www.dollymania.net                News                          November 2023

Nov. 29:
'Rockstar' Tops Six 'Billboard' Charts
Billboard on Tuesday released all of the week's full charts, with Dolly's new rock album dominating at No. 1 on six album charts as the week's biggest-selling album. In addition to its previously-announced No. 3 showing on the Top 200, the magazine's Dec. 2 charts see Rockstar at No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Current Album Sales, Independent Label Albums, Country Albums, Rock and Alternative Albums, and Rock Albums. The collection also comes in at No. 2 on Top Vinyl Albums and No. 18 Top Canadian Albums, while Dolly re-enters the Artist 100 chart at No. 3. The set marks her ninth career country No. 1 album but her first chart-topper on Album Sales, Current Album Sales, Rock and Alternative Albums, Independent Albums, and Rock Albums. The magazine reported the album was credited with 128,000 units on the charts, 118,500 of which were sales (78,000 two-CD packages, 18,000 vinyl sets, and a few hundred cassettes) plus 22,000 downloads of the full album. As was previously reported, the balance of credited units came from 1,500 for individual track sales and 8,000 credits for streams. Of the 15,000 individual track sales that made up the 1,500 credited units, a total of 1,000 came from sales of "Purple Rain," which debuts at No. 14 on the Rock Digital Song Sales Chart. According to a press release from Dolly's management, the album sold a total of 143,000 copies worldwide in its first week, which would mean about 25,000 copies sold outside of the U.S. In the release, Dolly noted: "Wow, this is a big thrill! I owe a thank you to the fans who have always been there for me. Their support made this achievement possible. I'd also like to thank my producer Kent Wells, all the wonderful artists, musicians, and engineers who brought their talents to this project." Elsewhere on the charts, A Holly, Dolly Christmas slips six to No. 45 on the Top Holiday Albums Chart.

Whoopi, Stella Shoot Back At Dolly Detractors
Meanwhile, Dolly's Thanksgiving football halftime show continues to make waves, with Whoopi Goldberg on The View slamming ageist complaints of her outfit's appropriateness by telling people to "Bite Me!" and Dolly's sister Stella giving a much more colorful response on X (formerly Twitter) below. In addition, the NFL doesn't seem to want to discuss Dolly's stage malfunction that caused her to perform in an area of the stage she wasn't supposed to be. A Cowboys spokesperson declined comment to The Dallas Morning News on the question here. As was previously reported here, the Cowboys Cheerleaders originally posted and then deleted a Reel on Facebook showing Dolly rehearsing her performance with them, including rising through the middle of the star that was behind her head during the actual performance and singing on top of it, and an NFL reporter posted an Instagram about the malfunction that was also deleted.

Drew Barrymore Interviews Dolly


Ther Drew Barrymore Show hosted Dolly for an interview aired Monday. Clips have been posted to YouTube by the show here, here, here, here, and here. Watch a couple in the media players above and below.

Nov. 27:
Dolly Has Week's Best-Selling Album, Highest Chart Of Career
Dolly's Rockstar was last week's biggest-selling album in the nation, giving the legend her biggest first-week sales ever in her career and her highest-charting album in her career. Unfortunately, streaming pushed two other titles above her on the official Billboard Top 200 all-genre album chart that will be released in full on Tuesday, the magazine revealed on Sunday, giving it a No. 3 debut on that tally.

The Billboard totals showed No. 1 taken by Drake's For All The Dogs: Scary Hours Edition, a deluxe re-issue of his album from earlier this year with six bonus tracks. The collection received 145,000 units credit on the chart but only 2,000 copies were sold as CDs or full-album downloads, while 1,500 came from paid downloads of individual tracks (every 10 tracks downloaded individually count as one album unit) and 141,500 units for 190 million song streams (one album unit per 3,750 ad-supported free streams or per 1,250 paid subscription streams). Taylor Swift's 1989 (Taylor's Version) was No. 2 with 138,000 units (Billboard didn't break it out in their story by sales and streams but other industry reports put it at just under 55 percent streams and just over 45 percent sales). Dolly came in third with 128,000 units (118,500 sales and full-album paid downloads, 1,500 units for individual track paid downloads, and 8,000 units for streaming – which should equal somewhere between 10 million and 20 million streams).

