Christmas came early for Dolly in 2013 as she filmed part of the Lifetime movie "A Country Christmas Story" at Dollywood. The movie highlights the story of a young bi-racial girl following in her father’s footsteps to become a musician as she participates in a singing contest held at Dollywood. Dolly wrote some of the songs featured in the movie and said,
“It’s a sweet original movie, and I like just being able to play my music, be part of whatever I’m doing. I did write some of the music for this little show. And I enjoy getting to act a little bit. It’s just fun. I do different stuff.”
The story reunites a family--Grace, her grandmother Sarah (Mary Kay Place), her estranged musician father Danny (Brian McNight) and her mother Jenny (Megyn Price)--through music and showcases some of the musical history of African-American contributions to country music. Dolly plays herself as the emcee and host of the singing contest at Dollywood. She also wrote two original songs-- "Fiddlin' Around" and "Miss You, Miss Me" --which are performed in the movie.
Dolly recorded "Miss You, Miss Me" on her 42nd studio album, "Blue Smoke."
Dolly sang her song "From Here to the Moon and Back" on the May 28, 2012, episode of season eight of "The Bachelorette" on ABC. On the episode, she also lends her theme park Dollywood to the bachelorette, Emily Maynard and her date.
Dolly said of the episode,
“Being a part of 'The Bachelorette' at Dollywood and meeting Emily and her date was so fun,” she continued, “I’m just a big ole romantic anyway so we had the best time!”
Emily Maynard chose Dollywood because she loves Dolly,
“One of my favorite moments of my whole life, not just of being the bachelorette, was meeting Dolly Parton. I can’t even put into words how excited I was.”
In addition to her performance of "From Here to the Moon and Back" (originally from the "Joyful Noise" soundtrack), Dolly also performed a song she wrote especially for the show entitled "Love Will Find a Way." On the episode, she also has a girl-to-girl talk with Maynard about what she is looking for in a man.
Dolly appeared several times between 2006 and 2010 on Miley Cyrus’ hit show "Hannah Montana" as Aunt Dolly, Hannah’s godmother. The character was a Nashville native who lived with her husband, Uncle Pete (who never appeared on camera).
Dolly’s first appearance was in the season one episode "Good Golly Miss Dolly" in 2006. Her last appearance was in the season four episode "Kiss it all Goodbye" in 2010. She also appeared in the season two episode "I Will Always Loathe You."
Dolly said of her role on the show,
“I'm famous now 'cause I'm Hannah Montana's Aunt Dolly. Little kids just see me in the street and just point — 'Aunt Dolly!' or 'Hi, Aunt Dolly!' — and it's just been so cute."
Dolly was the center of FOX’s "American Idol" Season VII’s Country Week on April 1 and 2, 2008, mentoring, performing, and watching the remaining contestants render covers of several of her classic songs.
Dolly mentored finalists as they prepared to perform her songs on the April 1, episode and returned on the April 2, show to perform her song "Jesus and Gravity" from her 2008 "Backwoods Barbie" CD. She chose not to judge the contestants’ performances of her songs saying,
"I couldn't go on and criticize somebody else's singin'.”
The remaining nine “American Idol” contestants performed:
On April 15, 2005, Dolly appeared on the "Reba’s Rules of Real Estate" episode of the WB sitcom playing the character Dolly Majors, Houston’s most successful real estate agent.
When invited to be on the show, Dolly only had one request of her friend,
"I said I want to have my high heels and tight clothes... Don't you put me in no cowboy boots. Don't take off my big hair."
The guest appearance came during a conversation between the friends,
"It's been a while since I've done any TV things... This was special for me. I've been trying to do Reba's show ever since she started. We struck up that conversation, got the show all together. They picked a good little character for me, and off we went."
