Dolly Parton News

Dolly Parton kicked off Dollywood’s 26th Season grand opening weekend today with a round of television interviews this morning and numerous appearances throughout the park today. She first appeared on Fox & Friends this morning live via satellite sitting in front of the park’s new ride, the Barnstormer. Wearing a tan turtleneck with black leather jacket and gloves due to the cold weather, Dolly chatted about filming her new movie Joyful Noise with Queen Latifah and Keke Palmer which just recently wrapped filming. Dolly got a chuckle from a clip the hosts played from yesterday’s show of actress/singer Emmy Rossum, star of Showtime’s new show Shameless who dueted with Dolly back in 2001 for the Songcatcher soundtrack, as she talked about Dolly, saying, “She has so much energy, she’s so self-possessed, she’s just really a…she’s a ballsy chick!” At the end of the interview, they asked Dolly about the recent passing of Elizabeth Taylor, whom Dolly had spent time with through her former manager Sandy Gallin. On Elizabeth, Dolly said, “I think everybody just always looked at her like royalty, and so I guess it would be fair to say that Hollywood’s lost its queen. And of course I knew Liz, I spent some time with her years ago when I worked with Sandy Gallin, my manager for many years and they were best of friends. So we would sit and talk about everything in the world, mostly food, we both loved to eat and we were both short and we talked about how hard it was to find clothes and things that fit us. But she’s going to be dearly missed, she was a wonderful talent.” Watch the full interview here:

Then Dolly did another satellite interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America, whom Robin declared as “one of our favorite guests of all time.” Dolly discussed the opening of Dollywood and the new Barnstormer ride, taping Joyful Noise, Elizabeth Taylor, the new album, and her 2011 world tour, revealing that the Better Day Tour will include a second set of U.S. dates in October. On her upcoming album Better Day, Dolly said, “I’ve written all the songs in this one and it’s got a lot of uplifting and positive things which is why we call it Better Day. And of course in our tour, we hope to do a lot of the songs from that and songs that are kind of inspiring and lifting people up. Even the love songs are more of a positive nature in this CD.” Watch that interview here:

The rest of the day was spent doing various appearances throughout Dollywood. Dolly performed with the Kinfolks band in front of the new Barnstormer ride, singing “My Mountains, My Home”, “My Tennessee Mountain Home”, “Applejack”, and “Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher Man”. She then appeared at the Festival of Nations show followed by a parade through Dollywood. Tomorrow, Dolly is expected to make appearances in two of the Festival of Nations shows as well as another parade in the park.

Dolly Parton will be appearing on Fox & Friends tomorrow live via satellite from Dollywood to promote the park’s season opening. Fans can tweet their questions for Dolly to the show’s Twitter page and some will be picked to ask Dolly on the air. Fox & Friends airs at 6 AM on the FOX News Channel.

Then Dolly will be interviewed by Robin Roberts on Good Morning America which airs at 7 AM on ABC. Fans can submit their questions via an on-line form on ABC’s website.

The full track listing for Better Day, Dolly’s forthcoming studio album, and details on the album’s first single have just been announced. The album’s 12 tracks features a mix of brand new songs as well as Dolly’s own versions of “I Just Might”, “Shine Like the Sun”, “Get Out”, and “Let Love Grow”, four songs written by Dolly for 9 To 5: The Musical.

On the new album, Dolly says, “I wanted to do an album that would be very uplifting and positive, as well as inspirational. Times are hard all over. I think people need to feel better and I thought Better Day was a perfect title because it says ‘hope.’” When asked about what sets the album apart from her previous albums, Dolly says, “I always think every album is better than the last one…at least I strive for that. I wrote all the songs for this one; plus, I think it may be a little more contemporary than what I usually do.”

Dolly is scheduled to sing the album’s first single “Together You & I” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday, May 26th, the same day the single will be going out to radio stations. The song’s music video is expected to debut shortly thereafter.

Better Day will be released in June or July with the exact date to be announced soon. The full track listing for Better Day is as follows:

1. In the Meantime
2. Just Leaving
3. Missing You
4. Together You & I
5. Country Is
6. Holding Everything
7. The Sacrafice
8. I Just Might
9. Better Day
10. Shine Like the Sun
11. Get Out
12. Let Love Grow

Dolly’s complete list of U.S. tour dates this summer has been revealed! In an email blast to her fans, Dolly says, “I’m very excited, first of all, to be going back on tour at all. But I love the fans and I miss the live stage shows. With the new stage show I hope to have a lot of new things for the fans, especially all the new songs from the BETTER DAY CD and some new and different segments in the show with a lot more fun things as well. Of course, we will always be doing our biggest and most popular songs. We’re looking for a good time for ourselves as well as for the fans.” The full list of dates for Dolly’s U.S. tour are as follows:

• July 17th – Knoxville, TN – UT Thompson Boling Arena
• July 19th – Dallas, TX – Verizon Theatre Grand Prairie
• July 20th – Albuquerque, NM – Sandia Casino
• July 22th – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
• July 23th – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
• July 24th – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion
• July 27th – Prior Lake, MN – Mystic Lake Casino
• July 28th – Chicago, IL – Rosemont Theater
• July 30th – Wallingford, CT – Toyota Presents Oakdale Theatre
• July 31st – Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap
• August 2nd – Durham, NC – Durham Performing Arts Center
• August 3rd – Alpharetta, GA – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater @ Encore Park

Visit the Tour page to see a complete list of Dolly’s tour dates for both Europe and North America. Australian dates have yet to be announced.

Kenny Rogers’ new concert special, Kenny Rogers: The First 50 Years, is set to premier on Great American Country (GAC) next Tuesday, March 8th, at 8:30 PM EST. The television special celebrates Kenny’s 50 years in music and features guest performances from Dolly, Lionel Ritchie, Tim McGraw, Sheena Easton, Alison Krauss, Billy Currington, Chris Isaak, Darius Rucker, Smokey Robinson, and the original members of the First Edition. The show will re-air March 9th at 12:30 AM and 10 AM, March 13th at 8 PM, and March 14th at 12 AM.