A Holly Dolly Christmas
A Holly Dolly Christmas is the forty-seventh solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. It was released on October 2, 2020, by Parton's Butterfly Records in partnership with 12-Tone Music Group. The album was produced by Kent Wells, with Parton serving as executive producer. It is Parton's third Christmas album, following 1984's Once Upon a Christmas with Kenny Rogers and 1990's Home for Christmas. The album features guest appearances by Michael Bublé, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus, Jimmy Fallon, Willie Nelson, and Parton's brother Randy.[1] It peaked at number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, becoming Parton's eighth album to top the chart. The album also peaked at number one on the Billboard Top Holiday Albums chart and number 16 on the Billboard 200. The album was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
A Holly Dolly Christmas
October 2, 2020
2009; 2016–2020
- Sound Stage Studios (Nashville)
- Kent Wells Productions (Franklin)
- Dark Horse Recording (Franklin)
- Paragon Studios (Franklin)
- The Jazz/Pop Sweatshop (Vancouver)
- Adventure Studios (Nashville)
- Velvet Apple Studios (Nashville)
- Little Big Sound (Nashville)
- Monk Music Studios (East Hampton)
- Quad Studios (Nashville)
- Pedernales Recording Studio (Spicewood)
43:53
- Butterfly
- 12-Tone Music Group
Kent Wells
Background[edit]
Parton released "Comin' Home for Christmas" as a single in December 2009, but no mention of a Christmas album was made for almost seven years. Parton first mentioned that she was working on a new Christmas album during a Facebook Live Q&A in August 2016.[2] She said that the album would be released in 2017 and would feature songs that she had written for the NBC TV movie Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love.[2] The title song from the movie, "Circle of Love", was recorded by Jennifer Nettles, who played Parton's mother in the film, for her 2016 Christmas album, To Celebrate Christmas.[3] The song was also recorded by Parton's niece Heidi Parton for her 2017 album, This Kind of Love.[4] The album's release was delayed due to the release of Parton's first children's album, I Believe in You, in 2017 and the Dumplin' soundtrack album in 2018. The album's release was mentioned again in April 2020 by Parton's creative director Steve Summers, who mentioned in a YouTube livestream with Linda Perry that his team was working on preparations for the album photoshoot and that it would be coming out in 2020.[5] Parton prematurely announced the album's title in addition to two song titles and a few of the guest artists during an interview with Eddie Stubbs on WSM in July 2020. Following the broadcast, the interview was posted to WSM's SoundCloud page, but was deleted by mid-afternoon the next day.
Commercial performance[edit]
The album debuted and peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 200 chart with 27,000 equivalent album units of which 26,000 were pure album sales. It re-peaked at number 16 during its initial chart run.[33] The album also debuted and peaked at number one on both the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and the Billboard Top Holiday Albums chart.[33] In Europe the album peaked at number 11 on the Scottish Albums chart and number 16 on the UK Albums Chart.
As of December 2020, the album has sold 171,000 units in the United States, Parton's best since Backwoods Barbie.[34]
Accolades[edit]
A Holly Dolly Christmas was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.[35]