improvements in the off season included new outdoor restaurant seating areas and re-tracking improvements to Lightning Rod, Blazing Fury, and Mystery Mine coasters plus new shows. With international travel still limited due to the pandemic, there is no Festival of Nations this year. The first scheduled festival is the Flower & Food Festival April 23-June 7, with the return of the Umbrella Sky and addition of a festival dining pass as well as the Melodies of Spring contemporary Christian and gospel concert series. The Summer Celebration June 25-July 31 will see the addition of a drone light show to the evening fireworks that mark that season in the park. Harvest Festival Sept. 24-Oct. 30 returns with the Great Pumpkin LumiNights and Smoky Mountain Christmas concludes the year Nov. 6-Jan. 2. Coverage of the opening weekend included The Knoxville News-Sentinelhere and NewsChannel 5 here.
Leslie Jordan Unveils Tracks For Album Leslie Jordan last week released the full track listing for his April 2 gospel album Company's Comin', including which track features Dolly: "Where The Soul Never Dies." The full track listing is:
1. This Little Light Of Mine with Katie Pruitt
2. Meet cute . . .
3. Angel Band with Bradi Carlile
4. Where The Soul Never Dies with Dolly Parton
5. Somebody Touched Me . . .
6. Sweet By and By with T.J. Osborne
7. In All Things with Danny Myrick
8. When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder with Tanya Tucker
9. Whole world . . .
10. The One Who Hideth Me with Eddie Vedder
11. The Longest Day with Travis Howard
12. I'll fly away . . .
13.Workin' On A Building with Ashley McBryde & Charlie Worsham
14. Farther Along with Chris and Morgane Stapleton
15. Last word . . .
U.S., U.K., Aussie Chart Updates The March 13 Billboard: charts released Tuesday see Barry Gibb's Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1), with its Dolly collaboration, drop six places to No. 56 album sales and one to No. 35 current albums. Ultimate Dolly Parton gains nine to No. 38 country albums, while Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" gains eight to No. 12 Christian streaming songs but loses five to No. 11 Christian digital song sales. Overseas, Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1) falls out of the top 50 Australian pop albums chart, down from No. 43, and falls off the top 100 British pop albums chart, down from No. 99. In its ninth week, it remains steady at No. 16 U.K. overall sales and gains one to No. 15 physical sales, rising two to No. 2 Americana. On the U.K. pop albums tally, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 re-enters the top 100 at No. 90, while on the U.K. country albums list Jolene re-enters the top 20 at No. 20. On the British country compilations chart, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 slides one to No. 4, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe rises two to No. 5, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) falls four to No. 19, The Essential Dolly Parton holds steady at No. 10, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) inches down one to No. 13, and Ultimate Dolly Parton re-enters the top 20 at No. 16.
March 9: 'Christmas On The Square' Earns PGA Nod The Netflix holiday film Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square was nominated Monday for the Producers Guild of America as Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures. It competes against Bad Education, Hamilton, Jane Goodall: The Hope and What The Constitution Means To Me. Winners will be announced virtually March 24.
Dolly Talks About 50th Grammy Nom This coming Sunday, we'll learn whether Dolly wins an 11th regular Grammy Award when the ceremony announces winners for this year's categories, delayed several months due to the pandemic. She is nominated for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for "There Was Jesus" with Zach Williams, an award she won last year with For King & Country for "God Only Knows." She talked about the nomination, her career 50th (a record for the second-most for any woman), with the Associated Press here.
Oermann Discusses Dolly Book Collab Nashville historian Robert K. Oermann spoke with Mainstreet Nashville about his work as co-author of Dolly's Songteller book last year. Read the interview here.
Imagination Library Profiled By 'Rolling Stone' Rolling Stone this week profiled Dolly's Imagination Library early childhood literacy program, which currently sends books to 1.7 million children a month in the U.S. Read the story here.
'Billboard' Looks At Danny's Studio Billboard took a look at the Nashville warehouse turned studio Dolly's manager created in lieu of their planned massive recording and filming studio they had announced plans for a couple of years ago but postponed due to Covid. Read more here.
'The Sun' Talks About Dolly's Gloves British tabloid The Sun last week dug up the old story asking why Dolly always wears fingerless gloves, which she has done for all public appearances since early fall 2010, including a 2011 quote from your webmaster recounting how she told fans during a taping of a scene in Joyful Noise that she was covering up scars from wrist surgery, here.
U.K., Aussie Chart Updates Former No. 1 Barry Gibb's Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1), which features his Dolly duet on "Words," loses 11 places last week to No. 99 British pop albums in its eighth week, it was revealed Friday, as it drops eight spots to No. 16 overall sales and nine to No. 16 physical sales. The collection dips two to No. 4 U.K. Americana albums and falls off the downloads chart, down from No. 97. Down Under, the collection tumbles 27 digits to No. 43 on the Australian pop albums chart. Back in the U.K., Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 holds steady at No. 3 British country compilation albums, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe gains three to No. 7, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) slips four to No. 15, The Essential Dolly Parton regains four to No. 10, and Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) rises five to No. 12.
