A MarkInTexas Made-For-TV Christmas: A Holly Dolly Christmas (2020)

 

A year ago, when I wrote about 1984's Kenny and Dolly: A Christmas to Remember, I talked about what a busy year Dolly Parton had had.  This year turned out to be just as busy, with a new Christmas album (her first since 1990), a Netflix movie, numerous promotional appearances for the album, and, of course, a new holiday special.  Of course, all that pales in comparison to her most important action of the year, namely donating a million dollars to Vanderbilt University for Covid research, research that has led to the development of one of the very promising vaccines that will hopefully bring the pandemic to an end.

It is because of that pandemic that all of those promotional appearances, including a duet with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show and a performance in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, were all filmed in Nashville, as was A Holly Dolly Christmas, the special, made to promote A Holly Dolly Christmas, the album.

The special is considerably stripped down from what a non-pandemic version might have been.  The entire thing is shot on one stage, in fact at one place on the stage, a church pew surrounded by candles.  There, Parton holds court, telling stories of her hardscrabble childhood in the Tennessee hills, with her huge family that had no money, but plenty of love.  There are no costume changes, as she wears the same white sequin dress with fringe from beginning to end (though for the final number she does add a write wrap to the ensemble).  Even though the album had several duets, with the likes of Willie Nelson, Michael Buble, and Cyruses Miley and Billy Ray joining Dolly, there are no guest stars on the special.  As she said at the end, they made the filming as safe as possible, with only the crew, a few backup singers, and the band in attendance.

The special starts off with, as it must, "A Holly Jolly Christmas", one of only two secular covers that Parton would sing (the other being "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus").  The other songs are either religious covers (such as "Mary Did You Know") or her own originals ("Comin' Home For Christmas", "Coat of Many Colors").  Throughout, there's a surprising amount of emphasis on Parton's faith, as she discusses her preacher grandfather and his tiny church (the set was a tribute to him), and how she had been blessed by God.  The final number, in fact, is called "I Still Believe", which she debuted on the special.  It can be read as both a testament to her faith and a more secular message of hope that things will get back to normal soon.  

I didn't enjoy this as much as her delightful 1990 special Home for Christmas, but I do perfer this to the somewhat overproduced A Christmas to Remember (on that note, I am a bit disappointed she didn't acknowledge the passing this year of Kenny Rogers).  Parton, as always, is effortlessly charming, and while she has certainly mined the stories of her youth before, its always amazing to hear just how poor she and her family was (there were numerous old pictures of Parton as a child and a teenager shown, usually right before commercials).  To that effect, while she didn't make mention of her Covid donation, she did talk excitedly about the book giving program she started for kids, inspired by her father, who was illiterate.

Parton, at 74, could kick back and retire, but she continues to produce new music and specials (indeed, this isn't even the first full-length special she did to promote the album, as she also performed a mini-concert and a Q&A last month on Amazon).  I'm glad she didn't.  A Holly Dolly Christmas may be a product of the pandemic, but even in future years, I suspect it will continue to be enjoyed every holiday season.

Next time: All Apple wants for Christmas is you to watch their new special