Update: After selling out Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium in record-setting time, Dolly adds a second benefit concert on Saturday, August 1.
In addition to the sold-out performance on July 31, Dolly will showcase her new concert “Pure and Simple” again on August 1, in support of the Opry Trust Fund. The July 31 show along with the encore performance on August 1 mark the first time in 12 years Dolly has headlined in Nashville.
Dolly said,
"The show won't be flashy, but I will be. I don't have … video screens, pyrotechnics and the like," she said. "But I hope people will enjoy sittin' back and enjoying the stories and songs told and done in a simple way. Hopefully the shows will represent the spirit of our beloved, historic Ryman Auditorium, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry...where I became a member back in 1969. I am so looking forward to performing there again."
In 1965, the Grand Ole Opry celebrated its 40th birthday and started the Opry Trust Fund as a way of helping those in the country music industry. To date, the fund has distributed over $2 million to those in need. On the Ryman Auditorium's website, Dolly was quoted saying,
"I love being a member of the Grand Ole Opry...have been since 1969. It's important to me to be able to do a concert for the Opry Trust Fund as so many of my old Opry friends have benefited from it through the years. The money raised will go to help fund the medical needs and hospitalization for those who are not able to afford it and need the help. I am proud to be of help in any way."
Dolly originally announced one scheduled performance for July 31, 2015, at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN, as part of The Gift of Music presented by the Dustin J. Wells Foundation. The foundation supports the W.O. Smith School of Music in its efforts to share the gift of music with children. Dolly said,
“Through all of us working together we can make a difference in helping a child feel the magic in making music.”
In addition to Dolly's "Pure and Simple" performance at the Ryman, to kick off Dollywood's "Showcase of Stars" this summer, Dolly will bring her "Pure and Simple," concert to Dollywood on August 8 and 9. As part of their ongoing commitment to Dolly’s Imagination Library, Dollywood is donating all proceeds to the program in an effort to help garner $1 million. Dolly said,
"I am so excited that Dollywood is bringing back the celebrity concert series, and I'm honored that I get to be first. It's always great to play in my own backyard and I know all of my country music friends who are coming to do their concerts will love it as much as I do. So look for my show 'Pure and Simple' in August and help support my Imagination Library."
2015 marks the 20th anniversary of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and that’s cause for celebration! Since launching in 1995, Dolly’s book gifting program, which once mailed just a few hundred books each month, now mails more than 800,000 free books to children in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, every month!
The new show featuring Dolly with a three-piece acoustic band. The simple style spotlights the purity and heartfelt emotion of Dolly's music in an up-close and personal setting.
Dollywood's popular concert series first began in 1988 in the newly opened 1,739-seat D.P.'s Celebrity Theater. It featured performances by the biggest names in country music. In addition to Dolly's 2015 performances, Kenny Rogers will close out the series. More entertainers will be announced throughout the summer.
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This year marks the 20th anniversary of Dolly's most beloved accomplishment, her Imagination Library, a book gifting program that has mailed more than 70 million free books to children all around the world. Dolly is quick to tell you that although her father, Lee Parton, was one of the most intelligent men she's ever known, his inability to read was her inspiration for Imagination Library. The program was started in Sevier County, Tennessee, where Dolly was born and raised, and continues to touch the lives of children around the globe.
Her father may have been unable to read the words "determination and generosity," but his life certainly defined them. Each morning, he left for a hard day's work in the mountains of East Tennessee carrying with him a green lunchbox that his children affectionately referred to as "Daddy's dinner bucket." When his weather-beaten hands opened up that box, his kind heart compelled him to save a portion of his lunch to share with his young children. When he returned home in the evenings, they were eager to greet him and see what he had saved for them. Oftentimes, it was part of a bologna sandwich or a piece of pie. To most people, a fragment of a sandwich and a stale piece of pie may not seem like much, but the children would take those tasty treats to a hideaway under a blackberry bush and have a picnic fit for a king.
