DOLLY PARTON knows a good investment when she sees one, and these days she sees one in the mirror.

Parton, whose business portfolio includes a theme park and an entertainment production company, says she’s spending a lot of her own money trying to get back on country radio with her new CD, “Backwoods Barbie.”

“I’m looking at it like an investment,” she said. “I thought, ‘I’ve made enough money. I can afford to invest a little in myself.’”

She has released the disc on her own label, Dolly Records, and hired a seven-member promotions team. “I purposely tailor-made this to try to get some hits,” Parton explained.

The album reached No. 2 on Billboard in its second week, her best showing in 17 years.

The first single, “Better Get to Livin,’” a country-pop song she describes as sonically similar to Keith Urban, sputtered at No. 48. But the second single, “Jesus & Gravity,” is just now arriving at radio.

(SD-Agencies)