Oct. 28: The folks at Sugar Hill say Dolly will be at the Wal-Mart in Franklin, Tenn., Nov. 4 for a press conference and album signing for The Grass Is Blue. Contrary to earlier reports, she will not perform any songs from the album To read their complete release, click here.

* From Country.com Tuesday: "Overall, The Grass is Blue should appeal to a wide variety of music fans. Longtime Parton fans will enjoy hearing her in an all-acoustic setting, while fans of contemporary female bluegrass singers will find much here to enjoy." Here.

Oct. 27: Well, The Grass is Blue is out and getting great press! I've cited some additional reviews below with direct links to them (and, of course, check out the Dollymania review here):

* From Tuesday's San Jose Mercury News: "The best thing about Dolly Parton's new CD, The Grass Is Blue, is that it's no watered-down new-country piece of crud in the mold of most everything else coming out of Nashville these days." Here.

* From Tuesday's New York Post: "Parton knows the limited commercial appeal of the style, but The Grass is Blue seems to be a declaration of freedom for her. Parton, hardly a staple of radio these days, has finally made an album aimed at pleasing no one but herself. Perhaps because of that approach, this is among her most pleasing efforts . . . [an] often stark, intensely beautiful album." Here.

* From USA Today: "Dolly Parton's voice sounds so natural amid the banjo, dobro and fiddle here, it's astounding to realize that The Grass Is Blue is her first true bluegrass album . . . [featuring] the most lonesome harmonies on the eerie "Silver Dagger," a Gothic folk tune in which a young girl warns away a suitor because of her violently overprotective mother. (Rating: 3 ½ out of four stars)"

* From Music.com: "Dolly has immersed herself in the music that means the most to her and the results sparkle." HERE.

* From Wall of Sound: "[H}er foray into the land of the high lonesome sound, a set that has the sparkle and heart of Dollywood without the theme park hype. Here.

* From the French Canadian online magazine Sympatico: "Her interpretation provides a natural vehicle for her to record a bluegrass album, a genre which she has always held in high regard " (rough translation).

* And Buddha Records has added pages for the Nov. 9 re-issues of Heartbreaker and Jolene. To see the Hearbreaker site click here, and for Jolene click here.

Oct. 26: Today's the big day! Remember to get your copy of The Grass is Blue when it comes out today! CDNow says: "It's also no surprise that The Grass is Blue is a superior piece of work...Parton's distinctive vocal style is not typical of bluegrass singers, so the listener should expect a country-meets-bluegrass experience. Her voice is almost too beautiful for bluegrass, but let's try to live with that tension." To read the full review or to order, click on the icon at left.

* The Knoxville News-Sentinel's Wayne Bledsoe wrote Friday: "Some may conclude that Parton is only jumping on the bluegrass bandwagon because she's been shut of country and pop. If so, so much the better for bluegrass, Parton and us." He gives it an "A," click here.

* From Amazon.com: "It's a testament to the force of Parton's voice and personality that while surrounded by top-tier players like Stuart Duncan (fiddle) and Bryan Sutton (guitar) she's still the undeniable leader. Her singing is masterful, absolutely vibrating with energy and soulfulness. Along with Steve Earle's The Mountain, this is the finest bluegrass release of 1999, and one of the most fully realized albums of Dolly Parton's career."

* And Dollymania's own review (which may be read here) has been posted at CDUniverse.

* Plus I'm told the album's first single, "Just a Few Old Memories," has reached radio stations, so inundate your local stations with requests and let's get Dolly back on the air! Thanks Justin!

Oct. 25: From the Philadelphia Daily News Friday in its entertainment section on new releases: "Dolly Parton fronts a zesty bluegrass session, The Grass Is Blue (Sugar Hill), supported by the likes of Alison Krauss, Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas. Highlights include a cover of Flatt & Scruggs' 'I'm Gonna Sleep with One Eye Open' and hot countrification of Billy Joel's 'Traveling Prayer.'"

* Dollymania last night passed its 25,000 hits mark. Thanks for all who've visited and keep coming back!

Oct. 20: Although it doesn't premiere on television until Nov. 1, Dolly's upcoming Lifetime movie Blue Valley Songbird will have a special screening Monday at the Green Hills 16 Cinema in Nashville as part of the Nashville Filmmakers Conference.