Accurate sales data only goes back to 1991, but Billboard noted the set beat her previous post-1991 one-week sales record of 50,500 copies of Slow Dancing With The Moon and her previous Top 200 peaks at No. 6 with Blue Smoke in 2014 and Trio in 1987.

Industry publication Hits Daily Double, however, which uses a slightly different mix of retailers to determine sales and streaming figures, had originally predicted Dolly would be No. 1 with 140,000 units but its final numbers had her at No. 2 behind Drake. Their chart counted Drake with 143,000 units (2,200 sales and full downloads, 1,700 individual track download credits, and 139,100 streaming unit credits), Dolly with 136,300 (127,000 sales and full-album downloads, 1,200 individual track download credits, and 8,100 streaming credits), and Swift third with 136,100 (63,400 sales, 1,000 individual track credits, 71,700 streaming credits).

Elsewhere, the title debuts at No. 16 pop, No. 3 country, and No. 19 vinyl Down Under in Australia, where her Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection also inches down one to No. 15 on the country albums chart.

And across the pond in the U.K., they decided to classify the album as Americana, where it is No. 1 Americana albums, and on the all-genre British charts comes in at No. 5 top 100 pop chart, No. 3 sales, No. 2 downloads, No. 4 physical sales, and No. 9 vinyl but didn't break the top 100 for streaming. Elsewhere on the British tallies, "Islands In The Stream" with Kenny Rogers tumbles 29 places to No. 71 single sales and 32 spots to No. 67 downloads, while 1973's "Jolene" falls back out of the top 100 downloads, down from No. 93, while the U.K. country compilation albums chart sees Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection climb two to No. 1 and Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 hold steady at No. 2, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe gains 10 to No. 7 and Original Album Series collections from Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris (each of which contains Dolly appearances) re-enter the top 20 at No. 8 and No. 19, respectively.

Dolly Dazzles Dallas In Cheerleader Outfit
Dolly broke the Internet Thursday by appearing in a bedazzled Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader uniform to perform "Jolene," "9 To 5," and "We Are The Champions"/"We Will Rock You" with the cheerleaders for the halftime show at the Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day game. While the performance and her appearance brought mostly praise from the social media world, there were some accusations of lip-synching and criticism of whether someone her age should be dressing so provocatively. Worry was also expressed about her having to hold onto the set to keep steady, but that was due to her performing on a very narrow strip of lighting maintenance area at the foot of the stage where performances were not supposed to take place but became necessary when the stage malfunctioned at showtime. Rehearsal footage initially released as a reel by the cheerleaders' official Facebook account and then deleted showed she was to rise up on a platform in the middle of the star behind her head and perform on the star as her stage. When that didn't work, she had to improvise, but the location she ended up performing meant more than half of the stadium couldn't see her, her movement was greatly restricted, and she had to hold on when she neared the edge so she wouldn't fall off. NFL reporter Jane Slater also confirmed the stage malfunction. The game and halftime show were watched by an average audience of 41.5 million viewers. Before the performance, which also served as the kick-off of the annual holiday Red Kettle fundraising campaign for the Salvation Army, she announced a $1 million donation for the effort. Check out coverage of that with the announcement on the Cowboys' website here and CBS News here. Watch the full halftime performance here.

'Hard Candy Christmas' Duet Released


Singer Rachel Edge, who provides backup vocals on Dolly's rock album, on Friday released her cover of "Hard Candy Christmas" featuring Dolly as a duet. Download it here and stream on YouTube here or in the media player above. Photo courtesy the artist. Click on it for a larger view.

Dolly Gets Another UK Silver, Gold Album Awards
BPI, the organization responsible for tracking British sales of albums and issuing sales certifications, announced Friday that Dolly has earned two additional honors from them. The 1992 reissue of her 1982 RCA Greatest Hits, which was certified silver for sales of 60,000 units back in 2021, was certified gold for sales of 100,000 units on Nov. 10, and Sony's Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection released last year achieved silver certification on Oct. 20 but wasn't announced until last week.

'Rhinestones' Earns Fifth NYT Best Seller Week
Dolly is still a New York Times Best Seller List author this week, as Behind The Seams: My Life In Rhinestones slips two to No. 14 in its fifth week on the chart.

