Another Concert Added, More Dates, CD Coming
Dolly has scheduled one more concert, it was announced over the weekend. She will play the Sun Arena at the Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino in Uncasville, Conn., at 7 p.m. Nov. 16. Tickets, which will run $45 and $65, will go on sale Sept. 23 (time of sale TBA) via Ticketmaster. Dolly last played the venue in August 2005 to a nearly sell-out crowd. She did sell out the arena for her November 2004 concert there. But that's not her only concert news. While her staff has maintained that her upcoming concerts are not technically a "tour" and will not be organized into a formal tour, The Knoxville News Sentinel called them a tour in its coverage of the weekend's festivities, also announcing that she plans to continue scheduling dates at casinos in 2007 and will also add some European concerts next year as well. (Although not referenced in the story, I understand, though, that additional 2006 casino dates are to be scheduled.) And in an interview with The News Courier in Athens, Ala., here (which also called the collection of concerts a "limited tour"), she said the Kenny Rogers puppet she used for some shows on her "Hello I'm Dolly" Tour will return, as will the Elvis impersonator to perform "I Dreamed About Elvis," and new to the show will be use of a dancer. She also revealed in the interview that she plans to put out a new CD in spring 2007 titled "Country Is As Country Does" which will include the Elvis number. Her other currently-scheduled concerts, three nights in November at Canada's Casino Rama, are nearly sold out, with seats in just the last few rows on the far left and right sides of the venue remaining available. Image of Dolly at left at the Mohegan Sun during her 2004 concert courtesy Brenda Bourque. Used with permission.

Dolly And The King Help Tourism
Speaking of Elvis, it was noted last week that due to the popularity of Dolly's commercial with the King to promote Tennessee tourism, the state's tourism website has broken into the top 10 for all Google searches for the word "vacation." Read more from The Knoxville News-Sentinel here.

Dolly And Busey Together Again
Dolly is planning a duet with wild man Gary Busey, the actor who starred with her in the made-for-television film Wild Texas Wind but whose personal antics have attracted more attention in recent years than his professional work. Busey told Tulsa World in Oklahoma that he is working on a tribute album to Buddy Holly (one of his early roles was starring in a bio-pic on the late rock 'n' roll trailblazer, which earned him an Oscar nomination) and has gotten agreements from ZZ Top to join him on "That'll Be The Day," Bruce Springsteen on "Rave On" and Dolly on "True Love Ways." Read more from the story published in the newspaper on Thursday here.

'Billboard' Chart Updates
Brad Paisley's Time Well Wasted, which features his No. 1 duet with Dolly, "When I Get Where I'm Going," spends its 56th week on the Billboard country albums chart gaining three spots to No. 22 in the Sept. 23 tally, it was announced Thursday. On the pop side, the CD remains steady at No. 96 pop and No. 100 comprehensive, while in Canada it slides one to No. 32 country. Martina McBride's Timeless, featuring "I Still Miss Someone" with Dolly, slips two to No. 6 Canadian country and 20 places to No. 62 pop there. In the U.S., the collection remains steady at No. 59 country in its 46th chart week. Kenny Rogers's 21 Number Ones, which includes "Islands In The Stream," rises one to No. 39 country in its 33rd week, re-entering the top 200 pop chart at No. 190. Rhonda Vincent's All American Bluegrass Girl, the first single from which is "Heartbreaker's Alibi" with Dolly, remains steady at No. 4 bluegrass in its 15th week. Rascal Flatts' Me & My Gang remains at No. 1 country in its 23rd week, gaining two to No. 16 pop, while Josh Turner's Your Man inches up one to No. 2 country and four to No. 21 pop in its 33rd week.

And On GAC
Rhonda Vincent and Dolly lost two last week on the Great American Country (GAC) Top 20 Country Countdown, the network announced Friday. Their video for "Heartbreaker's Alibi" fell to No. 6 in its sixth week on the viewer-voted chart. Cast your ballot for the duo in next week's countdown here!

'Hannah Montana' News
The time has changed for The Disney Channel premiere of Dolly's guest role on Hannah Montana. The episode, "Good Golly, Miss Dolly." will premiere at 8 p.m. Eastern Sept. 29, not the 7 p.m. time slot previously reported here. It is also scheduled to repeat at 6 p.m. Eastern on Oct. 4 on Disney.

