Hello Dolly! Music Legend Brings Her Live Show to Las Vegas

^{Dolly Parton, age 79, is still rockin’ it after all these years, and for at least a stretch will become the main attraction at Caesars Palace. (Photo: KF Publicity)}

While the desert of Las Vegas may not sound like the place to celebrate Christmas, a bona fide music legend will try to bring some of the Smoky Mountain hospitality to Caesars Palace this December. Country Music and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Dolly Parton will be taking up residence for a limited engagement at The Colosseum this December. The special fortnight of shows will bring a bit of hominess to the Christmas holidays for many fans, and maybe a special Christmas gift of tickets to the show!

‘Excited Is an Understatement’

Dolly: Live in Las Vegas will bring Parton’s incomparable career to the Strip for the first time in 32 years. From Dec. 4-13, there are six shows on the agenda that will start at 8 PM (Pacific Time), with tickets on sale now through Ticketmaster. Those six dates are:

December 4
December 6
December 7
December 10
December 12
December 13

“To say I’m excited would be an understatement,” Parton said during a video announcing the limited engagement. “I haven’t worked Vegas in years and I’ve always loved singing there. I’m looking so forward to the shows in The Colosseum at Caesars and I hope you are as well. See you there!”

The ticket packages that have been created for the shows are stunning in their scope. There is the “What Would Dolly Do?” Merchandise Package that gets the attendee tickets to the show, a limited-edition print of Dolly Parton, a dedicated VIP check-in area, and a Commemorative Laminate to mark the occasion. Other packages include entry into the Rhinestone Lounge, where a reception will be held before the show, “meet and greets” with Parton herself, and a “behind the scenes” tour of the backstage action before the show itself. 

A Legend in Our Time

Honestly, it would be easier to recite the things that Parton HASN’T done rather than what she has achieved in her life (she hasn’t gone to space…yet). But as the proverb goes, “From simple acorns a mighty oak grows.” That could not be more appropriate to describe the life that Dolly Parton has achieved. 

Born in a small cabin in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee (I have been to Dollywood and seen it … I’ve seen larger living rooms than where Parton grew up), Dolly Parton showed a propensity for music from an early age. She sang on local radio and television programs in the 1950s and, after graduating from high school, immediately set out to pursue her dreams in Nashville. 

In the beginning, Parton made a name for herself as a songwriter, penning hits for Kitty Wells, Skeeter Davis, and Hank Williams, Jr. Success was elusive until she partnered with musician Porter Waggoner on his eponymous syndicated television show in 1967. Between that time and the mid-Seventies, Parton would have multiple major hits on the country charts, but Parton wanted more. 

From the mid-Seventies until the Eighties, Parton would pursue – and achieve – stardom on the pop music stage. She would also take Hollywood by storm, becoming an actor in several popular films including 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Steel Magnolias. Parton continued to write music and perform over the next forty years, dipping into different genres of music and watching as one of her songs, “I Will Always Love You,” became an American classic after it was used by the late Whitney Houston in the movie The Bodyguard. 

Parton’s recording efforts have seen her earn twenty-five Gold, Platinum, or Multi-Platinum singles and albums, twenty-six songs reach #1 on either the Billboard Country or Pop music charts, forty-two Top Ten country albums, and sell over 100 million records. Parton has also charted on the country music charts in each of the last seven decades, a feat no other country artist has achieved, won eleven Grammys, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022 (among other Halls). 

While Parton’s success on the performing stage is outstanding, it is her work in the philanthropic community that outshines those achievements. The Dolly Parton Imagination Library has donated over 150 million books to underprivileged children around the world. The Dollywood Foundation makes sure to employ as many people from Parton’s home area as possible at her namesake theme park and other ventures. 

Contributions from Parton also allowed Vanderbilt University, which Parton has supported for decades, to produce one of the first vaccines, the Moderna vaccine, for the COVID-19 virus. 

Just last year, Parton personally put up $4 million for Hurricane Helene relief in the Tennessee area.