Win Chance To Sing On Opry Stage For Dolly
The Grand Ole Opry has announced the return this year of its Jan. 19 Dolly birthday show, where the guests that evening are asked to perform Dolly songs in tribute to her. In addition to the program at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, Opry House and Ryman tour guests that day will get treats made from her Duncan Hines mixes, fans may sign a giant birthday card at the Opry House and Ryman, a Dolly impersonator will be at the Ryman for photo ops, and all Ryman bars will feature Dolly-themed signature drinks. For the second annual show, $5 of each ticket will be donated to the Opry Trust Fund in Dolly's honor, and a contest launched at Opry.com for one fan to win travel for two to and from Nashville, a two-night stay at Noelle Nashville, two tickets to the show, a Rockstar merch pack, and the opportunity to lead the audience from the stage in singing "Happy Birthday" for Dolly.

Nov. 22:
'Rockstar' Expected To Debut At No. 1
With early reports indicating stronger than anticipated sales, industry insiders on Tuesday night announced they now expect Dolly's Rockstar to move a projected 140,000 credited units to surpass its competition and become her very first Billboard Top 200 No. 1 album. Hits Daily Double warns that the project has so many retail partnerships that is makes its sales projections more volatile than usual this week, so its margin of error could be bigger, but right now the expectation is:

  • Dolly at No. 1 with 140,000 units (131,000 album sales and 9,000 credits for individual track downloads and streams)
  • Drake at No. 2 with 130,000 units (only 2,000 in actual sales/paid downloads of the complete album and 128,000 credits for individual track downloads and streams since it was a reissue of his album from earlier this year with six bonus tracks, so most downloads are only of those new bonus tracks, but the charts count every 10 individual track downloads as one album purchase for chart credit as well as one album credit for every 1,250 paid subscription streams or 3,750 ad-supported free streams)
  • Taylor Swift at No. 3 with 124,000 (60,000 in sales and 64,000 in streams and individual download tracks)

    Coincidentally, if she hits No. 1 it will mark the first time an album succeeded another with the same title at the pole position, as this week's No. 1 is Rock-Star by K-pop band Stray Kids. While there have been five previous occurrences of different artists with the same title being in the top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 (including this week with two different 1989s by Taylor Swift and Ryan Adams, it doesn't appear that two No. 1s have succeeded each other by different artists with the same title.

    Elsewhere on this week's charts, A Holly, Dolly Christmas loses six to No. 39 on the Billboard Nov. 25 charts released Tuesday.

    Nov. 20:
    'Rockstar' Fighting For Pop No. 1 Album Of Week
    Dolly's long-anticipated massive rock album Rockstar dropped Friday, and industry experts say she is expected to have the biggest first-week sales of her career and highest-charting album of her career, possibly even battling Drake and Taylor Swift for the No. 1 spot on the all-genre sales-plus-streaming Billboard Top 200 albums chart, Hits Daily Double reports here. Right now, the publication is projecting the following top four:

  • 1. Drake, For All The Dogs: Scary Hours Edition 110,000-130,000 unit credits (sales plus streams – its is an expanded-edition re-issue of his current album featuring six bonus tracks)
  • 2. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor's Version 110,000-120,000 unit credits in its fourth week of sales
  • 3. Dolly, Rockstar 95,000-105,000 unit credits
  • 4. ENHYPHEN, Orange Blood 80,000-90,000 unit credits

    As these are projections, they could be off, so if the first two titles sell a little less than anticipated and Dolly sells a little more, she could move up to No. 2 or even No. 1 by the time charts are released next Tuesday, although Billboard usually announces details of the week's top selling albums on Sunday or Monday. For comparison, A Holly Dolly Christmas debuted at No. 16 on the Top 200 with first week sales of just 26,800. Blue Smoke, her highest-charting album at No. 6 on the Top 200, opened with just under 37,000 units.