Tennessee Libraries Earn Coverage
Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program was all over the news in Tennessee in recent days. The Tennessean on Sunday offered a very lengthy, comprehensive local view of the program here, complete with a brief interview with Dolly at the park from Friday. (The story has a side-bar in Q&A format here to accompany it.) Bradford County's efforts were profiled in The Shelbyville Times-Gazette here on Saturday, while Dickson County's program earned some ink in The Dickson Herald here on Friday. Then on Sunday, Chattanooga TV station WDEF had a little story on its success there, an online version of which is accessible here.

Burgess Services Held Sunday
My appreciation is extended to reader Angel for passing along the obituary for former Dolly fan webmaster Mark Burgess, which appeared over the weekend in The Times of Gainesville, Ga. Services were held Sunday. Read the obituary here. Memorials may be made to Calvary Baptist Church or Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, both of Gainsville, Ga.

Sept. 14-17:
Dolly Added To Reba Tribute
Dolly will literally be singing the praises of close friend and fellow superstar Reba McEntire next month, CMT announced on Wednesday. Both Dolly and Wynonna have joined as performers in a cast which will include Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, Kelly Clarkson, Martina McBride, Brooks & Dunn, Jennifer Nettles and LeAnn Rimes for the tribute special CMT Giants: Reba. Also announced Wednesday as appearing on the show but not singing were Barbara Mandrell, James Denton, Melissa Peterman and Christopher Rich. The taping is scheduled for Oct. 26 (not the Oct. 25 date reported on CMT.com) at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. Tickets, ranging from $50 to $350, go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. West Coast time Saturday via Ticketmaster, with a portion of proceeds benefiting Habitat for Humanity. The concert special will air on CMT Nov. 18. Read more here.

Singin' A Song
Dolly has agreed to also sing about her hometown area around Dollywood, according to a story in Sevier County, Tenn.'s The Mountain Press. The newspaper reports that she has offered to sing a new jingle, "Your All-American Getaway," to be used in advertising promoting Pigeon Forge, the city where the theme park is located. Read more here.

In Memoriam
Dolly fans this week are mourning the loss of a giant among their ranks. Mark Burgess, who founded and for several years operated Dolly.net, one of the first fan sites dedicated to Dolly online, passed away Wednesday after a long illness, a mutual friend notified Dollymania. A familiar face at all Dolly events in Nashville and Dollywood until recent years, Burgess was a professional photographer whose work with Dolly included shooting the official photos of her with Dottie Rambo used to promote the single "Stand By The River" and snapping a picture which appeared in the liner notes to her 1994 concert CD Heartsongs: Live From Home. He was even seen once dancing with her during the closing credits of a CMT interview special a few years back. His lasting contributions to the Dolly fan circle will not be forgotten, and our thoughts and prayers remain with his family and friends.

A Brief Hiatus
It's that time again, when your Dollymania updates temporarily stop so your webmaster may travel to see her in person and bring back all the tales and images from a Dolly sighting. So there won't be any updates until Sunday evening, when I'll be back with news and photos from her stop at Dollywood Friday to kick off the Bluegrass & BBQ Festival Friday at the park (11 a.m. appearance to announce the winner of her cookbook contest and a parade through the park grounds Friday afternoon). And I might as well go ahead and tell y'all, so hopefully you won't get quite so mad at me when the time comes :) But there will be a little longer, non-Dolly break from the site in a little over a month when your webmaster takes a vacation to Japan for a couple of weeks at the end of October and early November, and I don't anticipate being able to update the site while overseas.

Sept. 13:
CMT 'Greatest Albums' To Include Dolly
Although the actual list of records has not been released, CMT revealed Tuesday that Dolly is among the artists to be featured on its next installment in its "The Greatest" series of countdowns: CMT 40 Greatest Albums. Only 36 performers are listed as being in the program, meaning some will appear with more than one entry in the top 40. Dolly's collaborators Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris are also both on the list, suggesting that their 1987 collaboration Trio will be among the titles honored with a spot. It wouldn't surprise me, too, if Dolly's 1971 masterpiece Coat Of Many Colors is on the list, since many critics count it in the 10 best albums of the genre's history, or her 1999 collection The Grass Is Blue, which is possibly the most critically-acclaimed work of her career. The special, which promises to celebrate country's "most important albums . . . groundbreaking, influential and enduring" across five decades, premieres at 9 p.m. Eastern Sept. 22 with several repeats in the days thereafter.