March 3: Dolly Gets Covid Vaccine
Dolly on Tuesday visited Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville and received her Covid vaccine on camera to encourage others to get theirs. The footage went viral immediately, given that she had a year ago donated $1 million to Vanderbilt, part of which funded initial research at the institution which eventually become the Moderna vaccine, which is the one she received. The vaccine was administered by Dr. Naji Abumrad, her longtime friend who is a physician and researcher at the hospital and whose son made the award-winning Dolly Parton's America podcast. In introducing the video, viewable here or in the media player above, Dolly offered: "I'm old enough to get it and I'm smart enough to get it." Later, she joked: "I want to say to all of you cowards out there, don't be such a chicken squat, get out there and get your shot!" She also sang alternate lyrics to her classic "Jolene" as:
Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine.
I'm begging of you please don't hesitate.
Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine.
Cause once you're dead then that's a bit too late. The Covid virus has killed more than 2.5 million people worldwide in just over one year, nearly 530,000 in 11 months in the U.S., the No. 3 cause of death and more than any other cause other than heart disease and cancer in the past year.
U.S. Chart Updates The March 6 Billboard: charts released Tuesday see Barry Gibb's Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1), with its Dolly collaboration, drop nine places to No. 50 album sales, 12 to No. 34 current albums, and off the Americana/folk albums, down from No. 21. Ultimate Dolly Parton holds steady at No. 47 country albums, while Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" gains 10 to No. 20 Christian streaming songs and six to No. 6 Christian digital song sales thanks to the release of the new piano remix of the song.
March 1: Dolly 'Little Golden Book' Coming In September Legendary children's book publisher Little Golden has announced a tome coming out Sept. 21 dedicated to Dolly herself. My Little Golden Book About Dolly Parton joins a series of biographies about famous individuals including Kamala Harris, Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington and Ruth Bader Ginsberg aimed at children ages 2-5. The 24-page children's book traces Dolly's life from her upbringing to her career as a country and pop star as well as businesswoman with her own theme park. It was written by Deborah Hopkinson with large illustrations by Monique Dong covering most of each page. (Disclosure: Your webmaster helped edit and fact check the book and is credited as such on the title page.) There is no word whether the book will be considered for Dolly's Imagination Library early literacy program, now that Little Golden publisher Random House recently merged with Penguin Publishing, which produces all of the program's books. Reserve your copy here!
PBS Offers Special DVD Of Dolly 'Opry' Special PBS has announced an exclusive U.S. version of the DVD for Dolly Parton & Friends: 50 Years At The Opry, her 2019 television special observing her anniversary as a Grand Ole Opry member. The concert is airing on many PBS stations this week as one of this year's lead pledge week programs, and a special DVD has been produced with unaired bonus footage and is available as a premium for PBS donors. Check your local PBS station for air dates and times, and check its donation section of its website for how to make a pledge and receive the DVD as a thank you gift. (Your webmaster's local PBS station was asking for a $98 donation to receive the DVD.) At present, the only DVD of the program is produced in Australia and does not play on most U.S. DVD players.
Tennessean: ACMs Snubbed Dolly For Entertainer Of The Year Academy of Country Music (ACM) nominations came out last week, and The Tennessean considered Dolly's absence from the Entertainer of the Year category to be the year's biggest snub, given her No. 1 country chart album with her holiday collection, a Christmas movie on Netflix, a prime-time network music special, and numerous online streaming appearances during a time when the pandemic shut down promotional activities and appearances for almost all other performers in the genre, plus her humanitarian efforts including helping fund a Covid vaccine. Read more from Yahoo here.
Dolly Recording Up For Tenn. State Song Even though Dolly has asked the Tennessee Legislature to cease consideration of erecting a statue of her on the state Capitol grounds, there is still a bill regarding her making its way through the legislative process: a proposal to add her recording of "Amazing Grace" from her 1999 Dollywood-exclusive CD Precious Memories as one of the official state songs, according to The Tennessee Ledgerhere.
Former Dolly Home On Market In California One of Dolly's former West Hollywood homes has hit the market. The Realtor listing the dwelling posted a video of it to Facebook here and photos here. The asking price is $3.795 million. The Realtor said on Facebook that Dolly lived in the home for a couple of months out of the year for three years but wouldn't disclose whether she currently owns the property. Property records show it appears to have been sold most recently for just over $1 million in 2012 The listing states it was completely rebuilt in 2014.
Dolly Has New AirBnB Commercial AirBnB last week released a new commercial about pet-friendly accommodations featuring Dolly's 1974 original recording of "I Will Always Love You." Watch here.
