April 30: Don't Forget 'Noise' DVD Arrives Tuesday Critics are taking another look at Dolly's film Joyful Noise with its DVD release on Tuesday. Over the weekend, the Sioux City Journal called the film "good, harmless fun" and says it "is a better film than you think" in a review here. And Phoenix's FOX station summed it up here as its "musical numbers are solidly entertaining, and it benefits from Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton's sizable chemistry; unfortunately, they aren't enough to make up for the rest of the film." In other DVD news, the upcoming release of the Lane Twins' Hollywood To Dollywood made the online blog Examiner.com over the weekend here.
U.K., Aussie Chart Updates Released A few Whitney Houston albums with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You" stick around Down Under this week. Her Essential dips seven to No. 46 pop in Australia, while Ultimate rises four to No. 8 catalog albums there and Greatest Hits re-enters the top 50 catalog albums list at No. 21. In other overseas chart news, The Little Willies' For The Good Times, featuring Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," gains three to No. 12 country in its 16th week on the British albums charts.
More On High School '9 To 5' Musical It had previously been reported here that the East Coweta High School in Georgia was doing Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical as its school spring musical. The Times Herald over the weekend offered another story on the production here.
April 28: 'Evening' Sells Another 7K In Third Week
Dolly's promotions for the Cracker Barrel-exclusive re-issue of Dolly: Live From London under the title An Evening With . . . Dolly continued this week with a two-part spot on ABC's The Revolution. Watch it in the media players above and below. She's still slated for the syndicated Dr. Steve show Saturday and Sunday and Lifetime's The Balancing Act May 8. In related news, the set increased sales slightly last week, figures released Friday showed. It moved 7,416 copies in its third week, a 5 percent increase over the previous week, giving it a cumulative total of 24,592 – or an average of 40 copies from each of the chain's 612 stores. The numbers on Dolly's No. 2 standing compared to a 3 percent dip for Adele's Live From Royal Albert Hall at 10,989 units for No. 1 and a 17 percent drop for Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits at 2,548 copies for No. 3.
Paper: Dolly To Be On 'Bachelorette' Dolly will appear on this season's The Bachelorette, ABC announced. The show returns next month for a new season, and according to The Charlotte Observerhere, the network says one of the outings with one of her suitors on the show will be a trip to Dollywood, where Dolly herself will serenade the couple.
'Advocate' Plugs 'H2D' National LGBT magazine The Advocate included Tuesday's scheduled release of the Dolly fan documentary Hollywood To Dollywood at No. 2 among the 10 most anticipated things of the week with its "Hot Sheet" released Friday. Read all of them here.
Irish Chart Update Whitney Houston's Ultimate Collection, featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," slips three spots to No. 20 on the Irish pop albums chart, it was announced Friday, while her Essential falls out of the top 100 pop albums there, down from No. 78 the previous week.
April 27: 'Joyful' Down To Just One Chart With just days left before its DVD and BluRay release, the
Joyful Noise Soundtrack featuring four Dolly tracks is left on just one Billboard chart, the May 5 numbers released Thursday showed. The set inches down one to No. 24 gospel albums in its 15th chart week. It falls off the 75-position Christian and gospel albums tally, down from No. 69, and off the 50-position Christian albums list, down from No. 48. As was previously reported here, the Cracker Barrel-exclusive An Evening With . . . Dolly holds steady for a third week at No. 2 on the music video DVD chart. Whitney Houston's
Greatest Hits, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," sold just under 14,000 copies to remain at No. 30 pop and No. 2 pop catalog albums but slips one to No. 2 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. The Bodyguard soundtrack, also with the song, drops 10 to No. 116 pop, two to No. 16 pop catalog albums and one to No. 6 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums, remaining steady at No. 6 soundtracks. Overall, Lionel Richie's Tuskegee remains at No. 1 country and pop in its fourth week with 114,000 copies sold, while Luke Bryan's Tailgates and Tanlines rises one to No. 2 country and three to No. 10 pop with 28,000 units moved in its 13th week.
More 'Noise' Reviews The impending DVD release of Dolly's film Joyful Noise gets attention from a couple more critics this week. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said here the script isn't "particularly strong material" but both Dolly and Queen Latifah "sing their hearts out," giving it two-and-a-half stars. The movie gets similar treatment from Time Out Chicago, which opines here that the script is not that great – except for the "minor camp classic" of Dolly and Latifah's "food-throwing-snap-fest" – but the music makes it "a thrill to listen to, and possible to watch."
Canada Celebrates A Dolly Party Toronto-area Dolly fans were having a time Thursday night at The Beaver, thanks to the monthly party series Sheroes focusing its April event on all things Dolly. Learn more here.
Audition For N.Y. '9 To 5' Albany, N.Y.'s Times Union reports that Saratoga's Home Made Theatre will hold auditions May 6 and 7 for its Oct. 12-28 production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical. Read more here.
April 26: 'Evening' To Hold Onto Its No. 2 Position Dolly Records announced Wednesday that her Cracker Barrel exclusive An Evening With . . . Dolly will remain for a third consecutive week at No. 2 on the DVD music sales chart when it is released Thursday. We hope to have actual sales totals for you again on Friday. The set sold 10,142 copies in its first week and 7,034 in week two.