    The album was previewed with the cinema listening parties Wednesday night that included her music videos for "World On Fire," "What's Up" and "Wrecking Ball" as well as "Let It Be," "Rockstar," "I Hate Myself For Loving You," "I Want You Back," "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me," "You're No Good," and "Tried To Rock & Roll Me" all played either over credits, over photo shoot footage, over studio recording footage (including both for this album and the Dumplin' soundtrack), and various concert footage of Dolly from several locations including London and Red Rocks. Between each song, an interview clip played. Those interviews were repeated (alongside interview clips for all of the album's other songs) in a streaming special on social media Thursday evening which is available for watching here. She also stopped by Saturday's University of Tennessee game to sing "Rocky Top" escorted out by alum Payton Manning (read more here) but her earpieces malfunctioned and she couldn't hear the band, so she mostly spoke the song, which she performed during commercial break on CBS, so the network only showed a few seconds of it after it was over at the end of the first quarter and then spoke with her briefly indoors later in the game.

    After the album had been released Friday, a special exclusive download was announced Saturday for Dolly's official store here with two new bonus tracks: "Jolene" with the Italian rock band Maneskin (listen to it here or in the media player below) and "Two Tickets To Paradise" (an Eddie Money cover). These are different than the three bonus tracks on the HSN version of the CD or the bonus previously released track of "Rocky Top" on the UT version of the CD. And enter here to win an autographed customized guitar from Loudwire.

    Promotions continue with her halftime performance at Thanksgiving Day's Cowboys game on CBS as well as a "Rockstar Takeover" of The Drew Barrymore Show next Monday, Nov. 27. Interviews to plug the project have mostly gone well except for Australia's Kyle and Jackie O, whose interview was taken over without their knowledge by their producer Intern Pete, according to The News here. Other interviews included USA Today here, The Tennessean here, Australia Today here, 1 News New Zealand here, NPR's All Things Considered here, Billboard here, WMOT here and The Associated Press here where she says she may do an R&B or blues album next.

    Reviews include The Guardian here, CNN here, New York Post here, American Songwriter here, Hot Press here, Evening Standard here, Pop Matters here, NME here and The Forty Five here.

    Howard Stern Interviews Dolly


    Dolly on Wednesday made her first-ever appearance on SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Show. You must be a subscriber to his channel via the service's premium level to listen to the entire program, but several clips have been posted to his website here such as the one above.

    New 'Hard Candy Christmas' Duet Coming
    Another Dolly collaboration is coming out Friday, as singer Rachel Edge, who sang some of the backing vocals on Dolly's new rock album, will release a cover of "Hard Candy Christmas" as a single featuring Dolly. It is expected to be available on all major streaming services.

    Dolly Capes Auction For $30,000
    The six late 1970s Dolly stage-worn capes that were up for bidding last week at Julien's "Played, Worn, & Torn: Rock 'N' Roll Iconic Guitars and Memorabilia" auction in Nashville sold for considerably higher than their estimated values, bringing in over $30,000 instead of their combined estimated high-end value of $11,600. The most sought-after one sold for more than $10,000, while two others sold for about $5,000 each, two for about $4,000 each, and one for about $3,000.

    'NYT' Best Seller List, Album Charts Released
    Dolly's Behind The Seams: My Life In Rhinestones rises to No. 12 in its fourth week on the New York Times Best Seller List of nonfiction hardcover books, it was revealed Friday. A Holly, Dolly Christmas slips seven to No. 33 on the Billboard Nov. 18 charts released Tuesday. Overseas, "Islands In The Stream" with Kenny Rogers shoots up 27 places to No. 42 single sales and 42 spots to No. 35 downloads, while 1973's "Jolene" re-enters the top 100 downloads at No. 93. While none of her singles or albums had the sales plus streaming totals to enter the overall top 100, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 re-enters the downloads at No. 38 and The Real Dolly Parton re-enters the physical sales chart at No. 93. On the British country compilations albums tally, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 and Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection holds steady at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe re-enters the top 20 at No. 17.

