DOLLY PARTON WRAPS MOST SUCCESSFUL EUROPEAN TOUR EVER

    DOLLY PARTON has topped herself again. 

       The legendary country music icon recently returned from the most successful European tour of her 40-plus year career, where she performed 17 shows to over 170,000 fans, surpassing her then-best 2007 European tour, where she played 21 shows for over 140,000 people.  Each of these treks grossed in the tens of millions of dollars and established DOLLY as Europe’s favorite and most successful country artist. 
      
       The singer/songwriter/actress/entrepreneur--hailed as “one of our national treasures” in a rave review of her BACKWOODS BARBIE album by Newsweek (2/3/08)--was in Europe for a leg of stadium and arena dates running from 6/13-7/6 in Sweden, Ireland, Scotland and England all with no support act; the trek culminated with two shows at London’s 02 arena.  Her sold-out shows in Glasgow (12,000) and two in London (17,000 each) were filmed by director Fran Strine (Nickelback’s “Rock Star” video) for a future DVD release.
      
    Next up for DOLLY: a new single and a new leg of U.S. tour dates.  This week, she’ll issue “Shinola,” the third single from BACKWOODS BARBIE, the first release on her own new Dolly Records label and her first mainstream country album in 17 years.  “’Shinola’ brims with her down-home sass…” wrote Randy Lewis in the Los Angeles Times (3/7/08), while Joel Selvin noted in the San Francisco Chronicle: “’Shinola’ is a raucous, ticked-off rocker.”

     The CD (released February 26) entered the Top 200 Albums chart at #17 and at #2 on both the Country Album and Indie Album charts and has already featured two singles, “Better Get To Livin’” and “Jesus & Gravity.”  On the touring front, DOLLY will head back out on the road August 1 for 12 shows, which will be followed by a U.S./Canada tour beginning in October.

       This week, DOLLY will go into the studio to record vocals for a new song that she wrote for Jessica Simpson’s upcoming CD.  DOLLY says, “Well, Jessica Simpson has recorded a song I wrote for her titled ‘Do You Know.’  I believe that will be the name of her new CD as well.  Not only did she record it, she sang the living daylights out of it.  Boy, can she sing.  I’m excited and honored that she recorded my song, but equally as excited that I am going to sing on it with her as well.  Guess you could say it’s the ‘blonde leading the blonde.’”

    In other news, the “9 to 5” musical--for which DOLLY wrote all the music and lyrics including the “Backwoods Barbie” song--premieres at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles September 20 (previews begin September 3) and hits Broadway April 23, 2009 at the Marquis Theatre.

    Here are recent critical soundbites about the album (on Dolly Records, which is being distributed overseas through Universal Music Group) and tour.

"...there is no doubting the country diva's continued abilities as a musician. She plays half-a-dozen instruments in the course of the show, including guitar, banjo and piano, each of which has been painted white and studded with rhinestones."

--Mark Brown, UK TELEGRAPH, July 1, 2008

 

--LONDON TIMES, July 1, 2008

"The well-paced evening featured all the songs people came to hear, from the vintage tracks (‘Jolene,’ ‘Coat of Many Colors’) to the huge-selling pop hits (‘Here You Come Again,’ ‘9 to 5,’ ‘Islands in the Stream’) to such terrific new songs [from Backwoods Barbie] as the tender ‘Only Dreamin’’ and the rousing ‘Better Get to Livin.’”

--Frank Scheck, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER/REUTERS, May 2, 2008

"She ended the night with ‘Jesus & Gravity,’ a new song [from Backwoods Barbie] that shows her belief in intelligent design. Then again, whenever Parton sang, the room seemed filled with proof of a higher power."

                      --Dave McKenna, WASHINGTON POST, April 30, 2008

"In her best old songs from the late 1960s and early 1970s, like ‘Jolene’ and ‘Coat of Many Colors,’ songs that helped expand the emotional range of country music, you could feel the piercing, affective power of her voice. (She is 62, and the voice is pristine.) She let a bit of roots music in, like the bluegrass of ‘Shattered Image’ and the Irish folk song of ‘Only Dreamin’ [from Backwoods Barbie]; she played a bit of dulcimer, autoharp, electric guitar and piano..."