Paper's Writer Loves Wild Eagle The Chicago Tribune's theatre critic took a ride recently on Dollwood's 2012 addition, the Wild Eagle roller coaster, and offered his review this week here. In short, he loved it and concluded: "Perhaps better than any other coaster in the world, Wild Eagle takes advantage of the natural topography of the trees and mountains that surround Dollywood, enabling riders, especially those boarding at dusk, to feel as if they are swirling and swooping above and beyond God's country. It is a ride that offers not a branded experience but a soaring, transcendent remove from the every day."
April 25: A Few More 'Joyful' DVD Notes We're now less than a week away from the DVD and BluRay release of Dolly's latest film, Joyful Noise, which hits stores next Tuesday following its American theatrical release. (The film opens in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, followed by Norway on Friday and Japan on Saturday.) The Washington Post previews the disc versions in a piece posted here by The Times Picayune in New Orleans. It notes that the regular DVD version (available here) will feature a few of the extras, including a making-of featurette and "Leading Ladies" footage of Dolly and co-star Queen Latifah in the recording studio, while the remainder of bonus features, including a spotlight on Dolly's song "From Here To The Moon and Back" as well as extended versions of the songs from the film, are only included on the BluRay version (available here).
Another Tennessee City Doing '9 To 5' Another local theatre in Dolly's home state is taking on her 9 To 5: The Musical. Broadway World reports on its Nashville site that Roxy Regional Theatre in Clarksville will kick off its 30th season Sept. 14 with the production, which continues through Oct. 13. Read more here.
U.K. Brides Like To Dance To '9 To 5' Dolly's classic tune "9 To 5" is one of the 20 top wedding songs overseas, a new poll found. Music service Spotify looked at the most popular songs to be played at British weddings and found Dolly's track, the only country one on the list, coming in at No. 19. The Black Eyed Peas' 2009 hit "I Gotta Feeling" was No. 1. Read more from Digital Spyhere.
April 24: Dolly Hits CNN Again For CD/DVD Promotion
Dolly's An Evening With . . . Dolly appearances continued Monday with a spot on CNN's #Music Monday. Watch the interview in the media player above or by clicking here.
Dolly's Pigeon Forge Parade Coming Soon The time is fast approaching for Dolly's annual Homecoming Parade through Pigeon Forge, Tenn.! Parade organizers on Monday issued a press release about the 6 p.m. May 11 event down the Parkway (traffic light 6 to traffic light 3). The exact details of Dolly's float are always kept top secret until the massive structure shows up at the parade start each year, although it is always connected somehow to Dollywood's addition that year, which this year should mean an eagle theme with the new Wild Eagle roller coaster. Also of interest this year, Rogersville Playhouse in Rogersville, Tenn., which is doing Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical May 17-27, will theme its float after the play. To read the press release, click here and for more information about Pigeon Forge visit the city's tourism website here.
Dolly Helps Music City Walk Of Fame Dolly has autographed a pair of women's boots to benefit the Music City Walk of Fame. The auction concludes Sunday and as of press time 13 bids had been logged bringing the price to $129.10. The boots are a new pair of Crush by Durango, Red Heartfelt Western, Size 8D. Place your bid here.
Library Makes News In Jersey, Ohio The United Way of Northern New Jersey will hold a story-time party to celebrate the one-year anniversary of its affiliate of Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program May 5, The Daily Record reported here. A few states away, the United Way of Greater Cincinnati-Middletown Area's Women Living United will host their third annual fund-raising brunch for their local affiliate of the program this weekend, featuring Imagination Library author Loren Long as keynote speaker and Dollywood's Penguin Players performing Dolly's musical adaptation of Long's book "Otis," The Middletown Journal reported here.
April 23: Dolly Gets Music City Film Fest Honor
Dolly on Saturday received the Nashville International Film Festival's Career Achievement Award. The award followed a screening of the Dolly fan documentary Hollywood To Dollywood. Dolly was not there to accept the honor in person but sent her remarks via video. Watch the clip here or in the media player above.
Dolly Mourns Dick Clark's Death According to AZ Central, Dolly over the weekend released a statement on the passing of entertainment legend Dick Clark, saying: "No one could have been nicer, classier nor better looking than Dick Clark. I've had a crush on him since I was a teenager. But much more than that, who in this world has done more for the music industry? He will always stay young and special in the minds of all of us. May you rest in peace."
Overseas Chart Updates Released Showing interest in Whitney Houston continues to slowly wane in the weeks following the pop icon's death, her album this week drops off of the British pop charts. Her Essential, featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," falls off the top 100, down from No. 89 the previous week. Down Under, the collection loses eight to No. 39 Australian pop albums, while her Ultimate drops six to No. 12 Australian catalog albums and her Greatest Hits falls off the Aussie top 50 catalog albums list, down from No. 44. Also in the U.K., The Little Willies' For The Good Times, with Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," rises four to No. 15 British country in its 15th week.
April 21: 'Evening' Loses 31 Percent Sales In Second Week
An Evening With . . . Dolly, the Cracker Barrel re-issue of 2009's Dolly: Live From London, saw sales drop 31 percent in its second week of release to 7,034 copies, sales figures released Friday confirmed. In two weeks, the release has moved 17,176 sets, or roughly 28 copies per store nationwide since it came out. However, the set was able to remain at No. 2 on the U.S. music DVD chart because the other top titles lost similar ground last week. No. 1 set Live From Royal Albert Hall by Adele, sold 11,367 copies, a 29 percent drop from the previous week, while No. 3 Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits sold 3,071 units, a 24 percent decrease from the previous week. In related news, The Better Show has posted to YouTube the footage from Dolly's recent interview for the program. Watch it in the two parts in the media players above and below or here and here.
