Sept. 30: Dolly Gets Her Own Historical Marker In Hometown
The State of Tennessee on Wednesday unveiled a large historical marker on its Tennessee Music Pathways trail in front of the Dolly statue on the Sevier County Courthouse grounds in Sevierville honoring Dolly and her contributions to music. She had a scheduling conflict and couldn't attend, so Dollywood Vice President Pete Owens spoke on her behalf. Watch the ceremony courtesy WVLT reporter Kyle Granger here.
Dolly Responds To Lil Nas X Cover Dolly on Wednesday shared to social media her reaction to Lil Nas X's version of "Jolene," which she enjoyed: "I was so excited when someone told me that Lil Nas X had done my song "Jolene". I had to find it and listen to it immediately…and it's really, really good. Of course, I love him anyway. I was surprised and I'm honored and flattered. I hope he does good for both of us. Thank you Lil Nas X" The artist recently performed the song on the BBC, which has it available here.
TikTok Fake Account Story Gets Attention News that the Dolly TikTok page that opened Monday was fake got as much media attention Tuesday as the original story about her launching a new page on the social media outlet got the day before. Dollymania was the first media outlet to report that the account was fake at about 10 p.m. Eastern Monday night, and about half an hour later NBC's Today updated their story here with confirmation from Dolly's spokesperson that the account was fake and had been taken down by the service. Other media stories followed throughout the night and next day. The statement her team released to NBC, FOX News and others claimed the video had been "doctored" and encouraged fans to "take a closer look." (In actuality, I couldn't discern any difference between the video as they had posted it and the original still available on her official Imagination Library TikTok feed where it was released a year and a half ago, so it did not appear to have actually been doctored.)
U.S. Chart Update Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" rises four to No. 19 Christian digital song sales, it was announced Tuesday on the Oct. 2 Billboard charts.
Sept. 28: Dolly Helps NPR Raise Funds For Local Public Radio Stations
Every NPR radio listener well knows pledge drive time, when their local station begs for donations every few minutes until they reach their goal. This fall, in honor of the network's 50th anniversary, they asked a very special "public figure" to record a new spot for local stations to use: Dolly. Her one minute, ten-second plea for financial support of NPR and the good it does in the community is airing now on stations nationwide during their pledge drives. You may listen to her spot here or in the media player above.
Fake Dolly TikTok Page Tricks Media A fake Dolly TikTok page on Monday sent the mass media into a tailspin promoting an old video clip as if it were new and confusing fans. Over the weekend, a fake account using the name "ItsDollyParton" set up a TikTok feed and lifted the video Dolly had posted on her official Imagination Library TikTok page here when it launched in April 2020 to promote her weekly online storybook reading during the start of the pandemic. Despite the channel not having the blue check mark to signify it is legitimate and official, casual fans began praising the feed via other social media and some official news media somewhere picked up on it and reported it as real. It appears that the first media outlet to post the story was Britain's The Independenthere about 6 a.m. Eastern U.S. time. Within five hours, the first U.S. news outlets began picking up the story from that coverage and it spread throughout the day including NBC's Todayhere, ABC's Good Morning America, People magazine (which was reprinted on Yahoo), and the Celebretainment news wire, which resulted in several local newspapers and other media outlets circulating it as well. The attention soon garnered the fake TikTok feed something on the order of 750,000 followers and over 1 million likes of the video. By early evening, TikTok had removed the feed from its service, which your webmaster understands second-hand was at the request of Dolly's team. This resulted in many casual fans taking to social media to slam TikTok for deleting what they thought was Dolly's official page the same day it debuted, leading to some media coverage of that claim as well. Dolly and her staff usually don't comment on such reporting errors, just as they never comment on supermarket tabloid stories about her, so I really would not expect any official statement from her team on the issue.
PBS Documentaries Streaming Channel Getting Dolly Opry 50th For those who missed the PBS rebroadcast of NBC's Dolly Parton & Friends: 50 Years At The Opry or haven't bought it on DVD here, it was announced Monday it will be added Oct. 22 to the Amazon subscription service PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel for streaming. Learn more about the channel or subscribe to it here.
Sept. 25: Lil Nas X 'Jolene' Cover Gets 1 Million Views In Three Days
"Old Town Road" phenomenon Lil Nas X on Tuesday released a video via the BBC of him performing a stripped down cover of Dolly's classic "Jolene," which over the course three days surpassed 1 million views on YouTube. Watch it here or in the media player above.