Vincent Duet Making Waves Across The Pond
"Heartbreaker's Alibi," Dolly's collaboration with Rhonda Vincent, is getting some notice overseas. The new European CMA charts released Tuesday had the song debuting in the top 10 country single airplay charts in both France and the U.K. at No. 9 and No. 6, respectively.

Sept. 12:
Review: Rambo Book Short, But Good
When I sat down this weekend to finally read the copy of Driving Ms. Dottie by Larry Ferguson (with Mike Collins) this weekend, I quickly was sorry that I hadn't made the time to crack it open the moment it had first arrived. Ferguson, who manages gospel legend Dottie Rambo, offers a captivating look behind the curtain of fame, with a sizeable dose of Dolly along the way. I've gotten to know Ferguson over several years as a fellow Dolly fan and can say the book wonderfully capsulizes his energetic personality and his devotion to one of Christian recording's real superstars. Early on, you learn his introduction to Dolly came from the film 9 To 5 during his childhood, but little did he know then he would become friends with the bubbly blond on the screen (and the deranged Snow White from the film as well). The book has one full chapter on Dolly, and one on another close friend of his, Lily Tomlin, but he has peppered additional Dolly tid-bits throughout the stories as well as several photos of her. (And even a Dolly webmaster, Chris Barnes, one of the operators of the fan site Dolly On-Line, gets a good bit of ink in the book thanks to his travels with them as Rambo's official webmaster and a jack-of-all-trades assistant for her and Ferguson on the road.) Other stars noted in the book include her sister, Stella, and Aunt Dorothy Jo as well as stars Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Barbara Mandrell and a host of the legends of Christian recording and evangelism. Most touching, though, is his description of Rambo's close friendship with the late Vestal Goodman and the loss she suffered when Goodman died in 2003. You'll need one of Vestal's hankies for that one. My only complaint with the work is that it is too short -- at just 144 pages, it's a quick read, an easy read and a highly entertaining read, but it leaves the reader longing for more stories. Maybe he'll write a sequel in a few more years, or maybe Dottie will finally come out with her own life story and tell even more of their adventures together. Get the book from Rambo's website here!

Latest On Boxed Set
October's Dolly boxed set, The Acoustic Collection, 1999-2002, got a couple more mentions on Monday. Country radio stations nationwide that subscribe to MJI Interactive's Country Now news service were treated with a brief on the release (see it from one of the member stations here if you're reading this update early enough), and music news site Live Daily included the item in its general music news round-up of the day here.

Sept. 11:
'Death' Hoax Site Discovered
I don't know why someone keeps wanting of "off" Dolly, but thanks to Lee for alerting me to the hoax website www.dollypartonisdead.com. Apparently the site is connected to the previous hoax carried by a morning program on radio stations in Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Va., on Aug. 9 claiming she had passed that morning. Some quick research on the part of Dollymania revealed the website was created the same day as the radio hoax and had originally claimed she had died on Aug. 8. Further relation to the first hoax was evidenced because the original version of the site (available here from Google's cache) stated it was "brought to you by" the radio show which had generated the false news report (complete with a link to the radio show's own website) and "some other folks," which provided an e-mail link to Hard Corps, Inc., a Washington, D.C., area technology company which, according to registration records, owns the hoax site in question. The page was apparently updated this weekend to remove the links to the radio station website and hoax site owner's contact e-mail, change the date of death to Sept. 10, state that private funeral services would be held on Friday and invite fans to candlelight vigils on Wednesday in D.C., San Francisco, San Diego and Chicago, providing call-in lines to radio stations in each of those four cities for more information (although none is a country station). The D.C. station cited is the same one from which the original hoax originated a month ago. On the same days as the Aug. 9 radio hoax and Sunday's Internet hoax, the Dolly entry on the online publicly-edited encyclopedia Wikipedia was vandalized to claim she had died on those days, although both erroneous edits were quickly reversed.

Boxed Set Coverage
The upcoming Dolly boxed set The Acoustic Collection, 1999-2002 got a couple of additional mentions over the weekend. The Tennessean noted it Sunday in its Celebrities column here, and The Richmond Times Dispatch profiled former resident Steve Buckingham, Dolly's longtime producer, mentioning the boxed set and offering a couple of quotes from him about working with her over the years. Read that article here.