    Nudie's Caught In A Mural Lie
    Nudie's Honky Tonk, a bar that pays tribute to the designer behind most of the mid-20th century's brightest country music costumes such as those worn by Porter Wagoner, recently debuted a mural on the side of the building alleging each person is wearing a Nudie costume and including the back cover art for 1975's Best Of Dolly Parton album. However, when the mural was shared by the venue to its official Facebook page, members of Dolly's team immediately informed them the outfit in question was designed and made by Lucy Adams not Nudie. Nudie responded claiming their archives contain receipts showing Dolly purchased suits there and Nudie's granddaughter also confirmed for them that her grandfather made the suit, but Dolly's team countered (because the suit is in their possession) not only does it bear Lucy's label inside but the decoration is applique, which Nudie never used, not chainstitch, which is how he decorated his suits. The settings of their page prevent the posting of photographs in comments, so one of Dolly's team members shared the post and then posted in the comments of their own share a photo of the outfit with a closeup on the label to confirm it is Adams' not Nudie's. The bar, however, has yet to retract their disproven claims or alter the mural to provide accurate credit. (Also, it is curious that perhaps the single most famous brand association with the suits was Porter, who is missing from the mural entirely, and it instead has Taylor Swift front and center, when she only wore a vintage Nudie suit in one television commercial.)

    Nov. 13:
    Dolly Snags 54th Grammy Nomination


    Dolly on Friday morning picked up her 54th career Grammy nomination (second only to Beyoncé for the most nominations by a female) thanks to her re-recording her first top 10 hit, "The Last Thing On My Mind."

    Tom Paxton had originally written and recorded the song in 1964 and it was already a folk standard when Porter Wagoner chose it for his first duet single with his weekly TV show's new "girl singer," Dolly Parton, 56 years ago in 1967. It went to No. 7 on the country singles chart, her first credited top 10 single (she had previously hit the top 10 in a duet with Bill Phillips on her composition "Put It Off Until Tomorrow" a year earlier but she was uncredited on the single as a performer). She re-recorded the song last year for a tribute album to Doc Watson, who had recorded the song in 1966 and made it one of his signature tunes.

    Also, while not named as an individual nominee for it, a project featuring her was nominated for Best Gospel Roots Album: Becky Isaacs Bowman's Songs That Pulled Me Through The Tough Times, which features a duet with Dolly on her classic "Early Morning Breeze."

    Dolly has won 10 regular Grammys plus their Lifetime Achievement Award and has five recordings in the Grammy Hall of Fame (singles "I Will Always Love You" 1974 original, "I Will Always Love You" 1992 Whitney Houston cover as songwriter, "Coat Of Many Colors" from 1971, and "Jolene" from 1973 as well as her 1987 Trio album with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.)

    Surprisingly, none of her rock singles released from Friday's release of Rockstarreleased during the eligibility period were nominated ("World On Fire," "Magic Man" with Ann Wilson of Heart, "Bygones" with Rob Halford of Judas Priest, "We Are The Champions," and "Let It Be" with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Peter Frampton, and Mic Fleetwood — the remaining songs were released or will be released after the close of this year's eligibility period) nor were any of her other songs released during the period ("Step By Step" with Natalie Grant, "Forever Young" with Daniel Grindstaff and Paul Brewster, "21 Forever" with Chris Jansen and Slash, "Seasons" with Bebe Rexha, "Peace Like A River" with Dionnne Warwick, "Jolene" with Olivia Newton-John (her final recording which was released posthumously), "Gonna Be You" with Belinda Carlisle, Cyndi Lauper, Gloria Estefan, and Debbie Harry, "Don't Make Me Have To Come Down There," "Bets On Us" with The Cheat Codes, and "Almost Too Early For Christmas" with Jimmy Fallon).

    Her two most recent rock singles, "What's Up" with Linda Perry and "Wrecking Ball" with Miley Cyrus, were released after the eligibility period for this year closed.

    Dolly Production Partner's Son Arrested For Murder


    Sam Haskell IV, the 35-year old son of Dolly's former TV agent and longtime production partner Sam Haskell and 1977's Miss Mississippi Mary Haskell, was arrested last week in Los Angeles on suspicion of murdering and dismembering his wife and possibly his in-laws, who are missing.

    According to reports, Haskell is allegedly seen on surveillance footage flagging down a moving van and hiring the day laborers inside $500 to remove and dispose of several bags of trash from his home. He claimed the bags contained rocks, but the workers said they felt squishy and moist like meat, so they opened one down the road and saw body parts. They returned to the house, gave Haskell the bags and money back, and said they didn't want to be involved. They said he claimed the body parts were Halloween decorations, but they didn't believe him, so they left and went to the California Highway Patrol to report the body parts, but they were turned away and told to visit the Los Angeles Police Department's local precinct, where they were also turned away and told to go outside and call in their report to 911.

