Holly Dolly Christmas: Dolly Parton performs holiday special from intimate set amid coronavirus

Dolly Parton performed her Christmas special Sunday on CBS from an intimate, candlelit sit amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The 74-year-old national treasure opened her A Holly Dolly Christmas special with an uplifting rendition of Holly Jolly Christmas from her 47th seventh studio album A Holly Dolly Christmas.

The Tennessee native released her third Christmas album in October following her 1984 album Once Upon A Christmas with the late Kenny Rogers and her 1990 album Home For Christmas.

Dolly performed solo throughout the one-hour episode filmed in Nashville with social distancing among backup singers and musicians.

The 10-time Grammy winner greeted introduced herself to viewers in a long-sleeved beaded white dress with a mid-thigh fringe.

‘I grew up in the great smoky mountains of east Tennessee. I grew up in a big ol’ family, 12 of us kids, six girls and six boys. And of course we had a lot of fun growing up in the mountains. We didn’t have a lot of stuff that a lot of people have nothing that money could buy. We had a lot of good stuff. Things money don’t buy anyway. Things like love and kindness and understanding and all that stuff that you really need that you can’t put a price on. Right?,’ Dolly said.

She said that her grandfather was a preacher and she learned about Jesus ‘in that little house of prayer’ and it inspired her simple set with a church bench amid candles with stained-glass arches in the background.

‘They said, “Well, would you just please sit down and do the whole show, basically sitting down?” I said, “I can’t do nothing just sitting down, but I’ll try to behave, I’ll try to sit here and talk about some of my precious memories”,’ Dolly said.

She then sat down on the bench and delivered a moving version of the traditional gospel song Precious Memories that she previously recorded for her 1999 Dollywood-exclusive album of the same name benefitting the Dollywood Foundation.

Dolly after sharing a tender story about her family’s homemade Christmas tree ornaments sang I’m Comin’ Home For Christmas off her new album.

She then told a story about her mother Avie Lee quietly crying to herself after her large brood got all the Christmas presents during a church handout leaving nothing for her.

Dolly said that she saw her mother silently crying and offered her own present, but she declined telling Dolly that she loved her because of her ‘good heart’.

‘It’s because of mama, I’ve always tried to have a good heart,’ Dolly said her voice slightly cracking.

‘And I just want to love everybody not just at Christmas, but all the time and I want everybody to love me, I know that’s not possible, but the ones who do make up for the ones who don’t,’ Dolly said.

Dolly then retold the story of her mother making her a winter coat of cloth scraps while telling her the Bible story of Joseph and the coat of many colors.

She then performed the 1971 fan favorite Coat Of Many Colors that also was featured in the 2015 NBC Christmas special Dolly Parton’s Coat Of Many Colors.

Dolly followed that with Circle Of Love that was featured in her 2016 NBC Christmas sequel.

She told viewers about her Imagination Library that she started with her illiterate father Robert that started out by giving books to children from birth until they start school.

Dolly said the organization has given 150 million books to children and her ‘daddy got to live long enough’ to see it flourish while adding the children call her ‘book lady’. 

She then dedicated her take on I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus from the new album to the kids.

Dolly also sang Mary, Did You Know? from her new album.

She delivered a message of love and compassion before magically transforming into an angelic white dress with backup gospel choir.

‘Now we have managed to do this show safely in our home area here in Nashville. Of course we were smart about testing, wearin’ masks, and social distancing. Now it’s not a big Hollywood production show as I’m sure you’ve noticed but I did want to at least share some music and some stories with you to try to brighten up your Christmas as well as ours and I hope that I’ve done that.

‘I’ve enjoyed doin’ it for you. And I do wish you a Merry, Merry Christmas no matter how limited it might be this year. And I’m hopin’ for a better new year, as I’m sure you are, ’cause lordy, this one couldn’t get much crazier, could it? I guess it could, but I hope it don’t, with the virus, the weather, the election, whew! I don’t know what to make of that, do you?,’ Dolly said.

Dolly then closed the special with a new bonus track she wrote titled I Still Believe.