Manager: 'Run, Rose, Run' Will Also Have Companion Movie Thanks to Chuck for pointing me to a recent interview for The Jim Cressman Podcast with Dolly's manager Danny Nozell. Most of the conversation centers around information already known and announced, but new information includes that there will be a feature film released in conjunction with Dolly's March novel with James Patterson, Run, Rose, Run and the corresponding album of the same name she's releasing at the same time. He also noted she has signed deals for her own wig line (which she has hinted at in interviews) and for biodegradable utensils that will be sold at Wal-Mart. Watch the interview here.
Dolly Helps Loretta's County With Flood Relief Dolly announced Thursday she will donate a portion of Oct. 2-3 ticket sales from Dollywood and her Stampede, Pirates Voyage, and Hatfield & McCoy shows in Pigeon Forge to the United Way of Humphreys County to assist with flood victim relief from the recent flash floods that ravaged the county. She said she was moved to help after seeing the damage in the county, where her friend Loretta Lynn lives and operates her ranch, which was damaged in the flood and whose ranch foreman was one of 20 residents who died in the flood. United Way was the charity Lynn recommended to receive donations for the recovery. "After the Sevier County wildfires in 2016, Loretta was one of the first who reached out to offer anything she could," Dolly said in a press release. "It meant so much to me that Loretta—and so many folks—were ready to give in any way they could. This was just one small way I could help Loretta's people for all they did to help my people."
Dolly Encourages High Fives For Breast Cancer Dolly released a video this week giving a high five against breast cancer in celebration of the benefit concert in Nashville she is headlining Oct. 24 that was first reported here last week. Check out the clip on Facebook here encouraging folks to give their own high five by way of a $5 donation to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation if they cannot attend the concert.
Kenny Tribute With Dolly Airs On CBS CBS on Thursday night aired its special honoring the late Kenny Rogers taken from his final tribute concert in 2017 featuring Dolly and several other artists. The footage had previously been broadcast on A&E as part of his Biography episode that premiered shortly after his death in 2020 (and is available on DVD here) but one surprise change in this airing was that Dolly served as narrator for the entire program, which like the A&E version ended with the pair singing "You Can't Make Old Friends," followed by Dolly performing "I Will Always Love You" to him, and them going out with "Islands In The Stream."
Dolly Thanks High School Band Dolly this week sent a video to Hardin Valley Academy in Knoxville to thank the school band for including two of her songs in their new show. Check out a story on it from WATE here.
U.S., U.K. Chart Updates Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" loses three to No. 23 Christian digital song sales, it was announced Tuesday on the Sept. 25 Billboard charts. Overseas, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 re-enters the top 100 British streaming albums chart at No. 99 but falls back out of the top 20 British country compilation albums chart, down from No. 19, it was revealed Friday. Elsewhere on the same tally, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe inches down one to No. 16, 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) dips one to No. 18, and Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) falls four to No. 17.
Sept. 20: Watch Dolly Fete Allen On Emmys, Her Team Win Trophy
This was Emmy weekend, and Dolly came up a few times. FXX on Saturday showed highlights from the awards handed out last weekend, including the win for Outstanding Television Movie for Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square, accepted by a teary Sam Haskell and energetic Debbie Allen as executive producers with Dolly for the project (viewable in the media player above or by visiting YouTube hrere), and Allen's own win for Outstanding Choreography for the same project. On Sunday night, the CBS broadcast of the Emmy Awards for the remaining categories also had a brief Dolly appearance in the Governor's Award for lifetime achievement segment honoring Allen for her body of work, with Dolly being shown in a pre-recorded clip taking about how wonderful she is. This was apparently the "presenter" role the Emmy press release had announced Dolly would be playing, as she was not present at the ceremony and did not appear at any other time during the broadcast. (A list of presenters published by awards site Golderby immediately before the show listed her as presenting the Outstanding Scripted Variety Series trophy, but that was presented by Amy Poehler instead. Given that Poehler was also listed in the Emmy press release as a presenter, had not appeared at any other part of the broadcast, and was completely absent from the Golderby list of presenters, it appears that she was the intended presenter for that award, not Dolly, and that Golderby likely made a mistake, possibly because both last names begin with P. The jokes Poehler told while presenting were also clearly written for her and not Dolly, adding to the suspicion that Dolly was not supposed to be presenting that award.) Watch the Allen tribute here or in the media player below.
