Aug. 28: Dolly Perfume Heads To Scent Beauty Dolly's Sent from Above perfume on Friday concluded its 30-day exclusivity deal with HSN and as was previously reported here becomes available on Saturday from distributor ScentBeauty.com, where the full-sized bottle will be available. Those who ordered the $10 samples have a coupon code on those samples for $10 off the full-sized bottle sold through the website. Check out a video from Dolly announcing the on-sale date here.
Saint Dolly Watches Over Restaurant A new Mexican restaurant will soon open in Nashville's Germantown neighborhood, Tomacco Tacos, featuring a huge wall mural inside of Dolly as a Catholic saint with the words "Parton Saint." Check out a story from Nashville Eaterhere.
Pre-Order 'Does He Love You' Duet Amazon.com this week added a download link for the Dolly duet of "Does He Love You" with Reba from her forthcoming triple album set Reba: Revived, Remixed, Revisited coming Oct. 8. You'll be able to download the collaboration here.
In Memoriam: Kenny Malone Studio drummer Kenny Malone died this week at the age of 83. He was well known throughout music for playing on hits by numerous superstars but was part of Porter Wagoner and Dolly's studio musicians for most of 1973, playing on most tracks on their duet album Love and Music as well as Dolly's breakthrough solo album Jolene. Read his obituary here.
U.S., U.K. Chart Updates Overseas, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 drops 10 places to No. 97 all-genre streaming albums and falls off the top 20 U.K. country compilation albums for the week, down from No. 16, it was revealed Friday. Elsewhere on the British country compilation albums tally, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe loses three to 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) gains two to No. 13, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) slips two to 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) rises one to No. 19. Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1), with its Dolly collaboration on "Words," inches down one to No. 32 on the U.K. Americana chart. In the U.S., Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" regains one to No. 22 Christian digital song sales, it was announced Tuesday on the Aug. 28 Billboard charts.
Aug. 21: Sam Williams Duet Released
Sam Williams, the son of Hank Williams Jr., on Thursday released for streaming his debut album Glasshouse Children and its duet with Dolly as its current single, "Happy All The Time," both of which were released for sale on Friday. Take a listen on YouTube here or in the media player above, or download it here!
Another Dolly Covid Treatment Shows Promise British drug maker AstraZeneca this week released a study into an antibody therapy they licensed from Vanderbilt University which was originally developed using Dolly's donation to the school for pandemic relief which showed the therapy is successful in preventing Covid-19 infections. The results signal its likely use as a substitute for the vaccine in patients whose immunocompromised conditions render vaccines ineffective. Read more about this development from Reuters here.
Dolly, Allen Talk 'Christmas' Movie For Emmys Dolly and Christmas On The Square director/choreographer Debbie Allen participated in Deadline's "Contenders TV" streaming promotion for Emmy voters last weekend, and on Monday the outlet released video of the interview. Watch it here.
'Jolene' Cover Released British-Zimbabwean singer Kelvin Jones, who is based in Germany, last week released a male-version cover of Dolly's classic "Jolene" told from the perspective of the man Jolene has enchanted. Take a listen on YouTube here or download it from Amazon here.
Order Porter & Dolly DVD Set Amazon this week added a pre-order page for the two-DVD set Country Legends: Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner & Friends, which was reported here last week as coming out Oct. 19 and looks to be a re-issue of the two discs from her Time-Life DVD set that contain episodes of her on The Porter Wagoner Show and selections from her 1976-77 variety show Dolly. Reserve your copy here.
Instrumental Dolly CD Released Midnite String Quartet on Friday released Midnite String Quartet Performs Dolly Parton, featuring instrumental versions of several of her biggest hits. Download the album here.
