8 July 2013

A devoted Dolly Parton fan who owns an enormous collection of memorabilia has gotten the singer’s permission to open a museum exhibit devoted to her career in Nashville. Patric Parkey had already been collecting Parton items for 15 years when he bought one of the singer’s dresses at an auction in 1998. It was his first major acquisition, and from there, he tells MSN, “It kind of snowballed.” That’s putting it mildly. The 54-year-old retired office worker and his partner, Harrell Gabehart, now own a vast collection that they estimate numbers from 30,000 to 40,000 items, including Parton’s king-sized bed, wigs and stage wear, and even one of her old Christmas trees. They have spent a total of $250,000 on the collection, which they estimate is worth $500,000 now. Parkey says he spends 10 hours a day caring for the collection, which is overflowing the house in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., where he and Gabehart moved three years ago so they could be closer to Dollywood. “Dolly’s from top to bottom, wall to wall, and in every bathroom,” he says. “I’ve got some wig heads, and I don’t have a place to put ‘em. A lot of ‘em are in the bathroom. I’ll have a friend come over, and they’ll say, ‘I can’t use the bathroom with her starin’ at me.’” The pair had the first public display from the collection at this year’s CMA Music Festival at the invitation of Stephen Shutts, whose company, Rockology, curated a small fraction of the collection for the exhibit. Parkey admits he was “petrified” when he got the offer, since none of his items had ever left the house before. But the exhibit turned out so well that he got the idea for a Dolly Parton museum in Music City, and he plucked up the courage to approach the singer — whom he has met many times before — for her permission. “She doesn’t know how much money we’ve spent, but she’s a businesswoman, so she said, ‘Go ahead. It’s time for you to start makin’ money,’” he says. “I was feelin’ bad for tryin’ to make money off it, but she gave us her blessing.” If Parkey and Gabehart are successful in finding a location and funding for the museum, they hope to re-create Parton’s old Dollywood apartment, which was dismantled to make room for offices. They currently own almost everything from the apartment, with the sole exception of the bathtub. Parton herself found her old mattress for them after she visited their home in 2011 and realized they were missing that key item. More than 400 Dolly Parton fans signed a book at the recent CMA Music Festival exhibit saying they would support a Dolly Parton museum.

The County Music Association (CMA) Board of Directors announced today that Steve Moore has submitted his resignation as Chief Executive Officer yesterday. Moore said, “After nearly four years in this position, and given the phenomenal success that the CMA team has achieved, this seemed like an appropriate time to step aside and pursue other corporate and philanthropic opportunities.” Troy Tomlinson, the Country Music Association Board of Directors Chairman said, “Steve Moore’s dedication and hard work as a CMA Board member, CMA Board leader, and as CEO have taken our organization to new levels of success. He’s been a tremendous asset to CMA due to his high regard in the industry as a resourceful and tenacious advocate for country music.” After serving as Interim CEO, then becoming CEO 2 1/2 years ago, Moore was instrumental in securing the new long-term extension of the television partnership for the annual CMA Awards, the CMA Music Festival special, and the “CMA Country Christmas” special all on the ABC Television Network. Under Moore, the 2013 CMA Music Festival hit a record attendance with an increase of 13 percent, more artist participation than ever before, and 11 music stages. He created and led the newly-formed The CMA Foundation. He also created the new CMA position of Community Outreach Manager to create a liaison with the music community, education community, and The CMA Foundation Board of Directors. The CMA also created CMA EDU, a dynamic college community outreach that brings country to colleges. It was launched at three Middle Tennessee college campuses and several ambassador campuses nationwide. Moore was also was involved bring country to the world stage through the U.K. Songwriters Series, the first ever International Marketing Summit in Paris and the inaugural Country 2 Country (C2C) Country Music Festival at the O2 center in London this year. A longtime member of the CMA Board of Directors (since 1989), Moore was elected president in 2008 and chairman in 2009 before being asked to fill in as interim director of CMA after former CEO Tammy Genovese resigned in December 2009. Moore has been prominent in the Nashville music community for 21 years, going back to his appointment as the first Executive Director of the concert venue Starwood Amphitheater and extending through his work as Senior Vice President of one of the world’s largest concert promotion, special event, and touring companies AEG Live!. He has won three SRO Awards as Promoter of the Year. In 1985, Moore moved to Nashville from his home state of Texas to open Starwood Amphitheater on the outskirts of town. In 1992, he launched Moore Entertainment and continued to work with country acts and blues festivals. After nine years, Moore sold his business to TBA Entertainment. He left in 2004 to reinvent his independent operation as Moore Entertainment Group, LLC, where he created the “CMT On Tour” franchise.

There is no stopping Florida Georgia Line. They are flying along at high speed — and gaining momentum. The popular duo’s debut single ‘Cruise’ has just made more country chart history entering into its 17th week (four months!) on top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The group, comprised of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, are holding steady at 17 weeks — the longest any song has held that same position in 50 years. And, they may be poised to tie a record set in 1962 by country music singer Leroy Van Dyke and his hit ‘Walk on By,’ which spent 19 weeks at No. 1 on the charts, according to Roughstock. If FGL keep up steam, they may even approach the all-time record for most-weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country charts, which is 21 weeks, shared by three late country legends, Hank Snow, Eddy Arnold and Webb Pierce. When they were students at Belmont University, Hubbard and Kelley probably didn’t even imagine their names would be alongside of some of the biggest country names in such a short amount of time. ‘Cruise’ has been certified quadruple Platinum and has received so many accolades since it debuted. It set a chart record for most chart-topping weeks for a song by a duo, snagged the Breakthrough Music Video of the Year at the 2013 CMT Music Awards and has been the song at a variety of high profile events — from ‘The Voice’ season finale to the closing song at the CMTs. The FGL guys began their music career with attention that many artists only dream of. There’s lots of buzz about this duo — and for good reason. Congratulations to this hard-working, record-breaking team!