Irish Charts Updated With Houston CDs Whitney Houston's CDs featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You" remain in the top 100 across the sea in Ireland, where her Ultimate Collection gains nine to No. 17 Irish pop albums and Essential dips 17 to No. 78.
Marty Stuart Covers Porter & Dolly Marty Stuart is looking back at some classic Porter & Dolly on his new release. He covers "Holdin' On To Nothin'" on his upcoming disc Nashville, Volume 1: Tear The Woodpile Down and brings in longtime Wagonmaster band member Buck Trent as a guest artist on that and one other track on the album, which hits stores on Tuesday. The Jerry Chestnut-written song in 1968 was Dolly's second single with Porter Wagoner and their second top 10 hit. Read more about the project from Billboardhere.
'Country Weekly' Features Dolly Pics Again Thanks to Kevin for alerting me there is reportedly a two-page spread in the new Country Weekly from Dolly's recent Dollywood season opening posing with the sculpture by the Wild Eagle roller coaster.
TNN Promo Video Features Dolly The Nashville Network (TNN) is returning, but not as a cable network. Instead, the country music-themed channel will be a digital broadcast network that is currently signing up local television stations to carry it before its re-launch in late summer. A promo "sizzle reel" has been posted to YouTube, featuring a couple of Dolly appearances. Watch it here.
April 20: Dolly, Lulu Record 'IWALY' Duet Gospel legend and former Hee Haw regular Lulu Roman was in the studio Wednesday with Dolly to record a new duet of Dolly's classic "I Will Always Love You." Producer Larry Ferguson says Dolly "blew us all away" with her performance on the song in a brand new arrangement. The duet will appear on Roman's upcoming CD featuring covers of classic tunes and torch songs, At Last, which Ferguson said is tentatively scheduled for a late summer release, although presales will be available at June's CMA Music Festival in Nashville, formerly known as Fan Fair. The track will be the 12th recording of the song that Dolly has released since the 1974 original. Check out a photo of the two in the studio at left courtesy Ferguson (click on it for a larger view), and see the album cover art here.
The British program of Dolly's Imagination Library early childhood literacy program has passed the 500,000-book mark just over four years after the project expanded to the U.K., it was announced Thursday. Eleven-month-old Finley Theobold from Luton, England, received the book along with a personal message from Dolly herself, viewable in the media player above or by clicking here. In a press release, Dolly explained in almost the same words as she does on the video: "I can't believe we have just mailed our 500,000th book in the UK! Little Finley Theobold from Luton just received this very special book. I am so sorry I can't be there to give Finley his book in person, but just like every other month the postman will be making this delivery for me. It was only just a few short years ago that we mailed our first books to children in Rotherham. It's hard to believe we have grown so much in such a short time. We have come a long way but we have really only just begun. As we celebrate this milestone I'd like to thank all of our local sponsors and our partners who work so hard to make this all work for us." The first books were mailed in the U.K. in 2008. Since starting in the U.S. in 1996, the program has distributed more than 40 million books stateside. Active in more than 1,600 communities across the U.S., Canada and Great Britain, the program mails one free, expert-selected, age-appropriate book every month from birth to age 5 to every child whose parents sign up in a participating neighborhood thanks to local sponsors who reimburse Dolly's Dollywood Foundation for the actual cost of book purchase and postage for children in their local community.
'Evening' Holds No. 2, More TV Scheduled An Evening With . . . Dolly, the Cracker Barrel exclusive CD/DVD re-issue of 2009's Dolly: Live From London, this week held steady at No. 2 on the Billboard music video DVD chart released Thursday, suggesting the collection in its second week of release again sold around 10,000 copies. Hopefully, the actual sales total will be available in Friday night's update. In related news, several additional television appearances have been announced. Dolly appeared Thursday on Great American Country's (GAC) Headline Country, which repeats several times in coming days. She'll be on CNN's #MusicMonday at 2 p.m. Eastern Monday, the syndicated Dr. Steve show April 28 and 29, the syndicated Inside Music Row sometime the week of May 7 and Lifetime's The Balancing Act on May 8. As was previously reported, a two-part interview will be broadcast on ABC's The Revolution Thursday and Friday of next week.
'Joyful Noise' Soundtrack Loses On The Charts Elsewhere on the April 28 Billboard charts, the Joyful Noise Soundtrack with four Dolly tracks falls back off the the 50-position independent labels albums chart, down from No. 37 in its 10th week, and the 25-position soundtrack albums chart, down from No. 17 in its 11th week. It spends its 14th chart week losing a dozen digits to No. 23 gospel albums, 24 places to No. 48 Christian albums and 38 rungs to No. 69 Christian and gospel albums. Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, containing her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," sold about 14,000 copies to drop another six spots to No. 30 pop, remaining steady at No. 2 pop catalog albums and No. 1 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. The Bodyguard soundtrack, which also contains the song, falls another 28 places to No. 106 pop, 10 spots to No. 14 pop catalog albums, three to No. 5 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums and one to No. 6 soundtracks. Up north, The Bodyguard is No. 7 Canadian R&B and No. 65 Canadian pop, while Houston's Essential is No. 43 Canadian pop and No. 3 Canadian R&B and Greatest Hits is No. 30 Canadian R&B. Overall, Lionel Richie's Tuskegee regains one to No. 1 country and rises three to No. 1 pop in its third week with 129,000 copies sold, while Rascal Flatts' Changed slips one to No. 2 country and six to No. 9 pop with 41,000 units moved in its second week.