    Upon arrival by police at the home, the bags were gone so they left. Then a dumpster diver discovered one of the bags with a woman's torso in it inside a dumpster about five miles from their house and notified police, who pulled surveillance footage to find Haskell allegedly dumping the bag in the dumpster himself. Blood and other evidence was found in his home, but no other body parts have been recovered yet. The couple have three children who were in school at the time and have been turned over to protective services.

    The elder Sam Haskell and his wife have not commented publicly on the matter yet. Sam and Dolly share an Emmy as producers of Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square and three additional nominations for her recent TV movies including a current nomination for Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas. Mary Haskell and her daughter Mary Lane Haskell have appeared in most of the Sam-Dolly productions, and Mountain Magic actually had a character of the elder Sam Haskell played by an actor.

    'Rockstar' Week Arrives, Stern Show Scheduled
    The week of release for Dolly's rock album is upon us! Don't forget to get tickets here for the cinema preview of the album Wednesday night worldwide. It was announced last week that SiriusXM satellite radio will add a Dolly's Rockstar Radio channel in cars on Channel 14 from Wednesday through next Tuesday and on their app through Dec. 14. It will play songs from the album, stories from the recording, and songs from the guests who appear on the album. They also announced she'll appear as a guest on The Howard Stern Show Wednesday. The show airs at 7 a.m. mornings and repeats continuously throughout the day on Howard 100. Other coverage included Classic Rock here, FOX 5 Atlanta here, Globe & Mail here, Irish Times here, WGN here, CMT here, ABC News here and here, Consequnce here, Travel & Leisure here and Conde Nast Traveler Here.

    VMP Releases Dolly Titles To Public
    Vinyl Me Please last week announced several titles from their Vinyl Me Parton subscription service were becoming available for public purchase with limited stock on hand: 9 To 5 and Odd Jobs, Hello, I'm Dolly, Backwoods Barbie, Just Because I'm A Woman, Little Sparrow, Blue Smoke, and My Tennessee Mountain Home. In addition, the boutique label announced it will release a 2,000-unit limited edition pressing of Dolly's 1993 album Honky Tonk Angels with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette.

    U.K. Charts Updates
    Dolly's 1984 duet with Kenny Rogers on "Islands In The Stream" dips 13 to No. 69 U.K. downloads and a dozen digits to No. 77 sales, it was revealed Friday. Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 falls back off the top spot, losing one to No. 2 on the British country compilations albums chart, while Dolly's Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection holds steady at No. 3. Elsewhere on the tally, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series falls back out of the top 20, down from No. 17.

    Library Goes Statewide In Missouri
    Dolly's Imagination Library early childhood literacy program has expanded statewide yet again, this time in Missouri, it was revealed last week. Check out Dolly's message about it here. 

    Nov. 6:
    Dolly Opens Heartsongs Resort At Dollywood


    Dolly stopped by Dollywood's new Heartsong Resort on Friday to officially open the hotel complex at her theme park. Check out the ceremony courtesy Dollywood's Facebook feed here. The 302-room hotel features an outdoor pool with waterfall, splash pad, and year-round hot tub with gas fire pits. Food comes from seasonal poolside dining, Ember & Elm full service restaurant, High Note casual dining and drink, and Songbird Market for grab-and-go options. (Restaurants are open to the public.) The Acoustic Lobby is a private dining room designed with touches of Dolly around every corner including a glittering acoustic guitar chandelier and a changing display that starts with the wardrobe she wore for the resort's June 2022 media event and a display of her instruments. It also features 26,000-square-feet of flexible indoor and outdoor meeting space in a two-story event center and event lawns. As with the DreamMore resort, guests will receive free shuttle service to the park and water park as well as complimentary TimeSaver passes, early entry on Saturday mornings to a select ride, and in-room delivery of park purchases free of charge. The park's Smoky Mountain Christmas Festival opened Saturday with a new nightly drone and fireworks show, and while Dolly was originally expected to parade through the park grounds in her traditional park tour, it was cancelled. Check out coverage from WATE here, WCYB here, WBTV here, Knoxville News-Sentinel here, CNN here and WBIR and here (as well as on YouTube here or in the media player above).