Scent From Above Hits Walgreens Thanks to Chuck for alerting me that Walgreens has added the body mist version of Dolly's Scent from Above collection to its inventory in a one-ounce bottle for $10 each. Check out here whether it is in stock at a store near you.
Sept. 18: Dolly To Headline Oct. 24 Breast Cancer Benefit Dolly was announced Friday as the headliner for the Kiss Breast Cancer Goodbye Benefit Concert Oct. 24 at the CMA Theater in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, making what will apparently be her first in-person public appearance since the pandemic started a year and a half ago. She had noted in recent interviews she would not be touring this year but would be performing a charity date or two, so this is the first one to be revealed. Tickets are on sale now here for $165 for upper balcony, $275 for lower balcony, $385 for back of mezzanine, $550 for front of mezzanine, $550 for back of floor seats, and $1,100 each for the front half of floor seats as part of VIP packages. The VIP packages include early admission and a VIP cocktail hour reception with open bar and passed hors d'oeuvres along with a luxury silent auction. In addition to headliner Dolly, performances at the "black tie and blue jean" event are expected by LoCash, Artimus Pyle, Dennis Quaid, Linda Davis and others. Bravo's Below Deck Mediterranean star, Captain Sandy Yawn, will share her story of breast cancer, as will several other survivors. The songwriters of the fundraising anthem "Pink," on which Dolly performs, will discuss their song, and professionals within the CBD industry will also speak. The Hall of Fame notes that due to the unpredictable nature of the pandemic, scheduled entertainers may cancel without notice or refund and if the event is cancelled in its entirety refunds will be given. Proof of full vaccination or a negative Covid test within two days of the concert will be required for admission. All proceeds benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
New 'Eagle When She Flies' Duet Released
Blind Puerto Rican singer Jose Feliciano, best known for his holiday classic "Feliz Navidad," on Friday released a new single covering Dolly's song "Eagle When She Flies" featuring Dolly herself. Check out the song on YouTube here or in the media player above or download the single from Amazon here
Dolly Accepts Library Of Congress Award Dolly made a video appearance Friday night at the virtual opening night celebration of the U.S. Library of Congress's National Book Festival. About eight minutes into the opening ceremonies, she accepted this year's top prize in the Library's Literacy Awards for her Imagination Library early childhood literacy program. The footage should be available soon on the Library's events video page here.
'Rolling Stone' Names 'Jolene' Best Country Song Of All Time Rolling Stone magazine on Friday released its third edition of its "500 Greatest Songs Of All Time," including three Dolly numbers on the tally. Documenting how her popularity and icon status has risen over the years, her entry as singer and songwriter of "Jolene" increased from No. 217 in 2004 and No. 219 in the 2010 revision to rank all the way up at No. 63 this year, the highest-listed country song on the chart, meaning the magazine believes it is the greatest country song of all time. She dethrones Johnny Cash's "I Walk The Line" as the highest-ranking country song, as it had been at No. 30 in 2004 and 2010 and falls to No. 76 as the only other country entry in the top 100. New to the list are "Coat Of Many Colors" at No. 263 with Dolly as singer and songwriter and No. 94 with Dolly as songwriter of Whitney Houston's cover of her classic "I Will Always Love You," both of which had been absent from the first two versions of the list (which came out prior to Houston's 2012 death). Only 23 country songs made the top 500.. Read the full list here.
Details On Porter & Dolly DVD Contents MPI has released the contents of the upcoming two-DVD set Country Legends: Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner & Friends, hitting stores Oct. 19, and as was predicted here it is largely a repackaging of the episodes of The Porter Wagoner Show and 1976-77 Dolly series that appear in the Time-Life Dolly: The Ultimate Collection original boxed set last year but there are some new special features to be included. Disc 1 of the Porter show features all seven episodes of The Porter Wagoner Show included on the Time-Life set and the promotional spots that it included as special features, but it adds two additional solos by Porter ("How Great Thou Art" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot") and an "Orange Blossom Special" from The Wagonmasters as additional special features. Disc 2 of the Dolly show features four of the six episodes that appear on the Time-Life set (Tom T. Hall, Dolly's family, KC and the Sunshine Band, and Freddy Fender), as it is missing the Trio and Kenny Rogers episodes which MPI previously released on Dolly Parton & Friends with four other episodes in 2007). However, this version will also feature several additional Dolly performances from the series as special features: "Tiptoe Through The Tulips," "Three Little Fishes" with Captain Kangaroo, "How Great Thou Art," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "In The Garden," "Mule Skinner Blues," and promotional spots for the show as well as Dolly Parton Day footage. Reserve your copy here.