When remembering her beloved father and the story of his dinner bucket, Dolly said,
"Our sweet Daddy worked so hard for all of us. At night we used to take turns rubbing Daddy's cracked, hard-working hands with corn silk lotion and we soaked and washed his tired old feet. My sister Willadeene sweetly (and jokingly) dried them with her long beautiful hair. If Jesus could wash the feet of his disciples, at least we could do it for Daddy. If you're lucky enough to have great parents, it's truly one of God's greatest gifts. Happy Father's Day to all the good daddies out there...and to the bad ones, too. Maybe they weren't lucky enough to have a Daddy as good as mine."
For years, that routine continued, day in and day out, as he worked tirelessly to provide for his wife and twelve children. On the day he finally retired, and with that same spirit of generosity, he gave his lunchbox away to another hardworking man, Oscar Dunn.
Dolly's younger brother, Randy, dropped by the studio and shared this wonderful memory with us for Father's Day and sang a little bit of the "Dinner Bucket Song," a song that Dolly had actually written about Mr. Lee's dinner bucket.
Many years later, with the dinner bucket being little more than a memory, the Parton family said goodbye to their beloved daddy who passed away just a few weeks before Christmas in 2000. He was laid to rest in the beautiful mountains he loved so dearly.
It was a difficult Christmas for all of the kids after saying their final goodbyes to their daddy. Randy, Dolly's younger brother, was in for a special surprise on that Christmas Eve. On that cold night in December, Randy’s wife Deb handed him a brown paper bag. He opened it and discovered one of the greatest gifts he had ever received...his daddy's dinner bucket! He was overwhelmed with emotion. Unbeknownst to Randy, Deb had made arrangements with Oscar’s sweet wife Faye and son Grant to bring Mr. Lee’s lunchbox back home to the Parton family. Memories flooded his mind as he examined it closely. What he found, a surprise much sweeter than any piece of pie, was that his father had learned to write his name and had scratched it into the green paint on that old dinner bucket.
That priceless green dinner bucket represents the immeasurable determination and generosity of a hardworking man whose legacy is not only etched into the hearts of his children, but also into the hearts of countless children around the world...and the story goes on...one page at a time...
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This year marks the 20th Anniversary of Dolly's Imagination Library. As part of the celebration, Dolly announced plans to bring back Dollywood's "Showcase of Stars" concert series with all proceeds benefiting the book gifting program with a goal to raise $1 million!
Dolly will kick off the concert series with four shows on August 8 and 9 in an all-new acoustic production, "Pure and Simple." She has called on her best friend and longtime duet partner, Kenny Rogers, to close out the series. More amazing artists will be announced throughout the summer.
Robert Lee Parton, Dolly’s father, inspired her to start the program. In 2014, Dolly talked about her Imagination Library with Southern Living magazine. She commented on her father’s influence and pride in the program. She said,
“And my dad was very proud of me. He got to live long enough to see the Imagination Library do well, so he felt like he had done something good too—that he was the inspiration for it.”
Now known to millions of kids as "The Book Lady," Dolly continues to dream big dreams and as she says equip them with "wings."
Imagination Library Milestones
The program launched in 1995 in Dolly's home country. In 2000, it gained more momentum and supporters began replicating it in other areas. In 2003, the program had mailed 1 million books to children in the United States. By 2004, a statewide partnership was established in Tennessee and that was just the beginning of Dolly’s dreams.
In 2006, the program launched in Canada and in the United Kingdom the following year. By 2010, Imagination Library had mailed 25 million books internationally. Audio and Braille books were added in 2011 and in 2013, the program went Down Under when it launched in Australia. The year 2013 marked another important milestone when the organization mailed over 50 million books.
Today the program continues to forge new partnerships and reach even more children around the world with one message, Dream More, Learn More, Care More, Be More!
For the first time in a decade, the Showcase of Stars brings some of the biggest names in entertainment to Dollywood. Dolly, whose last benefit concert at the park was in 2005, kicks off the series with four concerts August 8 and 9 at D.P.’s Celebrity Theater, a venue which provides the perfect atmosphere for fans to enjoy this stellar concert schedule. Performers include Parton herself, as well Kenny Rogers and a few other special friends. The concert series takes place in August and September.