'9 To 5' Heads To Louisiana Yet another local production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical has been revealed: Le Petit Theatre de Terrebonne in Houma, La., will mount the show July 12-29, The Daily Comet reported here.
April 19: 'Hollywood To Dollywood' Hits DVD May 1 Congratulations to Gary and Larry Lane, who on Wednesday inked the final papers for the licensing of Dolly's music in the commercial release of their documentary Hollywood To Dollywood, which has been making the film festival circuit for the past year, playing 50 different cities and taking home 20 individual awards. With the licensing finalized, the project has been cleared for release and sale on DVD and BluRay, and they immediately began taking pre-orders online here with an anticipated release date of May 1. In addition to the 84-minute film chronicling the gay twin brothers' cross-country journey in an RV named "Jolene" on a mission to meet Dolly while coming to terms with their family's prejudices, the DVD will include deleted scenes, extended interviews and outtakes. Also, the project features 15 individual Dolly songs, including two that have never before been commercially available ("Celebrate The Dreamer In You" and "The Sky Is Not The Limit"). In addition, 10 percent of all sale proceeds will be donated to Dolly's Imagination Library charity. It also has a cameo by your webmaster in addition to actors Leslie Jordan, Chad Allen, Beth Grant and Ann Walker plus Oscar-winning writer Dustin Lance Black. "After two years of anticipation, Dolly friends/fans, the time has come," Gary Lane said in a release. "The beautiful Tennessee songbird has given her blessing for Hollywood to Dollywood to be produced on DVD." The news soon started to get noticed, with a few online stories including one from Gay Star Newshere.
Vincent, Tillis Look Up To Dolly Two different country vocalists on Thursday praised Dolly as an idol in separate interviews. Pam Tillis told The Lancing City Pulse in Michigan here she hates to name favorites, but Dolly is her favorite. "Dolly, Dolly, Dolly," she said. "Love Dolly." And in the Pensacola News Journal, Rhonda Vincent said Dolly was "one of the greatest influences as a business person, as an artist and number one, noting her kindness and how she is a world icon that can be anything she wants to be, but to see how down to earth she is." Read more here.
'9 To 5' Heading To Massachusetts Thanks to Mike for alerting me to yet another local production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical: Sept. 25-Oct. 7 at North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Mass.
April 18: See Behind-The-Scenes At New 'Magnolias'
Entertainment Tonight this week sat in on the filming of the Lifetime all-African-American remake of Steel Magnolias, chatting with several cast members, including Dolly's Joyful Noise co-star Queen Latifah. Watch it in the media player above or by clicking here.
Dolly's Nashville Project Gets Tax Break Dolly's Dollywood partnership with Gaylord Entertainment for a water and snow park in Music City received final approval Tuesday night from the Nashville Metro Council for $6 million in tax breaks for the new development, WSMV reported here. Asked about the new Nashville facility by your webmaster at Dollywood's recent season opening, Dolly responded: "Well, we have always wanted to do something in Nashville, I have. And the Gaylords that do all the Opry, Grand Old Opry and Opryland back years ago, well ever since Opryland left, I really believed living in Nashville since 1964, kind of missed the park when it went away. And a lot of people said well, why don't somebody build another park. So through the years we've been trying to scout out different things in Nashville to do. And so we went in business with the Gaylords, the Grand Old Opry people. And we bought a bunch of property across the road from the Opry House, and so we just felt like it was a wonderful team for us to go into business with them. And so we're very excited. We're going to break ground this fall. The water and snow park is just going to be the very first part of it, but it's going to expand. We have several acres, so it will grow into all sorts of wonderful things. But we're going to be employing a lot of people, starting out with probably about 5,000 just this fall when we break ground with the construction, and about 1,500 people with jobs in that area with campgrounds upgrading and different things going in because of it, and every time we start a new phase it will be good. So it will be a wonderful thing for everybody. Everybody in Nashville's excited about it, so ya'll have to come down there and check us out."
'Otis' On Tour From Dollywood It's springtime, and that means the touring company of Dollwood's Penguin Players who bring Imagination Library books to life with original music by Dolly is on the road. Check out a story from their Washington County, Va., appearance with Loren Long's Otis from WCYB here.
April 17: CBS Marvels At Dolly's Sales
CBS This Morning on Saturday gushed over the fact that An Evening With . . . Dolly managed to sell enough copies in its first week as a Cracker Barrel-exclusive release to debut at No. 2 on the music DVD sales chart. The mentions of the retailer were so repeated that one of the anchors joked they were doing a Cracker Barrel commercial. Watch it in the media player above or by clicking here.
