April 25:
'Run' Slips From Nation's Top Selling Book
 After five consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller List, Run, Rose, Run by Dolly and James Patterson slipped Friday to No. 2 on the Hardcover Fiction List. It also slid one spot to No. 6 on the combined hardcover and e-book fiction chart for the week. Meanwhile, Dolly's companion album sold about 2,500 in its sixth week, dropping 38 places to No. 48 overall album sales and 24 spots to No. 34 current album sales in the April 23 Billboard. It reigns at No. 1 bluegrass albums for a sixth consecutive week. The title also falls off the top 50 country albums chart, independent labels albums chart, and Americana/folk albums, down from No. 44, No. 30, and No. 6, respectively. Across the pond, Run, Rose, Run loses nine to No. 57 overall sales, eight to No. 57 physical sales, five to No. 47 Scottish albums, one to No. 7 Americana albums, and one to No. 3 country albums. The Real Dolly Parton shoots up 20 to No. 70 U.K. physical sales and 42 to No. 58 Scottish albums. Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 re-enters the top 100 British albums at No. 93, top sales at No. 84 and top streaming albums at No. 87. On the country compilation albums tally, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 falls three to No. 4, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe moves up 12 to No. 2 and 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) inches up two to No. 11.

Grammys Honor Women Of Country
The Grammy Museum will host a women of country music exhibit through Oct. 2 which will include Dolly's dress from a 1971 Grand Ole Opry appearance, Rolling Stone reported here.

April 18:
'Run, Rose, Run' Still America's No. 1 Book
Dolly and James Patterson's Run, Rose, Run continues this week to dominate the book world, with the novel capturing a fifth consecutive week at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List for hardcover fiction. The publication falls to No. 5 for combined e-book and print sales, but its audio version debuts at No. 1 for April on the newspaper's monthly tabulation of best-selling audio books. In related news, Publishers Weekly reported that the tome was the first quarter's fourth-best-selling book, even though it was only available the final four weeks of the quarter, moving 250,000 copies between March 7 and April 2, an average of 62,000 books sold per week. Now with six weeks of sales, it is likely somewhere around 350,000 copies sold. For comparison, Dolly's companion album of the same name sold about 40,000 copies in its first five weeks with an estimate of week six's sales not available yet.

'Run' Album Back In Top 10 Sellers
And promotions for the book pushed Dolly album Run, Rose, Run back into the nation's 10 top selling albums last week, moving about 7,000 copies in its fifth week of release and climbing 10 to No. 10 overall album sales and six to No. 10 current album sales on the April 16 Billboard tallies released last week. It re-enters the independent label albums top 50 at No. 44, rises nine to No. 30 country albums, holds steady for a fifth week at No. 1 bluegrass, and climbs one to No. 6 folk. Dolly re-enters the Artist 100 chart at No. 77. Ultimate Dolly Parton loses three to No. 50 country albums. Across the pond, Run, Rose, Run slips three to No. 48 overall sales, nine to No. 49 physical sales, 10 to No. 42 Scottish albums and two to No. 6 Americana albums, while remaining steady at No. 2 country albums. The Real Dolly Parton rises two to No. 90 U.K. physical sales and slides 14 to No. 100 Scottish albums. On the country compilation albums tally, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 gains one to recapture the No. 1 spot, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe moves up two to No. 14 and 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) re-enters top 20 at No. 13.

Dolly Joins Julie & Dan For 'The Seeker'
Gospel duo Julie and Dan have a new album hitting streamers on Friday called Hymns: Some of Old, Some of New which features a cover of Dolly's classic "The Seeker" including background harmonies from Dolly herself.