        --Ben Ratliff, NEW YORK TIMES, May 3, 2008

"...it's tremendously endearing how out of hand ‘Jesus & Gravity’ gets, a triumphant gospel-pop thunderclap that pours on the backing-choir effusions and the soaring high notes and the biblically grandiose choruses until even a roomful of godless city slickers are feeling downright Pentecostal."

--Rob Harvilla, VILLAGE VOICE (N.Y.), May 6, 2008

"A force of nature in a glittering gown and a blonde wig piled high, Dolly Parton filled up the Event Center at the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa in Atlantic City on Saturday with her outsized personality and an unstoppable combination of down-home musical dazzle and showbiz pizzazz...Parton sang country and pop songs in a still-gleaming, glowing voice, and maintained a monologue of heartfelt and hokey Smoky Mountain autobiography while playing autoharp, dulcimer, penny whistle, banjo and guitar."

--Dan DeLuca, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, May 5, 2008

"The unstoppably entertaining legend closed with ‘I Will Always Love You,’ her Smoky Mountain soprano fluttering like a butterfly as her fans--from teens who recognize her as Hannah Montana's Aunt Dolly to seniors who heard ‘Jolene’ back in 1973--roared back with their love. True and deep, indeed."

--Jon Bream, MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE, May 8, 2008

"...the real star of the show is that voice--nothing compares to it. Her clear, Tennessee mountain soprano is simply stunning and still soars nearly 50 years after she broke into the music business."

--Rosa Colucci, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, April 24, 2008

"...an underrated songwriter...'Only Dreamin' was a haunting dirge with tin whistle and bodhran, serving a reminder that Smoky Mountain music came from the Celts.  ‘Better Get to Livin' ' can stand with any of her best '70s stuff...."

--Rob Hubbard, ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, May 8, 2008

 
"Does anyone work an audience better than Dolly Parton? (Seriously, name someone. Go ahead. Try it.)...The woman's voice is still flawless—delicate and powerful, often in the same song, which is what makes ‘I Will Always Love You’ and ‘Eagle When She Flies’ so moving."

--Mandi Bierly, ENTERTAINMENTWEEKLY.COM, May 2, 2008

"Her Appalachian phrasing was immaculate on her classic ‘Jolene’ and early on she affectionately covered ‘Backwoods Barbie,’ the autobiographical title track from her current album....On the new ballad ‘Shattered Image’ she played a rhinestone dulcimer that matched her outfit. Parton later turned back to the late 1950s for ‘Puppy Love,’ a rockabilly workout she wrote with her Uncle Bill. That was Parton's first composition. She's traveled a long way from the hardscrabble edge of the Smoky Mountains. The fact that Parton wears a coat of many colors explains her mass appeal."

--Dave Hoekstra, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, May 9, 2008

"...punchy new singles like 'Better Get to Livin'' positively sparkle next to standards like 'Jolene'...truly stunning moments like the dulcimer-accompanied rendition of 'Shattered Image' or the stirring take on 'Backwoods Barbie.”

--Preston Jones, FORT WORTH STAR TELEGRAM, May 12, 2008

"Pick up a copy of Backwoods Barbie, her great new CD, and you can hear how this legend continues to polish off more gems. She did four tunes from Barbie in the first 80 minutes of the performance...The best was the autobiographical title cut, an old-fashioned country hoedown that's as heartfelt as it is humorous. She played acoustic guitar during that one. For ‘The Lonesomes,’ she played a white piano to capture the bluesy-jazzy, deserted-saloon feel of the ballad. It was exquisite."

--Mario Tarradell, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, May 12, 2008

For more on DOLLY, the upcoming Los Angeles debut of the musical “9 to 5” (for which she wrote all the lyrics and music) or tour dates, check out www.dollypartonmusic.net.

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