April 16: 'Night Of 1,000 Dollys' Coming Back The Dolly-themed party "Night Of 1,000 Dollys" is coming back for a fifth time next month, organizers have announced. For the third year in a row, the Dolly-centric event, which is not officially affiliated with Dolly herself, will be held at Knoxville gay bar Club XYZ (1215 North Central). Inspired by the legendary Night of 1,000 Stevies annual tribute to Stevie Nicks, founder Christopher Hamblin hosted the first party in Dolly drag inside an art gallery and the second in a straight bar before finding its current home. New this year, the party has moved from Friday night to Saturday, as it will be held May 12, which the weekend when Dolly will next appear at Dollywood and the night after her annual Dolly Parade through Pigeon Forge. The drag cast will perform an all-new production starting at 11:30 with "Not Enough" from Dolly's recent movie Joyful Noise, followed by several other Dolly-related performances. Around midnight, the winner of the Best Dolly costume contest will be crowned. A raffle basket containing a Dollywood season pass, the An Evening With . . . Dolly CD/DVD, Joyful Noise DVD and more will also be given away around midnight with proceeds to be donated to Dolly's Imagination Library. Cover for the night is $4 per person. Raz, the club's owner and show director, promises an "awesome" night!
Backstage At Cracker Barrel Interviews Wonder what Dolly's media day is like to promote a product like the recent Cracker Barrel release An Evening With . . . Dolly? The Nashville Post has a great behind-the-scenes recap of her day in a story posted over the weekend here.
Foreign Chart Updates On Whitney Overseas numbers on Whitney Houston's albums that contain her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You" came in again over the weekend. Her Essential loses five places to No. 31 Australian pop and 17 spots to No. 89 British pop, while her Ultimate remains steady at No. 6 Australian catalog albums and falls off the top 50 Australian pop albums list, down from No. 46. Her Greatest Hits holds steady at No. 44 Australian catalog albums. Also in Great Britain, The Little Willies' For The Good Times, featuring Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," rebounds one to No. 19 U.K. country in its 14th week.
'Joyful Noise' Opens In South Africa Thanks to Tracy in South Africa for letting me know that Dolly's film Joyful Noise opened there on Friday. As was previously announced, the picture opens in just over a week in several additional countries: April 26 in Australia and New Zealand, April 27 in Norway and April 28 in Japan.
April 14: 10K First Week Sales Of 'Evening' Confirmed Your webmaster was able to locate sales figures Friday for last week's music DVD releases which confirmed the assumption previously reported here that Dolly's No. 2 debut on that chart represented sales of about 10,000 copies. Her An Evening With . . . Dolly CD and DVD set, a Cracker Barrel-exclusive re-issue of 2009's Dolly: Live From London, sold 10,142 units in its first week, or an average of 16.5 copies in each of the chain's 612 stores. For comparison, the No. 1 set of the week, Adele's Live From Royal Albert Hall, sold 16,048 copies, while No. 3 Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits sold 4,040. Both of those sets have their own Dolly connections, though: In the first, Adele gushes about how much she loves Dolly and one day hopes to cover a Dolly song, and in the second, Houston's music video for her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You" is featured. In somewhat related news, the Irish charts released Friday showed two Whitney Houston releases featuring her take on Dolly's classic still on the top 100 pop tally: Ultimate Collection losing one to No. 26 and Essential falling five to No. 61.
Great 'Joyful Noise' Review Released I don't know of a South African release date being announced yet, but the nation's Independent newspaper gave Dolly's film Joyful Noise a glowingly positive review on Friday. Read it here.
More Dollywood Shots Posted Check out some more images of Dolly at the recent season opening of Dollywood courtesy Dollymania.net correspondent Harrell Gabehart in section of the site here. Thanks, Harrel!
April 13: U.S., Canadian Charts Released As was announced Wednesday, the Cracker Barrel re-issue of Dolly: Live From London under the title An Evening With . . . Dolly debuts at No. 2 on Billboard's music video DVD chart. I couldn't find the Soundscan sales data by press time for this week, but in most recent weeks the No. 2 position on this chart has sold somewhere around 10,000 copies, so it's likely Dolly's set was close to that level. Also on the April 21 numbers, Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, which contains her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," moved about 20,000 units to fall another dozen digits to No. 24 pop, losing one to No. 2 pop catalog albums and retaining its No. 1 position on the R&B/hip-hop catalog albums chart. The Bodyguard soundtrack loses 12 places to No. 78 pop while holding steady at No. 4 pop catalog albums, No. 5 soundtracks and No. 2 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. Elsewhere on the charts, the Joyful Noise Soundtrack has a nice little resurgence, re-entering the 50-position independent labels albums chart at No. 37 for a 10th week and the 25-position soundtrack albums chart at No. 17 for an 11th week, while rising in its 13th week 17 places to No. 21 Christian albums, 22 spots to No. 31 Christian and gospel albums and seven digits to No. 11 gospel albums. The Little Willies' For The Good Times, featuring Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," falls back off the 75-position country albums list, down from No. 74 the previous week, its 11th, while The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, with Dolly on three songs, also falls back off the 15-position bluegrass albums tally, down from No. 14 the previous week, its 54th. Rascal Flatts' Changed debuts at No. 1 country, No. 3 pop with 130,000 copies sold in its first week, while Lionel Richie's country album Tuskegee slips one to No. 2 country and two to No. 4 pop with 95,000 units moved in its second week.
