This week with Dolly

By Duane Gordon news@theheraldnewspapers.com The famed duo of Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton have completed their first full duet in more than a quarter-century, it was revealed this week on Dollymania.net. The pair have recorded a song which is slated to appear on a new album Wagoner is currently working on in the studio, his office confirmed. More information is expected to be released on the project in the near future. “It’s always wonderful to sing with Dolly,” Wagoner told the website. “Our voices blend together like family.” One of country music’s top duos of all time, Porter & Dolly, as they were known, released 13 full-length albums and scored 13 top 10 singles from 1967 through 1976. An acrimonious split, however, had Wagoner sue her for breach of contract, resulting in a $1 million out-of-court settlement and the release of a final album of duets, which spawned one additional top 10 hit in 1980. They reunited for a taping of Dolly’s ABC television series in 1988 and rekindled their friendship. Although they have appeared together a handful of times since then, this will mark their first actual duet since 1980’s “Porter & Dolly” album. Don’t forget that Dolly’s two-hour episode of A&E’s “Biography” premieres Friday at 8 p.m. on the cable network. From her humble Sevier County beginnings to her rise to entertainment superstardom, the show is slated to feature interviews with Lee Ann Womack, Henry Winkler, Shania Twain, Tanya Tucker, Darryl Hannah, Lily Tomlin, Olympia Dukakis, Steve Buckingham, Billy Ray Cyrus and more. Other upcoming Dolly TV appearances include footage from Dollywood’s season opening (specifically the fashion show to open Dolly’s Closet dress shop) on “CMT Insider” premiering at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and a look at the good eats at the park on the Food Network’s “The Best Of . . . Fun Foods” at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. A couple of tours ago, Dolly premiered a novelty tune called “I Dreamed About Elvis,” but she has to dream no more. The Tennessee Department of Tourism Development on Monday released a new commercial touting the state’s attractions which features a digitally-inserted Dolly riding alongside the late Elvis Presley in a convertible, using footage from his 1967 film “Clambake.” It marked the first time Presley’s estate has allowed the use of his image to be digitally altered to appear with a living person, which a spokesperson for the estate said was partly because “we know that Elvis admired Dolly.” In a press release for the project, Dolly said that it was “a once in a lifetime experience. Riding in a convertible with Elvis? What more could a girl ask for? I am so proud of my Tennessee heritage and I am thrilled and incredibly honored to be promoting our great state along side the world’s most legendary superstar.” The full commercial is available online for viewing at www.tnvacation.com. It was a good week on television for Dolly’s collaboration with Brad Paisley on “When I Get Where I’m Going.” Although it’s gone from the major singles charts, the video for the song remained steady at No. 1 for the week on CMT for a second week and rebounded nine points to recapture the No. 1 spot on Great American Country’s weekly countdown. The audience at the Nashville Film Festival agreed on one thing last Friday night: They loved the Dolly fan documentary “For The Love Of Dolly.” The 56-minute film screened for a sizeable crowd, which met it with enthusiastic laughter and applause -- and even several insightful questions for the director and the film’s subjects at the conclusion of the screening, Festival Artistic Director Brian Gordon introduced the picture by explaining that festival officials attempt to attract to the screenings several documentaries on music for its “Music Films In Music City” schedule and that “For The Love Of Dolly” was an excellent picture which exemplified the spirit of that category better than any other this year. Although the filmmakers interviewed dozens of fans and amassed more than 100 hours of footage, the final project focuses on just three groups of her most dedicated fans: Harrell and Patric, a couple from Texas whose home is plastered wall-to-wall with Dolly; Jeannette from California and Melisa from Nashville, friends who run the length of Dolly’s Pigeon Forge parade route each year in elaborate costumes; and David, whose sister and parents credit his fandom for his success in living with cerebral palsy. All of the film’s featured cast members were present for the Music City showing, as was director Tai Uhlmann. The screening provided the first views of the film for Jeannette as well as for David and his family. All of them said they enjoyed it thoroughly and each could be heard loudly laughing throughout the showing. The audience members agreed, with one fan in attendance going so far as to say she wished she could obtain a copy to show her friends that she “is not the only one!” Uhlmann confirmed that her representatives are in talks for DVD distribution and a cable television airing and that both of those deals could come in the near future. Meanwhile, the film is scheduled for several additional festivals across the country over the next few months including Dallas on Monday, New York and San Francisco in June and Los Angeles in July. It is expected to be shown at several other festivals around the nation later in the year. For photos from the Nashville screening, and all the latest Dolly-related news and happenings, visit Dollymania.net: The Online Dolly Parton Newsmagazine.