U.K., U.S. Chart Updates Overseas, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 gains 11 Friday to No. 87 all-genre streaming albums and rises three to No. 16 U.K. country compilation albums for the week, it was revealed Friday. Elsewhere on the British country compilation albums tally, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe falls one 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) drops two to No. 15, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) holds steady at No. 14, 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) lowers three to No. 20. Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1), with its Dolly collaboration on "Words," dips 12 to No. 33 on the U.K. Americana chart. In the U.S., Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" loses one to No. 23 Christian digital song sales, it was announced Tuesday on the Aug. 21 Billboard charts.
Listen To U.K. Radio Interview Dolly appeared on UK's Absolute County Radio this week to talk about the British tour of her musical, the pandemic, and more. Check out the interview here or in the media player below.
Aug. 16: 'In The Sweet By And By' Released
Country Faith Bluegrass on Friday released its first single from its 10th CD, a new version of "In The Sweet By And By" featuring lead vocals by Dolly. The album's producer told Peoplehere she couldn't record new vocals due to the pandemic but provided them a track of previously unreleased vocals, from which they removed the guitar that was the sole instrumentation and recorded an entirely new bluegrass arrangement around her voice. Take a listen on YouTube here or in the media player above, or buy and download the song from Amazon here.
Reba Reveals 'RRR' CD Set With Dolly Track Reba on Friday announced her next album which will contain the duet with Dolly on "Does He Love You" that Dolly had revealed on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live a few nights ago. The track will appear on the three-CD Reba: Revived, Remixed, Revisited coming out Oct. 8. The "Revived" disc contains past hits of hers performed with her touring band using her concert arrangements, "Remixed" contains remixed versions of her past recordings, and "Revisited" features "stripped down" re-recordings of her past hits including the Dolly collaboration.
MPI Releasing Porter & Dolly DVD From Their TV Shows Oct. 8 While Time-Life is issuing an abbreviated six-DVD version of its recent Dolly career retrospective next month under the title Dolly: The Ultimate Collection, Collectors' Edition, it now appears MPI Video will likewise be releasing a stand-alone set of its two discs from the original Time-Life collection in October. The company announced over the weekend that Country Legends: Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner, and Friends will be released on Oct. 19 for $25 suggested price, although most retailers will be selling it for $19-$20. It contains episodes of Dolly's 1976-77 program Dolly and her 1967-1974 years on The Porter Wagoner Show on two discs. The guests identified as appearing with them on the episodes in the DVD description also appeared on episodes included in the Time-Life collection (Tom T. Hall, Freddy Fender, and Dolly's family from her show's episodes and Bobby Bare, Hank Locklin, Jack Green, and Nat Stuckey from the Porter episodes). It will also include a bonus feature of footage from Sevierville's first Dolly Parton Day. The running time of 210 minutes is approximately the same length as the seven episodes of Dolly and seven episodes of The Porter Wagoner Show that MPI remastered for release on the Dolly Time-Life collection, further indicating it likely is a repackaging of those two discs from the original set.
Netflix Promotes 'Christmas' To Emmy Voters Netflix is out there promoting Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square to Emmy members to help recruit votes as a Best Television Movie nominee and Best Choreography nominee for director/choreographer Debbie Allen, who it was announced last week is also being honored at the awards this year with the prestigious Governor's Award for lifetime achievement (her two nominations this year, as executive producer of the film and as its choreographer, are her 19th and 20th career nods from the Emmys and her first in 22 years). Allen and Dolly appeared Sunday in a virtual pitch for votes during Deadline's "Contenders Television: The Nominees" two-day live-stream for voters. And Netflix a week earlier brought a snow globe photo station to The Grove's Original Farmers Market in Los Angeles where free pies from Du-Pars Restaurant and Bakery were provided.
Dollywood Building Residence Hall For Workers Dollywood last week broke ground on a $20 million residence-hall style building at the park to provide housing for more than 750 employees. Hotz Builders will operate the site under its International Residence Hall brand, and the four-story, 136,000-square-foot building will open in May to house temporary seasonal hosts employed at the park through a variety of hiring programs such as the U.S. Summer Work Travel Program for foreign students and U.S. college internship programs.