'Evening' Interviews, Promotions Continue Meanwhile, the interviews tied to the promotion of the Cracker Barrel CD/DVD set continue to pop up. Check them out from Taste Of Countryhere, GAC here and Extrahere. And The Insider is giving away 10 autographed copies of the CD. Enter here by Sunday.
Another Story On 'Coat' Ballet The Daily Times has another article on the Appalachian Ballet's adapation of Dolly's "Coat of Many Colors" into a ballet. Read it here.
'9 To 5' Heads To Canadian Stage Elsewhere on stage, those up in Ontario, Canada, who want to try their chops on Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical should try out this weekend. Auditions will be held for the October production of the musical at Migration Hall in Kingsville, The Leamington Post and Shopper reported here.
April 12: 'Evening' To Hit No. 2 Music DVD Sales
An Evening With . . . Dolly, the Cracker Barrel-exclusive re-release of the CD/DVD set Dolly: Live From London, will debut at No. 2 on the Billboard music DVD chart when the full list is released on Thursday, the restaurant chain announced Wednesday in a press release. Sales of the original release were submitted to the magazine as CD sales, but news of its chart position indicates that the re-issue is being submitted to the publication as DVD sales instead. The release gave no indication of how many copies were sold. In the release, Dolly stated: "I'm thrilled that this DVD and CD set has been welcomed so warmly. While I was performing in front of the sold-out audience at the O2 arena in London for that concert, I could feel the energy and excitement of the fans and I was able to send it back to them in the songs I sang that night. Sharing them through the Cracker Barrel exclusive music program was a natural way to continue the excitement of that concert experience. Cracker Barrel fans are the same wonderful people who are my fans." Meanwhile, promotions on the project taken from last week's one day of media interviews continue. Extra posted a story here, while CMT noted that its interview with her, which was originally scheduled to air last weekend on the network's Insider program, has been moved to this Saturday, a clip from which they posted online (see it in the media player above or by clicking here). In addition, air dates have been announced for her appearances on GAC's On The Streets -- April 17 – and ABC's The Revolution -- a two-part piece on April 26 and 27. As was previously announced, her interview on FOX News show Huckabee is slated for airing this Saturday as well. Air dates for the previously-revealed spots on The Dr. Steve Show and Lifetime's The Balancing Act have not been announced.
April 11: New Photos From Dollywood The next set of photos from Dollymania.net correspondent Harrell Gabehart from Dolly's recent appearance for Dollywood's season opening have been added to that section of the site here. More to come!
ABC Show Seeks Dolly Fans ABC's daytime talk show The Revolution is seeking Dolly fans. Send a brief description, your contact information and a photo to casting@the-revolution.com with "DOLLY PARTON FAN" as the subject line to be considered. The show is soliciting fans with the following ad: "Are you or do you know the ultimate Dolly Parton Fan? Would you do ANYTHING to meet her? Do you know every song she's ever sung, word for word? Or, have you watched every movie and TV appearance she's ever been featured in? Do you have an insane Dolly Parton memorabilia collection that you'd love for her to see? Or perhaps, you idolize Dolly so much that you wear your hair the same way, and you try to dress like her? If this sounds like you, then ABC's The Revolution wants to hear from you! Only those who are willing to share their story on national television should respond." (If you send in a note, tell 'em you saw it on Dollymania.net!)
Another Production Of '9 To 5' Coming Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical is getting performed in San Jose, Calif., as a fund-raiser for the local Children's Musical Theatre San Jose, Broadway World reports here. The show opens there this Friday and closes April 22. In a statement Dolly released about the production, she said: "Bravo! I am so proud to hear that CMT Marquee Productions has chosen San Jose's wonderful historic Montgomery Theater to present 9 to 5: The Musical. We can't do enough to give training and performance opportunities to the children and young adults in our communities. Very special thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts, individual donors and local organizations for making this all possible. I truly hope you enjoy my music."
April 10: CBS 'This Morning' Airs Dolly Interview
CBS on Saturday aired Dolly's interview filmed Monday for their This Morning program as part of her promotions for the Cracker Barrel-released An Evening With . . . Dolly. As most interviews this week have done, it focused largely on her reaction to the death of Whitney Houston. Quite unusual in this one, though, was the interviewer choking up with tears when asking about Dolly's legacy when she eventually passes. Watch it in the media player above or by clicking here. She spoke with AOL's The Boot about her career in general here, including a note that an upcoming Oak Ridge Boys album will feature their cover of her classic "Coat of Many Colors." The Associated Press posted a brief video interview to YouTube here, and Charlotte, N.C., station WCNC interviewed her here (also viewable in the media player below).
'Coat' Ballet To Premiere In Maryville The Appalachian Ballet this month will premiere a new work based on Dolly's classic song "Coat of Many Colors," The Knoxville News Sentinel reported here. The show is April 21 and 22 at the Clayton Center for the Arts, Maryville College campus.
U.K., Aussie Chart Updates Released Houston's albums featuring Dolly's "I Will Always Love You" continue to move units around the world, the charts released over the weekend showed. Her Essential rises one to No. 26 Australian pop but falls 22 spots to No. 72 British pop, while her Ultimate dips four to No. 6 Australian catalog albums and 13 to No. 46 Australian pop albums and her Greatest Hits loses 30 to No. 44 Australian catalog albums. Also across the pond, The Little Willies' For The Good Times, with Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," drops eight to No. 20 U.K. country in its 13th week.