Nativity Designer Sues Netflix, Warner Brothers A cut-out yard decoration nativity scene that appeared in the background outside the church in the Netflix film Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square for a total of 109 seconds throughout the hour and a half movie is at the center of a lawsuit filed against streamer Netflix and producer Warner Brothers Television by the decoration's manufacturer, which claims the product appears in the production without permission and therefore constitutes copyright infringement. In general, a product needs to be defamed in a movie or presented as endorsing the movie for such claims to be won. Read more from Law 360here.
U.K. Chart Updates Overseas, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 re-enters the top 20 British country compilation albums chart at No. 19, it was revealed Friday. Elsewhere on the same tally, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe drops four to No. 15, 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) holds steady at No. 17, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) inches up one to No. 13, 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) drops off the top 20, down from No. 20. Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1), with its Dolly collaboration on "Words," falls off the U.K. Americana chart, down from No. 28.
Sept. 16: Dolly To Present At Emmy Awards Sunday CBS and the Television Academy on Wednesday revealed the second batch of presenters for Sunday's 73rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which will include Dolly as well as Michael Douglas, Ava DuVernay, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Rita Wilson and more in addition to previously-announced presenters including Stephen Colbert, Kaley Cuoco, Ken Jong, Dan Levy, Billy Porter, MJ Rodriguez, Tracee Ellis Ross and more. The telecast begins at 8 p.m. Eastern Sunday. Dolly and the fellow producers of her Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square won Emmys last Sunday for Outstanding Television Movie and director/executive producer Debbie Allen, who will be recognized with the Governor's Award for lifetime achievement at this weekend's event, also won for Outstanding Choreography.
'Time' Names Dolly On Top 100 Most Influential Of Year Time magazine on Wednesday revealed its "Time 100," the 100 most influential people of the year and included Dolly among the list's "Icons," presumably for her Covid vaccine funding. Goddaughter Miley Cyrus wrote the tribute, noting "she is the definition of a humanitarian" but also "the world's most impeccably purposeful walking contradiction" who has become "known as a saintly, even godlike, figure." Read her full piece here.
U.S. Chart Update Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" gains two to No. 20 Christian digital song sales, it was announced Tuesday on the Sept. 18 Billboard charts.
Abbreviated Time-Life DVD Contents Confirmed The contents of next Tuesday's 6-DVD release Dolly: The Ultimate Collection, Collectors' Edition have been finally confirmed, and as was first predicted here the collection is an abbreviated repackaging of several discs from Time-Life's recent Dolly collection. Specifically, as was noted here was suspected, the collection includes the full discs 1, 2, 3, and 6 from Volume 1, Disc 5 from Volume 2, and Disc 1 from Volume 3 of the original Deluxe Version of the package (episodes 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 108, 109, 110, 113, 119, 120 of the 1987 Dolly show, the Bob Hope Christmas special, her 2009 London live concert DVD, music videos over the past 20 years, the making of the Dumplin' Original Motion Picture Soundtrack special, and the Here I Am documentary).
Sept. 14: Dolly 'How Happy' To Win Emmy Award Dolly on Monday reacted to the news she had won her first national Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Film as the project's executive producer. She said on her social media accounts: "Well how happy can I be to have won a Television Academy Emmy for the Netflix Family film Christmas on the Square! And I'm so thrilled for my dear friend Debbie Allen on winning for choreography. Thanks everybody for everything." This was her third nomination as a producer in this category, her fourth nomination overall as she had a supporting actress nomination in 1978. She had previously won a local Midsouth Regional Emmy as producer of her wildfire relief telethon and Midsouth Regional Governor's Award Emmy for lifetime achievement, both in 2018, but this marked her first national Primetime Emmy victory.
Dolly Welcomes Kansas To Statewide Imagination Library Dolly on Monday joined state officials remotely in a videotaped reveal that Kansas is the latest state to take her Imagination Library early childhood literacy program statewide. Check out the announcement on Facebook here or in the media player below.
Sept. 13: 'Christmas On The Square' Wins Two Emmy Awards The fourth time was the charm, as Dolly on Sunday won her first-ever Primetime Emmy Award Sunday night as executive producer of Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square for Netflix, which took home the Outstanding Television Movie trophy in a surprise upset.