U.K. Chart Updates Overseas, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 dips one Friday to No. 98 all-genre streaming albums and holds steady at No. 19 U.K. country compilation albums for the week, it was revealed Friday. Elsewhere on the British country compilation albums tally, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe loses two to No. 6, 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 one to No. 13, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) falls four to No. 14, 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) slips one to No. 17. Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1), with its Dolly collaboration on "Words," rises eight to No. 21 on the U.K. Americana chart.
Aug. 12: James Patterson Book Collaboration Officially Announced Although as was reported here at the time, Dolly gave away the ending to her new "mystery" career just over a year ago when she called in for Eddie Stubbs' retirement broadcast on Nashville's WSM Radio for an interview and let it slip that she was writing a novel with author James Patterson set in Nashville, the project was officially announced to the world on Wednesday. Dolly has been quiet about it since then (the audio of the interview was initially shared on the station's website but was removed after just a few hours, I suspect because of the Patterson reveal which wasn't supposed to be known yet).
The novel, titled Run, Rose, Run (U.S. cover art at left; click on for larger view), will be published by Little, Brown and Company March 7 and a companion album of 12 original Dolly songs inspired by the story will be released the same day through her Butterfly Records and a yet-to-be-determined partner label. This is the country/bluegrass album she had teased in several recent interviews that she had recently finished and would release early next year.
In an exclusive report first in People magazine here, Dolly said: "I cannot be more excited about the release of my very first novel Run, Rose, Run with the great James Patterson. I also have a new album to go along with the book. All new songs were written based on the characters and situations in the book. I hope you enjoy the book and the songs as much as we've enjoyed putting it all together!"
Patterson likewise told the magazine: "It's been an honor—and a hell of a lot of fun—to work with the inimitable Dolly Parton, whom I've long admired for her music, her storytelling, and her enormous generosity. The mind-blowing thing about this project is that reading the novel is enhanced by listening to the album and vice versa. It's a really unique experience that I know readers (and listeners) will love."
The publisher's description of the project is: "From America's most beloved superstar and its greatest storyteller - a thriller about a young singer-songwriter on the rise and on the run, and determined to do whatever it takes to survive. Every song tells a story. She's a star on the rise, singing about the hard life behind her. She's also on the run. Find a future, lose a past. Nashville is where she's come to claim her destiny. It's also where the darkness she's fled might find her. And destroy her. Run, Rose, Run is a novel glittering with danger and desire - a story that only America's #1 beloved entertainer and its #1 bestselling author could have created."
People also added the publisher said in a press release about the main character: "The source of her heart-wrenching songs is a brutal secret she has done everything to hide. But the past she has fled is reaching out to control her future—even if it means destroying everything she has worked for."
In an interview with The New York Times released later in the day here, Patterson said Dolly approached him in February 2020 about writing the book and when he agreed she sent him the plot outline she had created and the lyrics to seven of the companion songs. Over six or seven months, they hashed out chapters and sent notes on the text back and forth to each other until the project was finished, he added.
The 448-page book will be released in hardcover and softcover in addition to e-book and audio book (both in digital and CD format from Penguin). The audio book will be nine hours unabridged but the narrator has yet to be announced. Reserve your copy of the book here.
Dolly Gets Dove Award Nomination Dolly and Zach Williams were nominated Wednesday for a Dove Award for Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year. The pair face off against Tauren Wells for "Famous For (I Believe)," Crowder with "Good God Almighty," Lauren Daigle for "Hold On To Me" and for KING & COUNTRY featuring Kirk Franklin and Tori Kelly with "TOGETHER." This marks Dolly's fifth career Dove nomination, having received the nod twice for Country Recorded Song of the Year for collaborations with Dottie Rambo and Brad Paisley and once for Bluegrass Recorded Song of the Year as the songwriter of a cover of "Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher Man" by Volume Five and Rhonda Vincent. She won the Dove for Short Form Video of the Year last year with for GOD & COUNTRY for their collaboration "God Only Knows." Winners will be announced Oct. 19 in Nashville with an Oct. 22 broadcast on TBN. On the charts this week, "There Was Jesus" falls off the Christian streaming songs chart this week, down from No. 23, it was announced Tuesday on the Aug. 14 Billboard charts, but the collaboration holds steady at No. 22 Christian digital song sales.
