Dolly on the Rise

    Although local idol Dolly Parton's chart performance last week as a singer was down, her numbers as a songwriter were on the rise, thanks to television phenomenon “American Idol.”
The most recent season’s champion, David Cook, landed multiple entries on the various singles charts in the first week that the program allowed sales figures on its contestants' recordings to be released. Among those tracks was his version of "Little Sparrow" from the episode in tribute to Dolly. The song debuted at No. 66 for digital downloads, No. 1 on the Bubbling Under The Hot 100 list (essentially meaning No. 101 for the all-genre song chart), No. 79 on the pop 100, No. 74 Canadian digital singles sales and No. 96 on the Canadian Hot 100 in the June 7 Billboard numbers released Thursday.
    Elsewhere on the charts, Dolly's “Backwoods Barbie” album dropped seven to No. 36 country in its 14th week and fell off of the 50-position independent labels albums chart, down from No. 30 in its 12th week. The disc also fell out of the top 50 in the Canadian country tally. Her “16 Biggest Hits” dipped one to No. 42 U.S. country albums in its 33rd chart week.
    Dolly's coming to the Motor City! The next date on her 2008-2009 Backwoods Barbie World Tour was revealed last week, and it’s Detroit. Radio station WYCD broke the news of the Aug. 13 concert at the DTE Energy Music Theatre in nearby Clarkston, and Dolly's management soon released the date to concert listing service PollStar. Tickets go on sale to the public on Saturday.
    Her video for "Jesus & Gravity" by Dolly managed last week to hold onto the No. 2 spot on the Pure 12 Pack countdown on CMT's digital channel, Pure Country. It marked the video's fifth week on the chart.
Martha Wainwright, singer-songwriter and member of the famous Wainwright musical family (dad is Loudon Wainwright III, brother Rufus arranged Dolly's "My Blue Tears" for a friend's recent album and mother Kate McGarrigle is a frequent Emmylou Harris collaborator), admires Dolly as one of the three top musical influences in her career, she told magazine Music OMH in an interview released last week. "Performance-wise, I guess I've always looked up to someone like Dolly Parton who is just such a great singer," she said. Her other vocal influences are Chrissie Hynde and Edith Piaf. For songwriting, her hero is Bob Dylan.
    If you received a priceless collection of more than 150 original photographs, many depicting the world's top cultural icons, all taken by one of America's most celebrated pop artists, whose image would you choose to represent the bunch? Dolly, of course! Valparaiso University's Brauer Museum of Art in Indiana selected a Polaroid of her taken in 1985 for Andy Warhol's portraits of her as the one piece from its new Warhol collection to show in a "New Acquisitions Exhibition" on display through Aug. 4. A larger selection of the Warhol items will be shown in a new exhibit slated to run Dec. 13 to March 22, but until then, Dolly's is the one shot up for viewing.
    RCA Victor Europe has released the track listing for the upcoming compilation “Duets” with Porter Wagoner. Also, the release date for the CD has been moved back. Originally slated to come out Monday, it is now scheduled for release June 16. While other albums in the label's "Duets" series have featured 16 tracks, this one will have one extra for a total of 17. The CD should be available from most retailers in the U.S. as an import. The tracks are:
· The Last Thing On My Mind
· Holding On To Nothin'
· We'll Get Ahead Someday
· Always, Always
· I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby
· Just Someone I Used To Know
· Tomorrow Is Forever
· Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher Man
· Better Move It On Home
· The Right Combination
· Burning The Midnight Oil
· Together Always
· We Found It
· Say Forever You'll Be Mine
· If Teardrops Were Pennies
· Please Don't Stop Loving Me
· Making Plans
    If you want the latest Dolly news, be sure to check out the nightly updates at Dollymania.net: The Online Dolly Parton Newsmagazine!