Ella Langley hasn’t forgotten the people who were there when she wasn’t “the Ella Langley.” When she was growing up in Hope Hull, Alabama, Langley had a teacher, Maury Popwell (known as “Coach Pop”) who would meet with her before school so the two could play guitar together. When he heard she was going to try her luck in Nashville, Coach Pop gave her his own 12-string guitar. When Langley played two sold-out nights at Auburn University in Alabama over the weekend, she made sure to repay the favor.

According to Coach Pop’s granddaughter, Langley sent him tickets to the concert and surprised him backstage with a guitar of his own. In pics, Coach Pop could be seen with Ella as he held a “Dandelion” guitar on which Ella had written, “Love you Coach Pop!! Ella Langley,” along with her autograph.

The Country Music Association has announced…when they’ll be making an announcement. Yesterday the CMA revealed that the nominees for The 60th Annual CMA Awards would be unveiled September 10. The big announcement will come in stages: “Good Morning America” host Lara Spencer will reveal a selection of categories live on air, before continuing in Nashville, where Lee Ann Womack and “American Idol” Season 24 winner Hannah Harper will host a livestream at 8am CT to unveil the remaining categories on CMA’s official YouTube channel. The 60th Annual CMA Awards will broadcast live from Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, November 18th, on ABC, Disney+ and the next day on Hulu.

 

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When Dolly Parton passed, she was in the throes of health issues that kept her sidelined for the last year. That did not mean she was sitting idly by; in fact, she was working harder than most people half her age do on a good day. Her longtime manager Danny Nozell says in a statement, “As the leader of the team responsible for overseeing her legacy, we will ensure the many dreams she had yet to fulfill are brought to life. Many projects were in various stages of development, and we want to be transparent with her fans about this fact. If you see unreleased music, products, books, experiences, and campaigns launched through official Dolly Parton channels, you can have confidence in knowing that she placed her personal stamp on it.”

Among those projects: a Dolly avatar show, a Dolly musical documentary, a Dolly biopic, a Dolly docuseries, a Dolly scripted series and a “Billy The Kid” animated series, based on the children’s books she’d co-authored. Her team promises that details for these projects and more will be revealed soon.

• In other Dolly news, Dolly’s sister Stella Parton revealed she was giving of herself to the very end. “My sister was one of the most generous, thoughtful and kind people I’ve ever known,” Stella said. “What the world saw is exactly who she was, so much so, she told me recently that if there was no hope for her, she would still allow her medical team to try experimental drugs in the hope of helping others in the future.”

• Those staffing cuts at CNN may be starting to show. When the news network was reporting that Dolly Parton had passed, they ran a segment with two anchors discussing the news, while a montage of Dolly footage and pics were screened behind them. One of the pics appeared…a little off. During “Laura Coates Live,” the network aired an image of Kelly Vohnn, a Las Vegas impersonator, mixed in with real pics of Dolly. “We regret the error and apologize to the Parton family,” CNN said in a brief statement yesterday. Vohnn said the photo was taken in December when she appeared on the red carpet at a Las Vegas screening of “Song Sung Blue.” “I started getting all these texts in from friends saying that I was on CNN, and I couldn’t believe it,” Vohnn told “The New York Post” yesterday. “I was already heartbroken at losing Dolly because of how much she has given to me as a woman and an artist; but then to see these images of me on screen was just weird.”

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood just made a huge charitable pledge, and it follows the tragic loss of Dolly Parton. The couple are honoring the late icon at their Friends in Low Places Bar and Honky-Tonk in Downtown Nashville with Dolly Day on September 25th. The date, which can also be written as “9/25” (or “9 To 5,” one of Dolly’s biggest hits) is getting fast traction from fans to be known as “Dolly Day.” Garth and Trisha have pledged that 100-percent of its proceeds for that day to children’s literacy (a cause near and dear to Dolly’s heart), with the couple intending to make “Dolly Day” an annual tradition at the venue. “Whatever the cash register says at the end of the day is going to Dolly’s passion,” Yearwood states. “This is 100-percent about Dolly and her love for children’s literacy.”