Another Showing For Fan Doc
The Dolly fan documentary For The Love Of Dolly has been added to yet another festival. The film will screen at 1 p.m. Sept. 30 at The Screening Room as part of the Newburyport Film Festival in Massachusetts. It will next be shown Sept. 18 at the 26th Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Sept. 9:
Push For Boxed Set Begins
Sugar Hill Records has begun promoting the upcoming Dolly roots music four-disc boxed set. A press release was issued this week to formally announce The Acoustic Collection, 1999-2002, coming out Oct. 10 (read it here). This led to a note on CMT.com's news section here, and the label added a page on its website here dedicated to the project. As has been previously reported here, the set repackages three of her albums for the indie powerhouse, The Grass Is Blue, Little Sparrow and Halos & Horns (which, collectively, garnered two Grammy Awards and seven nominations) plus a bonus DVD disc of additional material (five re-mixes, three videos, two tracks from the Dolly tribute album and footage of her CMA performance of "The Grass Is Blue" live with Norah Jones). The liner notes for the boxed set were also made available to the press this week, revealing that the five new song mixes will be "vocal" and "instrumental." For "Seven Bridges Road" and "Travelin' Prayer," producers re-mixed them vocally, taking away all of the instrumentation except the lead acoustic guitar line and a handful of instrumental solos, with the intent of leaving the listener able to better hear the crisp, tight harmonies of Dolly with The Isaacs on the former and Alison Krauss and Dan Tyminski on the latter. The other three tracks, "Train, Train," "Shine" and "I'm Gone," are mixed as instrumental versions to showcase the pickin' of some of the bluegrass's finest.

More Dollywood Details
Dollywood on Friday updated the page on its website here dedicated to Dolly's upcoming appearance next Friday at the park to kick off its Bluegrass & BBQ Festival. Although they didn't announce the location, the park did reveal that her appearance to announce the winner of her backyard barbeque contest will take place at 11 a.m., which suggests it will be open to the public. They also noted that her usual parade through the park grounds will take place later that afternoon. Removed from the page, though, was the statement that she may make some additional "surprise" appearances throughout the day, so these might be the only two currently planned. We'll just have to wait and see! The weekend will not only feature mouth-watering barbeque food but will also offer foot-stompin' bluegrass from Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, 45 South, Jesse Garland, Melonie Cannon, Naomi & the Wood Brothers, the Peasall Sisters, Smoky Mountain String Band, Southern Skye and Zane Petty & the Paw Hollow Boys. The festival continues through Sept. 27 with headliners including Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys Sept. 24-25, the Del McCoury Band Sept. 26-27, Riders in the Sky Sept. 17-18 and Cherryholmes Sept. 19-20. Image at left of Dolly at last September's Dollywood Harvest Festival is © copyright 2005 Duane Gordon/Dollymania.net. May not be reproduced without prior written consent.

Holdin' On At GAC
Rhonda Vincent and Dolly remain steady this week on the Great American Country (GAC) Top 20 Country Countdown, the network revealed Friday. Their video for "Heartbreaker's Alibi" holds on at No. 4 in its fifth week on the viewer-voted chart. Cast your ballot for the duo in next week's countdown here!

Sept. 8:
'Going,' Going, Gone
It had a good run, but nearly a year after its debut, the No. 1 hit "When I Get Where I'm Going" by Brad Paisley with Dolly has fallen off its final major chart. The song, No. 18 the previous week on the country recurrent singles chart with 6.8 million listeners, dropped below the 6.2 million-person audience of the No. 20 song on the Sept. 16 Billboard/Radio & Records tally to be removed from the 20-position list which tracks radio airplay of songs that have been taken off the main singles tally under chart longevity rules. The track, which peaked at No. 1 country and No. 39 pop, spent 26 weeks on the main country singles chart and 23 weeks on the country recurrent singles list. In other chart developments, the CD which contains the track, Paisley's Time Well Wasted, slips one place to No. 22 country, three to No. 96 pop and five to No. 100 comprehensive in its 55th chart week. In Canada, it remains steady at No. 31 country. Martina McBride's Timeless, with Dolly guest vocals on "I Still Miss Someone," inches down one to No. 4 Canadian country and 13 spots to No. 42 pop up north. Stateside, the collection loses five to No. 59 country in its 45th chart week. Kenny Rogers's 21 Number Ones, featuring "Islands In The Stream," drops two to No. 40 country in its 32nd week. Rhonda Vincent's All American Bluegrass Girl, including the single "Heartbreaker's Alibi" with Dolly, dips one to No. 4 bluegrass in its 14th week. Although it doesn't contain any Dolly collaborations, her former backing band The Grascals see their sophomore set, Long List of Heartaches, debut at No. 2 bluegrass and No. 70 country. Dolly sang a duet with the group's lead singer on their debut disc, and they formed the core of her backing band and opening act for her 2004 tour and opened about a third of the shows on her tour last year. Rascal Flatts' Me & My Gang returns to the top spot on the country chart in its 22nd week, also rising four to No. 18 pop, while Trace Adkins' Dangerous Man inches down one to No. 2 country and eight spots to No. 22 pop in its third week.