The film's director, Debbie Allen, who is also credited with the win as executive producer, also won an individual Emmy for the project, taking home the prize for Outstanding Choreography for Scripted Programming (she is also this year's Governor's Award Emmy winner for Lifetime Achievement and these three trophies this year double her career Emmy total to six as she had previously won the choreography category three times).
Although the Television Academy's major awards will be announced and presented live on TV next weekend, dozens of other Emmys were presented in three ceremonies Saturday and Sunday. Dolly, who was previously nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Variety Show for her appearance in 1978's Cher . . . Special and twice as an executive producer for Dolly Parton's Christmas Of Many Colors: Circle Of Love and Dolly Parton's Heartstrings: These Old Bones, had previously won a Midsouth regional Emmy as producer of her telethon for the victims of the Gatlinburg wildfires as well as the Midsouth Emmys Governor's Award for lifetime achievement, but this marked her first national Emmy.
Most critics expected Amazon's Sylvie's Choice to win the award, as it was the most critically-acclaimed of the nominees, but both it and Amazon's Uncle Frank had originally been planned as theatrical releases chasing the Oscar rather than television projects and only ended up streaming due to the pandemic closure of cinemas, so perhaps Emmy voters felt it unfair for those bigger-budget award contenders to compete with the traditionally limited budget television movie. Other nominees were HBO's Oslo and Lifetime's Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia. It is also possible that Dolly's tremendous amount of goodwill publicity over the past year, most notably funding what became the Moderna vaccine to fight Covid, nudged voters to want to recognize her personally.
It marked just the second time in Emmy history that a Christmas film has won the category, following The Gathering in 1977. Dolly was not present at the ceremony, although Allen was there as she was also a presenter Sunday night.
Highlights from the weekend's three ceremonies, which did not livestream anywhere, will be compiled into a two-hour special to air at 8 p.m. Eastern Saturday on FXX. Presumably, it will include the TV Movie category since it is one of the more important ones awarded this weekend.
Williams Sonoma Welcomes Dolly Again Retailer Williams Sonoma last week unveiled its holiday offerings for this year on its website, including for the second year in a row a Dolly collection. Returning is her cookie cutter set and new are an advent calendar, two new adult and kid aprons, each of which have matching oven mitts available and one of which has matching napkins, placemats, and Christmas tree skirt available.
Sept. 11: Dollywood Named U.S.'s Best Park, Other Honors For the second time in a row, Dollywood this week was named America's best amusement park and the world's second-best park, also taking home four first place awards from Amusement Today's annual enthusiast-voted Golden Ticket Awards, presented virtually from the National Roller Coaster Museum & Archives. The awards were not presented last year due to the pandemic.
For the 13th consecutive time, Dollywood won First Place in Best Christmas Event for its Smoky Mountain Christmas, the only festival to win the award since it was introduced. For the second consecutive time, the park won First Place for Best Guest Experience, which they first won when the trophies were last given in 2019 and the award debuted due to the combination of Friendliest Park and Cleanest Park categories. Also for the second consecutive time, Wildwood Grove won First Place in Best Kid's Area, having successfully taken that crown in 2019 from King's Island, which had previously dominated the category with first place wins for 18 consecutive years. A First Place win also came in Most Beautiful Park, a category in which it most recently placed third in 2019.
Additional recognitions included third place for Best New Show for its Sweet Summer Nights fireworks and drone show and second place for Best Food, for which it also placed second in 2019. Due to transformation of the bulk of Lightning Rod from wood to steel, it was moved from the Best Wooden Roller Coaster category, where it ranked No. 7 in 2019, to the Best Steel Roller Coaster category, where it debuted at No. 7. Thunderhead inched up one spot to No. 10 on Best Wooden Roller Coasters.
For the top prize of the ceremony, Best Park, Dollywood remained at No. 2, the position it had climbed to for the first time in 2019 after many years in the bottom half of the top five. Europa Park in Germany remained at No. 1, meaning Dolly can still claim the best theme park in the United States, followed by Universal Islands of Adventure at No. 3, Knoebels Amusement Resort at No. 4, and Cedar Point at No. 5.
