Dolly Parton on ‘Greatest Gift You Will Ever Know’: The Ram Report
The timing of Dolly Parton‘s Coat of Many Colors DVD release today is the perfect (and intentional) correlation with Mother’s Day this Sunday. The movie tells the true story of the country legend’s dirt poor but family rich upbringing in rural Tennessee.
“It is my true belief that if you’re lucky enough to have a good mother, that is the greatest gift that you will ever know,” says Parton. “So many people responded to my mother in the Coat of Many Colors movie not only because of the wonderful job that Jennifer Nettles did portraying her, but the love and attention that Mama gave to all of her children.”
With almost 16 million viewers for its NBC debut, Coat of Many Colors was the most successful made-for-TV movie of the past six years. Its success led to the Academy of Country Music honoring Parton with the Tex Ritter Film Award at April’s ACM Awards broadcast.
Parton has a four-picture deal with NBC and will executive produce and help write the next three films based on her songs and life stories. The next was originally slated to be a fictional tale based on her hit song, “Jolene.” But producers may flip the order of subsequent films, due to Coat‘s popularity.
“Coat of Many Colors did so well that now we’re talking about whether or not we want to do a sequel to Coat of Many Colors first and then Jolene,” Parton reveals to Rolling Stone Country. “But we are going into production with Jolene, and if it doesn’t come out this year it’ll definitely be next year.”
This June, Parton will embark on her biggest North American tour in two decades. The Pure and Simple trek is in support of a two-disc compilation, Pure & Simple With Dolly’s Biggest Hits.