COUNTRY MUSIC Dolly Parton hits the road to embrace new, old tunes

The 'Hello, I'm Dolly' tour will hit 30 cities this year, with more to come.
By TERRY MORROW
SCRIPPS HOWARD
The mystery woman with the red hair and green eyes who attended a Dolly Parton concert more than 35 years ago was in the right place at the right time to make music history.
The girl in the audience intrigued Parton. After the show, when Parton signed autographs, she asked the girl her name.
It was Jolene.
"I said 'I bet you were named after your dad. I bet his name was Joe.' She said, 'No. It's just Jolene.' I said, 'Well, that's the prettiest name I have ever heard.' I'd never heard a name like that before," Parton says.
"I told her that one of these days I'm going to write a song about a girl named Jolene. If you ever hear it, you'll know it's about you. I never did hear from her again."
"Jolene" went on to become Parton's first hit to cross over from country to pop. Parton tells the story when reflecting about her days on the road. For decades Parton traveled the world to sing her hits for fans.
Stopped touring
She stopped touring 10 years ago, though she continued to perform exclusively in concert at her Dollywood theme park.
Those annual shows benefit her Dollywood Foundation, which supports educational projects across the country.
As for doing full-blown concert tours, Parton figured those were for younger or less-established artists. She didn't think she would miss it.
Then, last year she did a three-month, scaled-down tour to promote her "Halos & amp; Horns" CD.
"I was really, really surprised because I had a good time," she says, "and the people wanted to see me. I had been gone from the road, for the most part, for 10 years.
"I wasn't being played on country radio. I didn't know I had so many fans left. I loved it. They loved it. So I decided to go back on the road."
30-city tour
For this upcoming tour, which will hit 30 cities through mid-December with more coming in 2005, Parton is pulling out the stops.
The "Hello, I'm Dolly" tour, which launches tonight in Greenville, S.C., will be more than a retrospective of her career. It will include new material as well.
A 10-piece band will cover everything from bluegrass to gospel to pop.
Parton will do costume changes on stage.
She'll enter wearing a replica of a Barbra Streisand dress from the movie "Hello, Dolly," and add and subtract from that costume throughout the show. She does an "imitation" of Streisand for the un-Streisand-like number "Cowboy Sweetheart."
Parton wants her stage show to reflect her diverse musical styles through the years. In another segment, "I climb up on a piano with a martini glass and holding a big, long cigarette," she says. "It's just fun, goofy stuff."
A puppet of Kenny Rogers will be used to re-create hits he had with Parton.
And for the first time in concert, Parton will play the piano for "The Grass Is Blue" and other songs.
"I want to do things people haven't seen me do before," she says.
Different songs
That includes her choice of songs, some of which have never been on her albums.
Parton will cover "Blowing in the Wind," John Lennon's "Imagine" backed with a choir, "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Hello God," a song that the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens wants to record.
Many of the covers will appear on a new CD titled "Blue Smoke" that Parton is working on. Guests on the new CD will include Judy Collins.
The road, Parton says, can be an exciting place. It also can be where you rediscover yourself.
"I guess people are wanting to see me," she says. "After you get a certain age, you're called a legend. I guess. I'm a 'living legend,' they say. Well, to me, I just seem to be hanging in there."