In a press release, Dolly reacted: "As a little girl growing up in the Great Smoky Mountains, I always thought about how this was a place that folks from around the world would love to visit. Ever since we opened Dollywood in 1986, people have told us how special this place is because of the friendly people and the beautiful mountains that God has blessed us with. We make sure to take all that beauty that surrounds us and bring it right down into the middle of the park. We're truly surrounded—all the way around—by the Smokies! But I'm so proud of what we've been able to accomplish here, and these awards show that our guests think we're doing the right thing. We love the awards, but of course we don't do what we do just to win awards. We want families to come spend time with us, enjoy one another and hold on to those memories forever."
U.K. Chart Updates Overseas, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 falls out of the top 100 to No. 97 all-genre streaming albums chart, down from No. 97, it was revealed Friday. On the British country compilation albums tally, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe slips one 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) drops four to No. 17, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) rises two 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) dips one to No. 20. Greenfields: The Gibbs Brothers Songbook (Vol. 1), with its Dolly collaboration on "Words," gains four to No. 28 on the U.K. Americana chart.
Sept. 9: Wal-Mart Gets Dolly's Perfume Wal-Mart has added Dolly's Scent from Above to its in-store retail offerings in limited quantities, Dollymania.net has learned. The store is selling a 1.7 ounce bottle in eau de toilette for $40 as an in-store pick-up/local store delivery only with only a few bottles per store. You may order online here if in stock at your local store for the in store pick-up. (The larger bottles sold on HSN and ScentBeauty.com are eau de parfum, which is usually about 15 percent scent oils, while eau de toilette is less concentrated, usually about 10 percent scent oils, resulting in a less strong and shorter lasting scent.) Thanks, Chuck!
Kenny Rogers Tribute Airing On CBS CBS announced Wednesday it will air an hour-long version of the 2017 Kenny Rogers tribute concert Kenny Rogers: All In For The Gambler at 9 p.m. Sept. 23. It will also stream on Paramount+. Chris Stapleton, Idina Menzel, Lady A, Lionel Richie, Little Big Town and Reba McEntire perform Rogers' hits and Dolly closes the show with memories and anecdotes about Kenny before they sing together for the final time. Most footage from the tribute show previously aired on A&E interspersed with Kenny's biography and interviews with people from his life and career as Biography: Kenny Rogers in April 2020 shortly after his death at age 81.
Imagination Library Wins Two National Prizes In honor of International Literacy Day, it was announced that Dolly's early childhood literacy program Imagination Library has received two prestigious national honors: the top award at the Library of Congress' annual Literacy Awards and the top award from the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE). The David M. Rubenstein Prize from the U.S. Library of Congress for programs that promote literacy and reading comes with a $150,000 cash award to support the program, which currently mails books to 1.83 million children a month worldwide and has distributed more than 150 million books since inception. The honor from the NASBE is the annual Friend of Education award, presented to an individual or organization with significant and enduring contributions to pre-K-12 education.
U.S. Chart Updates Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" slips one to No. 22 Christian digital song sales, it was announced Tuesday on the Sept. 11 Billboard charts.
Sept. 3: Ole Miss Award Delayed Again Until April The Delta surge of COVID-19 has caused the third rescheduling of Dolly's acceptance of the Legacy Award from the Ole Miss Women's Council for Philanthropy, it was announced Thursday. The award for her philanthropic efforts was originally to be presented in April 2020 at the start of the pandemic, then was delayed to April 2021, then September 2021, now April 2022. She will read for local children at a free but ticketed story time event April 9 at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts and then appear at the Legacy Award dinner April 10. The event is chaired by Mary Donnelly Haskell, wife of her former acting agent Sam Haskell, who has also been her partner and co-producer of her various TV movie projects since 2015. Read more from The Oxford Eaglehere.
'9 To 5' Tour Kicks Off In U.K. Nearly 18 months after its West End production closed due to COVID and its anticipated UK tour was cancelled in the pandemic, Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical this week returned to the stage overseas with a new UK tour. A promotional video of Dolly was released to social media here to celebrate.
Knoxville Mural Vandalized A mural of Dolly in downtown Knoxville was defaced for the second time, local media reported this week, although clean-up should be easy because of the project's anti-graffiti paint, according to WBIR here.
'Christmas' Loses LGBTQ Campy Award Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square last weekend lost the Campiest TV Show award from GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics' Dorians TV Awards with the prize going to the film Eurovision Song Contest. Other nominees were At Home with Amy Sedaris, Ratched and WandaVision.
U.S. Chart Updates Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" rises one to No. 21 Christian digital song sales, it was announced Tuesday on the Sept. 4 Billboard charts.