Hear Burke's New CD
To promote the Sept. 26 release of "King of Rock and Soul" Solomon Burke's country album, Nashville, CMT on Thursday began offering free streaming audio of the entire CD, which features a great duet with Dolly on her classic "Tomorrow Is Forever." Listen to the album, which also features pal Emmylou Harris singing harmony on several tracks including a duet on "We're Gonna Hold On," here, and reserve your copy of the project here!

Vote For Dolly!
Thanks to Chad for alerting me that Dolly is up for three possible honors in the annual Hemi Awards, handed out by Knoxville radio station WIVK (where she performed as a child)! She's in the running for Favorite Female, Best Song in a Movie ("Travelin' Thru") and Hall of Fame. Cast your votes daily here (and once voting has stopped online, you may still vote via e-mail until Sept. 22 at jack@americanahighway.com)! Winners will be announced Sept. 24.

See Dolly And 'Hannah'
Gearing up for the premiere of the episode of The Disney Channel series Hannah Montana with a guest role by Dolly as the lead character's godmother, "Aunt Dolly," Disney has released several images taken from the set of the show, such as the one at left. View larger versions in a gallery here. As has been previously reported, the show, which stars Billy Ray Cyrus and his real-life daughter Miley as California transplants from Tennessee, will see Dolly visiting from Nashville and leading Miley in a clandestine mission to retrieve a videotape she doesn't want a certain boy to see. The episode, titled "Good Golly, Miss Dolly," premieres on The Disney Channel at 7 p.m. Eastern Sept. 29. Image at left is © copyright Disney and is used with permission.

Sept. 7:
Dolly 'Thrilled And Humbled' At National Honor
Dolly will collect another of America's top awards this winter when she accepts the Kennedy Center Honors, it was announced Wednesday. Just the fifth country music artist to be singled out for the recognition (following Roy Acuff in 1991, Johnny Cash in 1996, Willie Nelson in 1998 and Loretta Lynn in 2003), Dolly is joined by fellow 2006 honorees composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, R&B legend Smokey Robinson, director Steven Spielberg and conductor Zubin Mehta.
       In a statement, Dolly reacted with joy to the selection. "I am thrilled and humbled to be receiving The Kennedy Center Honors this year," she said. "When I look at the list of past recipients, it is hard for me to believe that a poor, country girl from the hills of Tennessee could be included in such distinguished company." She expounded a bit more for The Washington Post, telling the newspaper here: "I just couldn't believe it. You never know what you are going to do with your life. As you get older, you hope people remember you. You always welcome the awards. It makes you feel like your life is worthwhile. And for the elite to select you -- I didn't have much of an education, only a dream" Adding about her fans: "I am amazed. I see the old fans, with the blue hairs. And then I see the blue hairs with the spikes and piercing. They know I love them all."
       In a press release announcing this year's recipients, Kennedy Center Chairman Stephen A. Schwarzman offered: "This year we honor five extraordinary international artists whose abundant contributions to their fields are remarkable. They have transformed the culture of our country and of the world." About Dolly in particular, he said her "creativity and spirit make her country music's best international ambassador."
       The actual awards will be presented to the honorees in a private state dinner Dec. 2 hosted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush will receive them on Dec. 3 at The White House, followed by a gala ceremony and concert at the Kennedy Center's Opera House, which will be videotaped for broadcast later in the month on CBS (the exact air date has yet to be announced).
       Recipients are selected each year by the Board of Trustees of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts based on nominations from the Center's national artists committee, past honorees and individual leaders in the arts. The final honorees are chosen for recognition "for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts in dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures and television. The primary criterion in the selection process is excellence." Last year's honorees were Tony Bennett, Suzanne Farrell, Julie Harris, Robert Redford and Tina Turner. Other previous recipients over the awards' 29-year history include luminaries such as Tennessee Williams, Cary Grant, Bob Hope, Ray Charles, Lucille Ball, Bette Davis, Johnny Carson, B.B. King, Bob Dylan, Bill Cosby, Elizabeth Taylor, Carol Burnett and Elton John.
       Read more from Playbill (which appears to have broken the story at least an hour before anyone else had it) here, The Tennessean here, the Associated Press (via MSNBC) here and Dolly's official Kennedy Center bio here.
       Not all coverage was accurate, though. The story in The Washington Post claimed she had made a total of 15 films and received a total 20 gold albums, apparently due to the reporter's misreading of her Kennedy Center bio, which noted she had made "more than 15" films and received "more than 20" gold and platinum record awards -- including her cameos, she's appeared in 17 feature and made-for-television movies, and she has earned a total of 26 U.S. gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards. E! Online said here that she had released "nearly 60 albums" -- which is only her total if all of her concert LPs, official best of/greatest hits collections and movie soundtracks are removed from the total -- and that she has received five Grammy Awards, when in actuality she's been honored with seven credited Grammys (the Kennedy Center bio doesn't total them up but only mentions her five solo awards, leaving out her two collaborative awards with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris -- there's also an eighth one, but it was for a "various artist" project, and under Grammy rules those awards are credited only to the album's producer instead of the individual artists, so it can't be counted toward her total).

