Dolly Parton News

Dolly Parton is confirmed to be a mentor on this season of American Idol, America’s top-rated network television show, on April 1st and 2nd. The shows are being filmed during the last week of March and will feature the Idol contestants performing many of Dolly’s classic songs on April 1st followed by the results show on April 2nd. The April 2nd show will also include Dolly herself taking the stage to perform at least one song from her new hit album, Backwoods Barbie, currently at #9 on the Billboard country albums chart.

Dolly will be making her annual appearance at Dollywood on April 11th and 12th to help kick off the 2008 season with press events scheduled during the day on Friday followed by her traditional parade through Pigeon Forge on Friday evening. Dolly will also be doing a number of tributes to her late friend Porter Wagoner throughout the weekend including a musical tribute and rose ceremony. The musical tribute will feature many of the original Wagonmasters complete with their characteristic sparkly rhinestone suits. Dolly will also include long-time friend and original Wagonmaster, Don Warden, on steel guitar in the tribute show. Dollywood will be open to the public starting on March 21st.

After giving Dolly the highest country album chart debut of her career last week at #2, Backwoods Barbie falls to #9 on the Billboard country albums charts this week. Fans can likely expect the album to get a chart boost from her upcoming American Idol appearance.

Taylor Swift, Dolly, and other country stars make the cover of the latest issue of Billboard magazine. The feature story discusses country music’s relationship to the on-line digital music market and while Dolly receives little mention in the article, it does state that although Brad Paisley outperforms the digital country market for on-line music sales, Dolly outperforms in the overall digital market. Way to go, Dolly!

Check out Dolly’s interview with Rotary Magazine as she discusses her Imagination Library program and why literacy is so important for today’s children.

The former mayor of Dollywood gushes about Dolly and her love of children in a touching story from the Sand Mountain Reporter.

As expected, Dolly has officially cancelled her scheduled March 14th appearance at the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas following her doctor’s orders to rest due to her previously reported back problems. A SXSW spokesperson said, “She really wanted to come and play for the SXSW attendees and the people of Austin, but her doctor says that she needs to stay home and rest for a few weeks. We wish Dolly a speedy recovery.”

Although tour dates for the second leg of Dolly’s U.S. 2008 Backwoods Barbie Tour have not been formally announced, it has been revealed that Dolly will be playing The Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California on August 3rd. Tickets for the show are currently not available to the public or Dolly-ite members. Some advance tickets are being made available to the venue’s Premiere Marquee Club until March 25th through which members must purchase tickets to multiple shows in order to get the advance tickets.

Backwoods Barbie is set to debut at #2 on Billboard’s country albums chart, marking Dolly’s highest country chart position in 17 years and her highest album chart debut of her career! With sales over 26,543 units in the first week, Dolly also comes in at #17 on Billboard’s pop albums chart and #2 on the indie album chart. The album was also the top-selling country album last week on iTunes and the most-listened to album on CMT.com. Best Buy’s on-line store completely sold out of the album in the first day although copies should still remain available in stores. Fans can purchase the album from Amazon, iTunes (includes live bonus track of “I Will Always Love You”), Wal-Mart (with live bonus track of “9 To 5″) and Target (live bonus tracks of “Jolene” and “Two Doors Down”).