* On Live with Regis and Kathie Lee Monday, Kathie Lee Gifford said she is almost done with recording a new album which will feature harmony vocals by Dolly.

* Dolly garnered a slot over the weekend on the final installment of TNN's This Week in Country Music in which she talked about her upcoming bluegrass CD and her duet on "Your Kisses Are Charity" with Culture Club.

* In an interview uploaded Monday on CountryCool.com, Shania Twain said while discussing her songwriting: "I've been dissecting Dolly Parton, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Beatles songs my entire life trying to learn how to become a songwriter." Pretty good plan to learn how to write songs, huh!

Oct. 18: Lifetime is rolling out the PR wagon for Blue Valley Songbird. Promo spots began airing Friday, and the network's website added pages on the film on Sunday. For info on the film (complete with a Real Video clip), click here.

* Merle Haggard goes more deeply than ever before on his unrequited love for Dolly in his new memoirs My House of Memories. For a sample, see what the New York Daily News printed Sunday here.

* The reviews are starting to come in for The Grass is Blue. In Sunday's Raleigh News-Observer, reviewer Jack Bernhardt wrote, in part, "As she has done throughout the album, Parton erases the barriers between country and bluegrass, replacing them with songs and performances as timeless and true as the mountains that gave her the gift of music," giving the album four out of four stars, here.

Oct. 15: Look for Dolly early next year to appear on a new two-disc tribute to the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe, Ricky Scaggs told CountryCool.com this week. Scaggs, who produced Dolly's 1987 country comeback hit White Limozeen, said he is currently producing the collection for release on his Scaggs Family Records early next year under the tentative title Big Mon, Monroe's nickname. Artists confirmed to participate include the Dixie Chicks, Charlie Daniels, Kenny Rogers and Dolly.

Oct. 14: The final installment of Dolly's Sugar Hill interview for The Grass is Blue has been uploaded. To read it, click here.

* I just got my copy of Vestal Goodman's Vestal and Friends, and her duet with Dolly, "Satisfied," is spectacular! It's very interesting to hear Vestal's heavy, almost booming voice contrasted with Dolly's light sounds. To order the CD (which also features great duets with Vince Gill, George Jones, Andre Crouch, The Newsboys and others), click here.

Oct. 12: Brad Schmidt's celebrities column in Monday's Tennessean noted supermodel Rebecca Romijn-Stamos filming an episode of MTV's House of Style in Spring Hill, Tenn., said the one attraction she wanted to see while in the state was Dollywood. Schmidt wrote: 'Like Shania Twain, Rebecca is completely enamored with Dolly Parton. And like Shania, Rebecca has yet to meet her. 'Ooooo,' she coos, before squealing, 'I just love her!'"

* The Knoxville News-Sentinel had a great article Monday on Dollywood's new doctor titled "The doctor is in at Dollywood." To read it, click here.

Oct. 11: The second installment of the Sugar Hill The Grass is Blue interview is up. To read it, click here.

Oct. 9: I've uploaded the first installment of the Dolly interview CD transcript on The Grass is Blue. To read it, click here.

* A friend of mine submitted his own review of The Grass is Blue. To read it, click here.

Oct. 6: A rare find! A friend of mine came across the Goldband Record site and found they're still selling re-issues of Dolly's first record, recorded for the label when she was 13, plus a few other rarities. Check it out here. Thanks Robert Lee!

Oct. 4: The Chicago Tribune had a great article on Dolly and her current busy career Saturday. To read it, click here.

Oct. 2: From Friday's Orange County (Calif.) Register: "Bassist Edgar Meyer cued up a special selection to blast through his tour bus recently as he made his way toward a date at the Irvine Barclay Theatre this weekend: lots of Dolly Parton. Not the listening preference you'd expect from a classically trained musician longing to record Bach, but Meyer has some unfinished business in the bluegrass vein to take care of first. His old friend Sam Bush played banjo on the not-yet-released Parton album. And Meyer is an unabashed Dolly fan. 'Her singing is totally unblemished by all those years in pop,' he fawned in his watered-down twang. 'This'll be my favorite bluegrass record of the decade.' It's Meyer's way of revving up for another performance of 'Short Trip Home,' the bluegrass-meets-classical album he wrote."