Sept. 6:
UPDATE: Kennedy Center Honors Dolly
Dolly will be among five honorees to receive this year's Kennedy Center Honors, it was announced Wednesday. Look for more details in tonight's news update.

Folksy Cover For Folkie Collection
The upcoming Dolly Sugar Hill boxed set should have folksy, hand-drawn cover art, according to the images released this week. The cover art, seen at left (click on the image for a larger view), will accompany the collection for an Oct. 10 release. Thanks, Brian! As the label first announced via Dollymania several weeks ago, The Acoustic Collection, 1999-2002 will feature re-issues of her first three roots music CDs for the indie label plus a bonus disc with three music videos, five new remixes of songs from the CDs, two tracks from the 2003 Dolly tribute album and footage of a live performance of "The Grass Is Blue" with Norah Jones. Reserve your copy here!

Dolly On CMT
I haven't seen the promo yet myself, but a friend tells me he caught a commercial for this weekend's CMT Greatest Moments: Wynonna, which featured several comments about the star from her friend Dolly, so be sure to look for her in the show premiering at 9 p.m. Eastern Saturday. Thanks, Tony!

Sept. 5:
Catch Fan Documentary In N.Y., N.S.
Viewers will get the opportunity to see the Dolly fan documentary For The Love Of Dolly in two different cities in coming weeks. For those that missed its sold-out showing at New York City's NewFest, catch a repeat screening at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's "The Best of The NewFest" series at 9:15 p.m. Friday. In addition, for our neighbors to the north, the date and time for its showing in Halifax, Nova Scotia's 26th Atlantic Film Festival have been announced: 7:05 p.m. Sept. 18.

Sept. 4:
Dolly And Rhonda Move Back Up
Rhonda Vincent and Dolly gained one spot Friday on the Great American Country (GAC) Top 20 Country Countdown. Their video for the track "Heartbreaker's Alibi" from Vincent's new CD, All American Bluegrass Girl, inched up one to No. 4 in its fourth week on the viewer-voted chart. Vote for the song in next week's countdown here!