Another High School Takes On Dolly's Musical Yet another high school is performing Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical. The show gets a preview this weekend at Books-a-Million in Peachtree City before it opens at East Coweta High School in Georgia, The Newman Times-Herald reports here.
Technical Difficulties Sunday Night Sorry for the lack of a site update on Sunday night, as the site experienced some technical difficulties.
April 7: New Easter Video Diary Released
Dolly on Good Friday released a new video diary installment celebrating the start of spring and wishing fans a Happy Easter! Check it out in the media player above or by visiting YouTube here.
'Evening' Television Blitz Continues
Dolly's promotions for Cracker Barrel's An Evening With . . . Dolly continue this weekend with her scheduled appearance on CBS This Morning Saturday. Check out a preview story on their website here. As was previously reported, she'll also be on CMT's Insider on Saturday as well. ABC moved her Nightline interview from Wednesday to Thursday night. If you missed it, watch it online here or in the media player above, and check out AOL's The Boot with its coverage here. Inside Edition showed its interview with her on Friday and posted it to its website here, and Billboard uploaded extended versions of her interview with its staff member here after previously having posted a shorter, edited version.
New Dollywood Pics Posted To Site The first set of photos from Dollymania.net correspondent Harrell Gabehart from Dolly's recent appearance for Dollywood's season opening have been added to that section of the site here. More to come!
Irish Chart Updates Whitney Houston still has two CDs containing her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You" on the Irish charts this week, it was announced Friday. Ultimate Collection falls eight to No. 25 pop, and Essential loses 23 spots to No. 56 pop.
April 6: Dolly Keeps Plugging 'Evening' CD/DVD
Dolly's promotional campaign over the Cracker Barrel release of An Evening With . . . Dolly CD and DVD collection continued Friday with posting of a Q&A video by Billboard magazine. Watch it in the media player above or by clicking here. In addition, FOX News posted an interview here and in the media player below.
'IWALY' Gone Again From The Charts Less than eight weeks after pop icon Whitney Houston's death, her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You" is officially gone from all of Billboard's charts, falling off the last one it was on, the R&B/hip-hop digital songs list, down from No. 37 the previous week. Also on the April 14 tallies, Houston's Greatest Hits, which contains the song, falls out of the top 10 pop albums chart for the first time since her passing, dipping three spots to No. 12 with about 25,000 copies sold. The CD remains at No. 1 pop catalog albums and R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. It falls off the Internet albums sales list, down from No. 11 the previous week. The Bodyguard soundtrack falls 25 places to No. 66 pop, slides one to No. 4 pop catalog albums, loses one to No. 5 soundtracks and remains steady at No. 2 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. Up north, her Essential is No. 17 Canadian pop and No. 1 Canadian R&B, The Bodyguard No. 58 Canadian pop and No. 7 Canadian R&B and Greatest Hits No. 21 Canadian R&B. Elsewhere on the charts, the Joyful Noise Soundtrack spends its 12th week losing five to No. 38 Christian albums, seven to No. 53 Christian and gospel albums and one to No. 18 gospel albums. The Little Willies' For The Good Times, featuring Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," re-enters the 75-position country albums list at No. 74 in its 11th week, while The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, featuring Dolly on three songs, inches down one to No. 14 bluegrass albums for a 54th week. Lionel Richie's country album Tuskegee debuts at No. 1 country and No. 2 pop with 199,000 copies sold, while Luke Bryan's Tailgates and Tanlines slips one to No. 2 country and rises five to No. 11 pop in its 34th week.
Fan Doc Gets New Trailer On YouTube The Dolly fan documentary Hollywood to Dollywood, which features a brief cameo by your webmaster, this week released a new trailer. The film has won more than 20 film festival Best Documentary awards. Watch the trailer here.
Another Story On Park's New Coaster Read a recap of the experience of taking one's first ride on Dollywood's new Wild Eagle roller coaster from Thursday's Maryville Daily Timeshere, while USA Today cover the ride's opening here. (And we have some new photos from the park's opening weekend coming soon from Dollymania.net correspondent Harrell Gabehart, so keep an eye out for those!)
April 5: 'Evening With' Promotions Continue The official website for Dolly Records, DollyPartonMusic.net, on Wednesday revealed several of Dolly's upcoming appearances taped during her media day on Monday for the Cracker Barrel release An Evening With . . . Dolly. She is scheduled for a Q&A on Billboard.com to be posted Friday and will also appear on the syndicated program Extra! that day. On Saturday, in addition to the previously-announced CBS This Morning, she'll be on CMT's Insider. On April 11, she'll appear on the syndicated The Better Show, and April 14 on FOX News' Huckabee. Additional upcoming appearances include ABC's The Revolution with Tim Gunn, syndicated The Dr. Steve Show and Lifetime's The Balancing Act, although broadcast dates for those shows have not been announced. In other developments from the press interviews, Country Weekly talks here about her desire to have another cosmetics and wig line, and ABC News notes her early crush on Johnny Cash here.
Nashville Dollywood Gets Okay Looks like Dolly's new partnership with Gaylord Entertainment for a snow and water park in Nashville will get city approval for its tax exemption, News Channel 5 reports here.