Dollywood Heats Up The Press
The Internet had some laughs last week at an opinion piece in ultra-conservative publication The Federalist that encouraged readers to protest the pro-gay rights advocacy of Disney by cancelling their Disney theme park vacations and going instead to Dollywood because she felt wholesome Dolly Parton would never support such ideas, apparently completely unaware of Dolly's standing as country music's most vocal and prominent gay rights advocate herself for the past three or four decades. Coverage of the uninformed call for boycott made numerous mainstream media outlets, including Newsweek here. In related news, Conde Nast Traveler spoke with Dolly about what she recommends visitors do at her theme park here and National Geographic interviewed her about her conservation and environmentalism activism around the park here in which she admonished those who don't believe climate change is man-made, warning: " "We should pay more attention. We're just mistreating Mother Nature—that's like being ugly to your mama. We need to take better care of the things that God gave us freely. And that we're so freely messing up." She was also interviewed by The Washington Post about the park's season opening here. Meanwhile, the park's third annual Flower & Food Festival with over 1 million blooms kicks off Friday and Dolly said in a press release: "Spring has always been so wonderful to me, because the flowers start growing, the sun shines for a little longer, and the birds start singing a new song. When I was little and the weather started warming up, all us kids would gather on the porch in the afternoon and enjoy lemonade that Mama brought out for us. That's springtime to me – getting to make memories with my family and taking in the beautiful colors everywhere.I hope that when families come to Dollywood during our festival, they get those same feelings of joy. This year, our guests can take a walk in my special butterfly garden and even see my Mama making my coat of many colors. I think the festival will continue to bloom even bigger and brighter right here in these beautiful mountains."

Dolly To Perform At Arkansas Governor's Mansion
Dolly will hold a sold out private concert in the Arkansas Governor's Mansion on May 5 to celebrate her Imagination Library, Arkansas Online reported here.

Loretta Gets Birthday Greetings From Dolly
Icon Loretta Lynn turned 90 years old last week, and Dolly was among her friends wishing her the best, including singing "Happy Birthday" to her in a video here.

Another Dolly Mural Going Up
Ringgold, Ga., where Dolly and Carl Dean secretly wed in 1966, will premiere a new mural of the superstar to celebrate their 56th wedding anniversary next month, WTVC reported here.

Knoxville's Dolly Fest Returns
Knoxville has announced Dolly Fest will return June 3-5 with look-a-likes, themed merch, art and music in the Old City neighborhoods. Check out a story from WBIR here.

Dolly Visits Oxford, Miss., For Award
Dolly made her way to Oxford, Miss., the other weekend to accept an award from the women's auxiliary of the University of Mississippi Foundation, and she headlined a dinner for the honor as well as a children's book reading for local children invited from area schools. Coverage included Supertalk FM here, and thanks to Jeremy Brown for some photos from the event below and a brief video here.

April 6:
'Run' Gains CD Sales In Week 4
Dolly's album Run, Rose, Run saw a nice spike in sales last week, moving about 4,000 units in its fourth week, chart performance released Tuesday showed. The set rises eight spots to No. 20 overall sales but slips one to No. 16 current album sales in the April 9 Billboard tallies. It holds steady at No. 1 bluegrass albums and climbs 15 to No. 7 Americana/folk albums. It re-enters the country albums chart at No. 39, and Dolly re-enters the Social 50 at No. 44. Her Ultimate Dolly Parton loses three on the country albums chart to No. 47.

Dolly Loses Grammy To Gaga, Bennett
As pretty much everyone predicted, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett won the Grammy Sunday for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, besting A Holly Dolly Christmas. Bennett, who is 95 and recently retired due to Alzheimer's, is the category's darling, having won it 14 times, roughly half of the total times it has been awarded.

Dolly Up For Retro CMT Music Award
The CMT Music Awards on Tuesday revealed a new category in which Dolly is nominated: Trending Comeback Song of the Year. The award recognizes an older song that has gone viral recently. Dolly's "9 To 5" is up against Alan Jackson's "Freight Train," Brooks & Dunn's "Neon Moon," Reba's "I'm A Survivor," Sara Evans' "Suds In The Bucket," Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like A Woman" and Taylor Swift's "Love Story." Fans may vote through Saturday by swiping up on CMT's Instagram story. Learn more here.

Dolly's Parents' Home Now Wedding Venue
The longtime home of Dolly's parents in Sevierville, Tenn., has been sold and will now operate as a wedding venue, it was reported on WVLT here. Red Top, as it was known, was purchased by Dolly for her parents for $195,000 in 1984 but the title reverted to Dolly in 2003 after their deaths. She sold it to members of the Ogle family for $1.3 million in November, and they sold it to the new owners for $2.15 million two months later. The new owners pledge to make the venue available for free to anyone who has paid for a wedding venue which was destroyed by the recent wildfires in the area.