Emmys Detail Who Is Credited With 'Christmas' Nomination The Emmy Awards have announced the producers to be credited by name on each of their major award nominations this year and as expected, both Dolly and Debbie Allen are named executive producers credited for the Best Television Movie nomination for Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square from Netflix. As was previously reported, this marks Dolly's fourth national Emmy nomination, her third in this category, while it is Allen's 20th (she earned her 19th nomination from the film for Best Choreography – her first two nominations in 22 years). Also named as nominees with them are executive producers Maria S. Schlatter and Sam Haskell and co-executive producers Jo Lazarov and Hudson Hickman.
Ken Burns Documentary With Dolly Wins ACM Award Ken Burns' PBS documentary Country Music, which featured extensive interviews with Dolly about the history of country music as well as her own life and career, has won this year's Tex Ritter Film Award from the Academy of Country Music, it has been announced, and will be honored at the ACM Honors Aug. 25. Dolly has previously been involved in two other projects that won the prize: her film The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas in 1982 and her NBC made-for-TV movie Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors in 2015 (although only the latter counts toward her total of ACM wins because as executive producer of the project she is personally credited with the award but isn't credited as a star of Whorehouse). Read more from Billboardhere.
HSN Details How Fast Dolly's Perfume Sets Sold Out HSN has announced that Dolly's recent Scent from Above launch on their network was the highest sales for a fragrance launch on a single week day ever for the retailer and the fastest sell-out in a decade for the network. According to the numbers sold that were announced on air and the prices charged for each item, she sold just under $3 million of products on the launch day. A full-sized perfume bottle and roller ball set and skin cream both sold out, and then additional stock of the full-sized perfume alone also sold out before the end of the night. The retailer later restocked and was selling the full-sized bottles again by Friday. Read more from Yahoo here.
'9 To 5' UK Tour Announces Full Cast The producers of the UK tour of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical have announced their full casts. Joining previously announced Louise Redknapp as Violent will be Vivian Panka in her professional UK stage debut at Judy, Stephanie Chandos as Doralee, Sean Needham as Mr. Hart, Julia Nagle as Roz and Russell Dickson as Joe. Read more from Broadway Worldhere.
Aug. 7: 'Forbes': Dolly Worth $350 Million Forbes magazine this week finally was able to estimate a value for Dolly's share of her privately-held Dollywood investments, which allowed the magazine to include them in one of their wealth lists for the first time. She debuted at No. 86 on the seventh annual wealthiest self-made women list this week, although it appeared they may have underestimated her net worth because they broke it out as:
$150 million songwriting publishing catalog
$165 million 50% ownership of Dollywood
$20 million 50% ownership of Splash Country
$15 million 50% ownership of DreamMore Resort
Total: $350 million
They noted she also owns a string of dinner theatres with her Dollywood partners but didn't separate out a value for those, so they might not be included in the total. Likewise, the article stated that it only valued the estimated worth of her songwriting catalog should she choose to sell it like Bob Dylan and others have done recently, and didn't indicate that the figure includes any value for her income from her nearly six decade long recording career, touring, or movies/television that she may still have in cash or other investments outside of her Dollywood businesses and publishing company. (Although the magazine may be assuming she has invested all of her money into Dollywood over the years.) It also does not appear to include a value for her television production company or her share of interests in movies and shows her current and older production companies have been involved in, her record label, her recording studios, her office compound, or her various homes and other properties. So the actual total may be more than $350 million. Most economic experts that have ventured a guess at her net worth have previously placed it at $600 million, but Forbes is generally the most respected of those. Check out the full section here and Dolly's entry here.