    Latest In-Depth Dolly Interviews


    Dolly is the cover girl (click on image at left for a larger view) for the Nov. 10 edition of Newsweek magazine hitting newsstands this week. Her wide-ranging interview is available digitally here with a sidebar on her career as a barrier-breaker here and the full 43-minute unedited interview the article is based on available on YouTube here or in the media player above. An even wider-ranging interview appears in The Hollywood Reporter here (with a sidebar here of other stars praising Dolly). Their story features her reaction to Tennessee's anti-drag and anti-trans laws ("I just want everybody to be treated good . . . I just see how broken-hearted they get over certain things and I know how real they are. I know how important this is to them. That's who they are. They cannot help that any more than I can help being Dolly Parton, you know, the way people know me. If there's something to be judged, that is God's business. But we are all God's children and how we are is who we are."), that she included Kid Rock on the album because she loves everyone and forgives everyone ("I love everybody. I don't criticize, I don't condone nor condemn. I just accept them. But anyhow, just because I love you don't mean I don't love Kid Rock in that God way."), how she became so close with Michael Jackson through their mutual manager Sandy Gallin, those who wanted to be on the rock album but didn't find time, that Stevie Nicks wrote the song they recorded together with the intention of it being recorded by Fleetwood Mac but they never did, and how she never felt she was "big enough" to do the Super Bowl halftime show but now that she's doing the Thanksgiving game she'd consider it after having turned down the Super Bowl invitation multiple times.

    Catch New ABC Dolly Special Tuesday Night


    ABC last week announced as part of this year's CMA Awards coverage this week they will air an hour-long biographical special on Dolly from her early years to her rock album that comes out in another week and a half. Watch the trailer on YouTube here or in the media player above and tune in to ABC at 10:01 p.m. Eastern Tuesday to catch Dolly Parton: From Rhinestones To Rock & Roll, featuring a new Robin Roberts interview with Dolly and is hosted by Luke Bryan.

    Another Thanksgiving Football Commercial


    The NFL and Salvation Army released another commercial last week featuring "Coach Dolly" and the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders "preparing" for Dolly's halftime show at the Thanksgiving Day game. Watch it here or in the media player above.  

    'Behind The Seams' Gets Second Week On 'NYT' Best Seller List
    Dolly's Behind The Seams: My Life In Rhinestones loses 10 places to No. 14 in its second week on The New York Times Best Seller List for hardcover nonfiction titles. The book falls off the 15-position combined hardcover and e-book nonfiction list, down from No. 5. It falls off the 25-position hardcover fiction tally by Publisher's Weekly after one week at No. 6 and off the 150-position USA Today list of all best-selling books of all genres and all publication dates, down from one week at No. 28.

    NBC Airing Lots Of Dolly This Season
    NBC last week released its 2024 holiday broadcast schedule, and there's a lot of Dolly to ring in the yule tide. The network will air Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, followed by last year's Emmy-nominated Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas at 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 21, and Dolly Parton's Christmas Of Many Colors: Circle Of Love at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 22. And that's not the only Dolly holiday time as Hallmark airs Christmas At Dollywood at noon this coming Thursday.

    Dolly To Present At Australian Music Awards
    Australia's ARIA Awards last week announced Dolly as a presenter for this year's awards, airing live from Sydney at 1 a.m. Eastern U.S. time (5 p.m. Eastern Australian time) on Stan streaming, followed by a presentation on Channel 9 at 7:30 p.m. Australian time that evening, Rolling Stone Australia reported here. It hasn't been revealed whether she will travel there in person or appear via satellite.

    'Wrecking Ball' Falls Off U.K. Charts
    Dolly's duet of "Wrecking Ball" with goddaughter Miley Cyrus falls off the top 100 download singles overseas in the U.K. after one week at No. 93, the charts released Friday revealed. Her 1984 duet with Kenny Rogers on "Islands In The Stream" slides five to No. 56 U.K. downloads and No. 65 sales. Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 moves up one to No. 1 and Dolly's Diamonds & Rhinestones, The Greatest Hits Collection gains one to No. 3 on the British country compilations albums chart this week. Elsewhere on the tally, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series loses two to No. 17 and Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 falls back out of the top 20, down from No. 18.