April 2:
'Run' Hits No. 1 For Week Three

U.S., U.K. Chart Details
Chart performance indicates Dolly's companion album Run, Rose, Run sold about 2,500 copies in its third week. The April 2 Billboard tallies released Tuesday show it losing 14 places to No. 28 sales and 11 spots to No. 15 current albums sales while it holds steady at No. 1 bluegrass albums. For the charts where streaming is added in, it was down more: losing 19 to No. 22 Americana/folk and falling off the all-genre Billboard 200, down from No. 132, top 50 country albums, down from No. 11, and independent label albums chart, down from No. 18. She falls off the Artist 100, down from No. 46, and holds steady on the Social 50 at No. 44. Her Ultimate Dolly Parton holds steady on the country albums chart to No. 44. Overseas, Run, Rose, Run loses 13 to No. 28 overall British sales, 12 to No. 26 physical CD sales, and seven to No. 17 Scottish albums. It gains one to No. 2 Americana albums and remains steady at No. 2 country albums. Elsewhere on the British charts, The Real Dolly Parton loses 26 to No. 82 on the U.K. top sales chart, 27 to No. 74 physical sales chart, and off the top 100 Scottish albums chart, down from No. 60. On the U.K. country compilations albums chart, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 gains three to No. 1, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe slips six to No. 11, 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 out of the top 20, down from No. 17.

Wildfires Threaten Smoky Mountains Again
Dolly's beloved Great Smoky Mountains faced two wildfires this week. As of press time, the one closest to Pigeon Forge was 85 percent contained but had damaged or destroyed at least 100 homes. Donations to support those impacted may be made to Mountain Tough Recovery Team, which absorbed Dolly's My Peoples Fund. Mailing address: Citizens National Bank – Mountain Tough Recovery Team, 200 Forks of the River Parkway, Sevierville, TN 37862. Checks should be payable to Mountain Tough Recovery Team. In a statement released through social media, Dolly said: "I've been keeping up with everything going on with the fires near my home area. It looks scary on TV, but I'm proud of how everyone in the area has pulled together like they always do. I'm especially proud of the brave men and women who are working to contain the fire. I know there are some folks who have been affected, and I hope that you will join me in saying a prayer for them. During this time, I've also remained in touch with my people at Dollywood who have assured me everything is okay there."

Dolly Cover On New Miley Album
Dolly goddaughter Miley Cyrus on Friday dropped a new digital album of live recordings selected by fans as their favorites from her career, Attention: Miley Live, which features her version of Dolly's "Jolene." Download it here.

Kenny Farewell DVD Coming May 20
Kenny Rogers' management this week officially announced the May 20 release of the DVD/CD combo Kenny Rogers: All In For The Gambler, including his and Dolly's final public appearance together and their performances of "You Can't Make Old Friends," "Islands In The Stream" and "I Will Always Love You" from his 2017 farewell tribute concert. News of the DVD was first reported here a month ago when it was learned that the special was airing for pledge week on PBS stations nationwide who would be offering pre-orders for the collection as donor thank you gifts but they wouldn't be delivered until after May 20. This announcement is the availability of the set to the general public on the same day. Reserve your copy here!

Vote For Dollywood In 'USA Today' Awards
Dollywood is up again for several honors in the annual USA Today 10Best Awards, the park announced this week. Last year, the park won the newspaper's reader-voted awards for Best Amusement Park Hotel for DreamMore Resort and Best Amusement Park Restaurant for Aunt Granny's. They are up this year for both of those honors again as well as Lightning Rod for Best Amusement Park Roller Coaster, "Dreamland Drive-In" for Best Amusement Park Entertainment, Dollywood's Smoky Mountain Cabins for Best Amusement Park Hotel in addition to DreamMore, and Dollywood's Splash Country for Best Outdoor Water Park. Vote here daily through April 25.