'Islands' Makes 'Idol' Appearance Dolly music made an appearance again this week on FOX's American Idol, with Colton Dixon and Skylar Laine performing "Islands In The Stream" on '80s night. Read about it from USA Todayhere.
April 4: Dolly's Media Chats Continue For Cracker Barrel
Dolly's media push for Monday's release of the Cracker Barrel CD/DVD An Evening With . . . Dolly, a re-issue of her Dolly: Live From London collection, continued online Tuesday as additional interviews came to light. One with MSNBC was posted to the network's website Tuesday and is viewable in the media player above or by clicking here. In addition, I found another Chicago interview, this one with Windy City Live, available here. Also, check out an interview with the syndicated Inside Edition program on Wednesday (check local listings) in addition to her previously-announced appearance on ABC's Nightline that evening.
Mountain Soul Contest Gives Extra Week Organizers of the Eighth Annual Mountain Soul Vocal Competition, the world's only talent contest that focuses on Dolly's compositions, have announced they have extended this year's entry deadline to April 13. The original deadline had been this coming Friday. A total of 20 finalists in the 13-and-older category and 10 in the 12-and-under category will be invited to perform at the May 19 competition during the Bloomin' BBQ & Bluegrass festival in Sevierville, Tenn. As in recent years, Dolly's two most famous compositions, "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene," are off limits, but all other Dolly-penned songs are acceptable. A complete list of Dolly's released songs that she's written over the years is available on Dollymania.nethere and contestants are asked by organizers to consult that page to confirm that Dolly wrote the song they wish to sing. Winners of the final competition will take home cash and prizes including a Nashville recording session and guitar autographed by Dolly. Applications may be accessed online at www.BloominBBQ.com or by calling the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce at 888-889-7415.
April 3: Dolly Promotes Cracker Barrel CD/DVD Set
An Evening With . . . Dolly, the Cracker Barrel re-issue of her Dolly: Live From London DVD/CD, hit the chain's Country Stores nationwide Monday (as did three new t-shirts, too), and Dolly made the satellite television rounds to promote it. In a press release, Dolly said: "I think my fans and Cracker Barrel guests have a great deal in common even when I'm performing in Europe. I'm just an old fashioned Tennessee girl, so no matter where I am, that part of me reaches straight into the audience and we have a grand old time together. I'm happy to be able to bring this London concert back home to share with Cracker Barrel's guests." As was previously announced, she appeared on CNN's HLN Monday morning in an interview available here or in the media player above. In addition, she did several interviews with local media, including Denver stations KDVR here and KWGN here as well as Indianapolis station WISH here, My FOX Atlanta here and Chicago's WGN here. She also taped an interview with ABC's Nightline which will air on Wednesday night's program at 11:35 p.m. Eastern. Check out a preview here, which includes the quote about her "I Will Always Love You" closing out Whitney Houston's funeral: "[It] just shattered me to hear that song played under those conditions. I thought my heart was gonna stop. It just pierced me like a knife. It's just– I can't explain that feeling, to think that that was so final for her, and that that was my words and my feeling– I would forever be so connected to her." An interview on ABC's Good Morning America aired Monday and is available online here, and she supposedly also taped an interview with CBS This Morning that is scheduled for broadcast on Saturday.
'For The Love Of Dolly' Filmmaker Interviewed For The Love Of Dolly director Tai Ullman was profiled this week on Blog Talk Radio in a program that draws attention to documentaries people should see that might have been overlooked. (Thanks for the shout-out during the interview, Tai!) Listen to it here. If you haven't seen the film, Dolly feeding your webmaster banana pudding on her finger is in the DVD's bonus features – order it here.
Blog Hearts '9 To 5' LGBT blog After Elton wonders if Dolly's film debut 9 To 5 is the "best movie ever." See what its columnist had to say here.
April 2: Houston Continues Dips Overseas Looking at the late Whitney Houston's sales across the Atlantic and Pacific, her albums containing her version of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You" continue to slowly decline on the charts as the time from her death increases. Down Under, her Essential dips two to No. 27 pop, while Ultimate loses one to No. 2 catalog albums and 11 to No. 33 pop and Greatest Hits falls six to No. 14 catalog albums. In the U.K., her Essential falls 18 places to No. 50, while The Little Willies' For The Good Times, featuring Norah Jones' cover of Dolly's "Jolene," loses one to No. 12 country in its 12th week.
Dolly On TV Monday HLN's Robin Meade tweeted news that Dolly will be in studio Monday morning at 8:10 a.m. Eastern on her Morning Express program answering viewer questions. Submit yours here. She's expected to do other media appearances this week to promote Monday's Cracker Barrel reissue of her 2009 Dolly: Live From London DVD/CD under the title An Evening With . . . Dolly, but this is the only one I've found listed thus far. As was previously reported here, the DVD will be the same, but the CD side has had four songs from the original version removed and two added.
Another Opinion On Local '9 To 5: The Musical' Lancaster Online has published a second review of the local production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical, which is playing in the Pennsylvania city through April 28. Read it here.
An Evening With . . . Dolly, the Cracker Barrel exclusive CD/DVD re-issue of 2009's 
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The Dolly-themed party "Night Of 1,000 Dollys" is coming back for a fifth time next month, organizers have announced. For the third year in a row, the Dolly-centric event, which is not officially affiliated with Dolly herself, will be held at Knoxville gay bar 