Dolly And Naomi Chat Again
Dolly had a great little interview on the Hallmark Channel's Naomi's New Morning Sunday discussing her upbringing with host Naomi Judd in the second part of a two-part interview the two filmed back in February (part one had aired in March). The pair discussed Dolly's vying for attention as the fourth of 12 children and how that led her to develop her singing and songwriting skills, her musical preacher grandfather's encouragement (which led to telling the famous snakes in church story involving her father and a few choice curse words in the house of the Lord -- but not her grandfather's church), and her own love for children and devotion to them through her Imagination Library literacy program. Judd noted her business acumen, which Dolly chalked up to simple "common horse sense" she got from her father. Judd offered: "You're the wealthiest woman in country music and you're the most brilliant woman in country music. I mean, you could be up there with all the female CEOs." Dolly, always humble, countered: "I'm just a country girl who's done good." During the interview, there were also excerpts shown from her Live And Well DVD, singing "Those Were The Days" from last year's Harvest Celebration opening at Dollywood and reading to children in a promotional video for the Library. In an additional clip at the show's end, Dolly was shown telling one of her favorite lines: "A peacock that sits on its tail feathers is just another turkey!" I'm currently not aware of plans to repeat the episode, but the Hallmark Channel does usually schedule repeats of the show a few months after they first air. Image at left courtesy The Hallmark Channel. Used with permission.

Inking Dolly
Wonder on whom TLC's Miami Ink star Kat Von D most wants to apply her pen? Dolly, of course! In an interview with The Calgary Sun published Sunday, the renowned tattoo artist who has worked her craft on some of rock's most well-known stars says she wants to tattoo Dolly because of her respect for her. Read more here. (About 10 years ago, Dolly admitted to having at least two tattoos, although fans have openly speculated for years that she may have more.)

More Dollywood Virtual Queue Details Released
You may recall it reported here back in July that a British firm, Lo-Q, had announced it had inked a deal with Dollywood to test the use of its virtual queue "Q-bots" at the park starting with the BBQ and Bluegrass Fest Sept. 15 (which is also when Dolly will make her appearance to announce the winner of her cookbook contest). Well, some more details have been revealed. According to the park's official site here, the "Q2Q" system will allow reserved seating at entertainment shows in DP's Celebrity Theatre, Showstreet Palace and the Pines Theatre. Pick up a Q-bot ($10 for the first person and $5 for each additional member of your party) and enjoy the park for a few hours, then show up no later than 15 minutes before the start of the show you want to see, and your seat will still be there for you. The Q-bots will be available for rental in the Adventures in Imagination shop. In related news, Sevier County's The Mountain Press on Saturday plugged the upcoming festival with a story here based on the original press release that came out about it a few months ago.

Sept. 2:
Paisley Reacts To Nods With Dolly
Getting nominated with Dolly for awards makes "When I Get Where I'm Going" all the more special to Brad Paisley, he tells ABC News. "It's one thing to have had a hit with Dolly Parton on it," he said. "But to be nominated for something or maybe win something for that caps it off." The duo earned three Country Music Association Award nominations this week and won two Academy of Country Music Awards earlier this year for their No. 1 hit collaboration. Read more of ABC's coverage of the nominations here.

More From Michigan
Although it's already been covered by several media outlets in the area already, the expansion of Dolly's nationwide Imagination Library literacy program into Livingston Country, Mich., continues to grab headlines. Check out stories Friday from The Ann Arbor News here (with a sidebar here) and The Lansing State Journal here.

Sept. 1:
RIAA: Dolly Gets Credit For Gold Record
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which is responsible for issuing all official gold and platinum records in the U.S., has changed course and will credit Dolly for her role in the single "When I Get Where I'm Going," it was confirmed Thursday. As was first reported here last month, the RIAA had certified the single for gold and platinum status as a solo project for Brad Paisley only, even though it had been credited in all other places as a duet "featuring Dolly Parton." In response to inquiries by Dollymania (and some of its readers who alerted me they also contacted the RIAA on their own), RIAA officials initially confirmed that Paisley's label, Arista, had requested it be certified as a solo single for Paisley alone. However, the RIAA's further investigation as a result of these contacts allowed officials to determine that a clerical error (allegedly on the part of Arista) had resulted in the award being submitted as a solo project when the label intended for it to be certified as a duet in both artists' names, RIAA officials said. Consequently, the records are being updated to add Dolly's name to the award. However, the song was downgraded from platinum to gold status, the site has learned. Prior to a few weeks ago, gold digital singles were awarded for 100,000 legal download purchases, platinum for 200,000, double-platinum for 400,000, triple-platinum for 600,000, etc. Under this system, "Going" was certified both gold and platinum for passing 200,000 downloads. Due to the growing popularity of digital single sales online, though, the RIAA since then changed the minimums to the same as regular hard copy CD singles: 500,000 for gold and 1 million for platinum, and made the rule retroactive (that is, all previously five-time platinum digital singles with 1 million downloads were downgraded to just one-time platinum, and all previously 10-time platinum singles with 2 million downloads were lowered to double platinum). However, all singles previously registered at the gold (100,000), platinum (200,000) and double-platinum (400,000) levels were automatically granted gold status (500,000), even if they haven't sold the new minimum of 500,000 downloads.