    Dolly Music Dominates 'Priscilla' Conversation
    With the release of Sofia Coppola's Priscilla, several stories came out last week about how the film ends with Dolly's original 1974 recording of "I Will Always Love You," why that is, and how it came to be in the film. Check out interviews with the filmmakers discussing it in Vogue here, USA Today here and Variety here.

    ACMs Return To Amazon Next Year
    Although it hasn't been announced yet whether she will host again, but the Academy of Country Music (ACM) revealed last week they have reached an agreement for the awards to be handed out on Amazon Prime for two more years and for it to return to the Dallas Cowboys stadium again next year. In a press release, ACM CEO Damon Whiteside said: "Thanks to the biggest host pairing of all time, Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks, the comprehensive, cross-platform program with our partners at Prime Video and Amazon Music and the dedicated fans in Texas and around the world, the May 2023 show was a groundbreaking success and illustrates that our pioneering and innovative move to streaming was absolutely the right one at the right time!"

    Nov. 1:
    Enter Now To Win Cracker Barrel 'Rocker'


    As promised, Cracker Barrel on Monday revealed its partnership with Dolly to promote her rock album and the restaurant's new rewards program with a commercial viewable here or in the media player above and a sample Dolly Rockin' custom rocking chair at each of the chain's 662 locations. As was first reported on Dollymania.net, the black chairs will be given away through a contest, and it was noted here that "about 500" chairs would be available, or roughly one per store. It turns out that one rocker will be given away per store plus five additional ones nationwide for a total of 667. It was also revealed that it was incorrectly reported here that the chairs would only be available in the contest, as the restaurant said a "limited number" of chairs will be sold in "select" stores and online starting Dec. 5 while supplies last. Also, beginning on the album's Nov. 17 release date, "limited quantities" of Rockstar-themed merchandise including t-shirts and hats will also be available in the stores. Each person is limited to one entry regardless of how many email addresses one has, and you must create a free rewards account to enter. Upon entry at http://rocklikedollysweeps.crackerbarrel.com/, the system will assign you to a local Cracker Barrel as long as one is located within 20 miles of your home address, and you will be entered into that store's drawing for the chair. If you win, you must pick up your chair at that local restaurant. If you do not live within 20 miles of a Cracker Barrel, you will be entered in the national contest for which five winners will be drawn and the winning chair shipped to them. Entries will stop Dec. 4, after which on Dec. 8 winners will be drawn and notified via email. While the chair sale price hasn't been revealed, the contest rules list its value as $350, so that is likely the price they will charge at retail for the chairs. In a press release, Dolly said: ""Cracker Barrel and I have had a relationship for many years, and I am happy to say it continues with the launch of my new Rockstar album on Nov. 17 and Cracker Barrel's Rewards That Rock campaign. They surely are giving you the Rockstar treatment!" (Click on the photo for a high-resolution version.)

    New Dolly Interview On Making Decisions


    Dolly appears this week on the We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle podcast. Check out a preview here or in the media player above and check out the full 41-minute conversation with Glennon, her wife Abby and sister Amanda about how Dolly makes decisions here.

    'Wrecking Ball' Debuts On Sales Charts
    In its first week of release, Dolly's cover of "Wrecking Ball" with goddaughter Miley Cyrus didn't get enough streams to break the Hot 100 pop singles chart but it does debut at No. 6 rock digital song sales and No. 13 country digital song sales, the Nov. 4 Billboard charts released Tuesday showed. Also, while the holiday song charts haven't returned yet, this week marks the annual return of the Top Holiday Albums tally for the new season and A Holly, Dolly Christmas re-enters at No. 16 for a 39th chart week.

    Matthews Does Dolly Drag For Halloween
    RuPaul Drag Race judge Ross Matthews donned drag himself for the first time ever on Monday's Drew Barrymore Show, dressing as Dolly herself to Barrymore's Bob Ross. Check out a clip here.