'9 To 5' Announces U.K. Tour Back On Producers for Dolly's West End version of 9 To 5: The Musical announced over the weekend that their national UK tour is back on and will kick off this summer after being cancelled last year due to Covid. Learn more here.
New Dolly Mural In Orange County Gay bar Strut Bar and Club in Orange County, Calif., has painted a huge Dolly mural outside in appreciation for her Covid-19 vaccine donation and in honor of all frontline workers during the pandemic. Check out a story about it from Q Voice Newshere.
'Holly Dolly Christmas' Gets Amazon Discounts Now that the holidays have come and gone, Dolly's most recent CD, A Holly Dolly Christmas, has headed to discount, especially for its less-popular special formats released last year. So if you wanted to pick one up, now is the time to do it. The $17 CD is down to $8 on Amazon here, while the $27 Amazon-exclusive cassette with a bonus track is down to $16 here and the $55 Amazon-exclusive 8-track with a different bonus track is only $25 here.
Dollywood Preps For Opening In Two Weeks Dollywood is readying for its opening with season passholder preview day March 12 and its general public gate opening March 13. The Lightning Rod roller coaster is expected to re-open featuring a hybrid track structure that includes both a wood stack "Topper Track" and a steel "Ibox" track installed by the ride's manufacturer. This year will not feature a Festival of Nations, presumably due to the coronavirus crippling international travel for performers, so the first full festival of the park's 36th season will be the Flower and Food Festival April 23 to June 7, which features a Melodies of Spring concert series of contemporary Christian and Southern Gospel artists such as Matthew West, Big Daddy Weave, I AM THEY, Rebecca St. Jaimes and more. The new Dolly kinfolk show Harmonies of the Heart premieres in March, as does A Brighter Day, an inspirational show at the Back Porch Theater. Popular street singers the Gem Tones will become The Tones and perform in The Village. The Summer Celebration will then take place June 25 to July 31, Harvest Festival Sept. 24 to Oct. 30 featuring the Great Pumpkin LumiNights, and Smoky Mountain Christmas returns Nov. 6 to Jan. 2. No official announcements have been made regarding Dolly's appearances at the park this year, if any (she did not make any of her usual appearances last year due to the pandemic), but I would doubt she plans any in-person appearances until after the pandemic restrictions have been lessened, which likely won't be until fall.
Chart Updates Former No. 1 Barry Gibb's Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1), which features his Dolly duet on "Words," plummets 57 places to No. 88 British pop albums in its seventh week, it was revealed Friday, even though it only slips one to No. 8 overall sales and remains steady at No. 7 physical sales, given the tremendous influence online streaming, where the album is weak, has on chart position today. The collection also holds steady at No. 2 U.K. Americana albums and loses 33 to No. 97 downloads. Down Under, the collection drops seven spots to No. 16 on the Australian pop albums chart. Back in the U.K., Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 holds steady at No. 3 British country compilation albums, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe also remains steady at No. 10, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) rises three to No. 11, The Essential Dolly Parton inches down one to No. 14, and Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) re-enters the top 20 at No. 17. In the U.S., the Feb. 27 Billboard: charts last week saw Gibb's Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1) fall back out of the top 200 pop albums chart, down from No. 195, while it lost 31 to No. 41 album sales, 13 to No. 22 current albums, 16 to No. 21 Americana/folk albums and off the 50-position country albums chart, down from No. 21. Ultimate Dolly Parton held steady at No. 47 country albums, and Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" held steady at No. 20 Christian streaming songs and dipped three to No. 12 Christian digital song sales.
Dolly and Jeni's on Thursday revealed her upcoming ice cream flavor to benefit her Imagination Library early childhood literacy program will be Strawberry Pretzel Pie. The flavor, to be released April 8 at Jeni's physical stores and for national online sales (no grocery store sales are planned), features "layers of salty pretzel streusel, subtly sweet and effortlessly tangy cream cheese ice cream, and lipstick red strawberry sauce" meant to remind one of a potluck triple decker strawberry pretzel pie. The limited flavor will only have about 10,000 pint-sized containers available, so the store recommends either waiting in line at stores prior to opening or ordering online as soon as they become available at noon Eastern time April 8 for best chances of successfully buying it. Purchasers are limited to two pints each, and while the purchase price has not been announced, all other flavors and past special edition flavors have sold for $12 a pint, so it is likely that will also be the price for Dolly's special flavor as well. Get more information here and see Dolly's social media announcement of the flavor on Facebook here or in the embedded post above. A photo of the product is shown at left; click on it for a larger view.
Dolly on Sunday night won her 10th career regular Grammy Award, or 11th including her Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, as 
Legendary children's book publisher Little Golden has announced a tome coming out Sept. 21 dedicated to Dolly herself.