Canadian Seats Moving Fast
Ticket sales seem to be going quite well for what thus far are Dolly's only scheduled concerts for 2006 – three nights at a Toronto-area casino just before Thanksgiving. Based on tickets currently available to the public, the first of the three shows, Nov. 20, appears to be between 80 and 90 percent sold out about a week-and-a-half after tickets went on sale via Ticketmaster and the Casino Rama box office. The other two nights, Nov. 21 and 22, both appear to be between 70 percent and 80 percent sold out. Dolly's three concerts there as part of 2004's "Hello I'm Dolly" Tour all sold out. As was previously announced here, a few additional concerts are expected to be scheduled sometime in the near future, but they will not be organized into any type of full tour.

Another Big Library Expansion Revealed
Every Head Start and pre-kindergarten classroom in Tennessee will receive one complete set of the books sent to children in Dolly's nationwide Imagination Library literacy program, it was announced this week. According to ABC 24 Eyewitness News in Memphis here, the sets will be provided to all 672 pre-K classrooms in the state which opened this year as well as 593 Head Start classes statewide – 325 Head Starts had already been provided with the book sets, making a total of 918 Head Starts and an overall total of nearly 1,600 classrooms when this distribution is completed. The program is being offered to these classrooms by the Governor's Books from Birth Foundation thanks to corporate donations. The Foundation was established by Gov. Phil Bredesen (D-Tenn.) a couple of years ago to manage state funds which had been appropriated to match local dollars raised to bring Dolly's Library to every county in Tennessee, a milestone which was reached earlier this year. The article noted that more than 134,000 children, approximately one-third of those eligible, in the state are enrolled in the program.

Latest Billboard Chart Action
Brad Paisley's Time Well Wasted, which features his thrice-CMA nominated collaboration with Dolly, "When I Get Where I'm Going," slips a little in the Sept. 9 Billboard country albums chart, the magazine announced Thursday. The disc loses four digits on each chart to No. 21 country, No. 93 pop and No. 95 comprehensive in its 54th chart week. Up in Canada, the CD inches up four to No. 31. As was previously reported here, "Going" finds itself down one for the week to No. 18 on the recurrent country singles tally. It wouldn't surprise me for both the album and song to see a bump in popularity next week after CMA nominations came out this week. Following her appearance on Canadian Idol, Martina McBride sees a big leap up north, with her collection Timeless, featuring Dolly on "I Still Miss Someone," jumping 19 spots to No. 3 Canadian country and a whopping 154 positions to No. 29 pop there. In the U.S., the album drops three to No. 54 country in its 44th chart week. Kenny Rogers's 21 Number Ones, which includes "Islands In The Stream," moves down two to No. 38 country in its 31st week. Rhonda Vincent's All American Bluegrass Girl, with Dolly singing on its current single, "Heartbreaker's Alibi," regains one to No. 3 bluegrass in its 13th week, while her Ragin' Live, with her cover of "Jolene," falls back off the 15-position list, down from No. 15 the previous week, its 73rd. Trace Adkins' Dangerous Man remains steady at No. 1 country but drops 11 to No. 14 pop in its second week, while Pat Green's Cannonball debuts at No. 2 country and No. 20 pop.

Cookbook Reminder
If you're reading this update prior to midnight Eastern Friday morning (11 p.m. Central Thursday night), you still have a little time to get in your entry for the contest to win a back yard barbeque with Dolly and 100 of your family and friends! All you have to do is advance order a copy of her upcoming cookbook, Dolly's Dixie Fixin's, which is being sold to raise funds for Dollywood Foundation charity and its national Library. Order your copy before the stroke of midnight to be entered in the contest. The winner will be announced Sept. 15! Note: Please be aware that the deadline to enter the contest has passed, so entried are no longer being accepted. You may still, however, order the book here WITHOUT being entered in the contest.