Dolly Parton News

Dolly will be playing the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California on August 4th as part of the second leg of her 2008/2009 Backwoods Barbie World Tour. Dollyite members can purchase presale tickets starting today (May 28th) at 10 AM until this Friday (May 30th) at 10 PM local time on Ticket Master. Tickets go on sale to the public starting this Saturday, May 31st, at 10 AM local time.

Dolly will not be performing on this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards show. A previous press release listed her among the show’s performers, but officials have confirmed that Dolly will not be appearing on the program which airs this Sunday, May 18th, at 8 PM on CBS.

Dolly has expressed outrage over a recent prank on Howard Stern’s satellite radio show when the shock-jock aired a lewd segment featuring Dolly’s voice. The segment featured audio taken from Dolly’s audiobook and was edited to create vulgar and racist sound bites using her voice. Dolly fired back today at the radio host by saying, “I have never been so shocked, hurt and humiliated in all my life. I cannot believe what Howard Stern has done to me. In a blue million years, I would never have such vulgar things come out of my mouth. They have done editing or some sort of trickery to make this horrible, horrible thing. Please accept my apology for them and certainly know I had nothing to do with this. If there was ever going to be a lawsuit, it’s going to be over this. Just wanted you to know that I am completely devastated by this.”

Southern Gospel legend and long time Dolly pal, Dottie Rambo, died in a tour bus accident early Sunday morning in southwest Missouri while on her way to perform a Mother’s Day concert in North Richland Hills, Texas. Also on board the bus were several of my dear friends: Dottie’s manager Larry Ferguson, his wife Judy, their children Christian and Pierce, Dottie’s webmaster and assistant Chris Barnes, and bus driver Ronnie Meadows. Dolly quickly released a statement in response to today’s tragedy: “I know Dottie is in heaven in the arms of God right now, but our earth angel will surely be missed. Dottie was a dear friend, a fellow singer, songwriter and entertainer, and as of late my duet singing partner. Dottie, ‘stand by the river’ and wait for me. I will always love you, Dolly.” Dolly went on to say “I also want to send my prayers and thoughts to her manager Larry Ferguson, the children, families and everyone involved in this terrible tragedy.” According to reports, Chris Barnes, Larry Ferguson and Ronnie Meadows have all been admitted to St. Johns Hospital in Springfield, Missouri in serious condition while Larry’s wife and children sustained moderate injuries. No funeral arrangements for Dottie have been made yet as of this writing. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Dottie’s family and our friends who were involved in this tragedy.

Dolly has added two new west coast dates to the fall leg of her 2008/2009 Backwoods Barbie Tour! She will be playing the Theater Of The Clouds in Portland, Oregon on August 7th and the WaMu Theater in Seattle, Washington on August 8th. Ticket pre-sales for Dollyite members begin tomorrow at 10 AM local time and end on Friday at 10 PM. Tickets for the Portland show can be purchased through the venue’s website while tickets for Seattle can be purchased via Ticket Master. Both shows go on sale to the public this Saturday at noon.