Dolly On Emmy Nominations Promotional Feed Dolly and her Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square director/choreographer Debbie Allen have been announced as guests for the Aug. 14-15 live stream Emmy special Contenders Television: The Nominees presented by Deadline, the publication announced here this week.
Another Dolly Graphic Novel Coming Thanks to Chuck for the tip that another Dolly graphic novel is on its way. It's Her Story: Dolly Parton will hit from Sunbird Kids Books Nov. 16. It is 48 pages. Check out a couple of previews here and reserve your copy here.
U.K. Chart Update Overseas, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 dips four Friday to No. 97 all-genre streaming albums and loses four to No. 19 U.K. country compilation albums for the week, it was revealed Friday. Elsewhere on the British country compilation albums tally, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe falls one to No. 4, 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 one to No. 14, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) drops six to No. 10, 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. 16. Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1), with its Dolly collaboration on "Words," inches up one to No. 29 on the U.K. Americana chart.
Drag Queen Kylie Does Dolly Drag queen Kylie Sonique Love celebrated her Dolly impersonation on this week's "Snatch Dating Game" skit (here) on the current season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars by releasing a music video tribute to the icon titled "Do It Like Dolly." In it, she dresses up as all three Dollys from Here You Come Again, the bunny Dolly from Playboy, Doralee in 9 To 5, and Miss Mona in The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas before closing out as what looks like goddaughter Miley Cyrus's version of Dolly style. Watch it here or in the media player below.
Aug. 4: Time-Life Gives Details On Dolly DVD Re-Issue Time-Life on Tuesday released additional details about its abbreviated release of the six-DVD set Dolly: The Ultimate Collection (Collectors' Edition) coming Sept. 21 that it will feature 11 episodes of her 1987-88 ABC variety series (versus eight episodes in the original 11-DVD regular version and 16 episodes in the original 19-DVD deluxe edition), the Bob Hope's Jolly Christmas Show special, her 2009 Live From London DVD, and the 2019 BBC documentary Dolly Parton: Here I Am. The guests noted in the ABC series are those who appear on the original set's first two discs (Oprah Winfrey, Kenny Rogers, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Willie Nelson, and the Smothers Brothers) and the Christmas disc (Mac Davis and Burl Ives), which leads me to suspect the set will be comprised of the deluxe version's Volume 1 Discs 1, 2,3 and 6 plus Volume 2 Disc 5 and then either Disc 1 or Disc 2 of Volume 3.
'Ad Age' Names Dolly One Of Year's 'Hottest' Brands Ad Age magazine recently named Dolly one of the "20 Hottest Brands of 2021" thanks to her Covid vaccine donation, Super Bowl commercial appearance, and Jeni's ice cream flavor. Read more (may be for subscribers only) here.
'People' Profiles Dolly's Rapping Nephew People magazine offered a nice profile this week of Dolly's nephew rap artist Sabyn, who just released a track of him rapping over his aunt Dolly's original "9 To 5" here, and it notes he was raised by casting director Laray Mayfield, who was a single mom, and that he didn't become close to his father, Dolly's late brother Randy, until his dad was diagnosed with cancer, at which time they developed a relationship and discovered forgiveness. Read the piece here.
Wal-Mart Reissuing 'Christmas' Vinyl Thanks to Chuck for alerting me that Wal-Mart is taking pre-orders for a Wal-Mart-exclusive re-issue of A Holly Dolly Christmas on "transparent white vinyl" on Aug. 26. (That's the same color name as the Amazon-exclusive vinyl version from last year.)
U.S. Chart Updates Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" dips four this week at No. 23 Christian streaming songs on the Aug. 7 Billboard charts released Tuesday and gains one to No. 22 Christian digital song sales.
