IT'S not every tribute act that gets to meet the real thing.

Andrea Pattison, however, who brings her Dolly Parton Show to Glasgow later this month, has met Dolly in the flesh - and she has the photograph to prove it.

The encounter happened while Dolly was doing a concert in Manchester.

"She's lovely to talk to," say Andrea. "I didn't have a meet-and-greet with her, as it turns out. I'd gone to the concert with my friend, who's a big Dolly fan, had a meet-and-greet with her.

"I spoke to the security guard. It wasn't like a sob story or anything; I just said to him, I impersonate Dolly and I haven't got a meet-and-greet, but my friend has, and would I be able to go in?

"He was really cool about it, and he said it would be fine if he could see the official letter that my friend had. He very kindly let me go in. It was very quick."

Andrea laughs as she adds: "I was so awestruck by her that I forgot to tell her about my show and that I impersonate her.

"In fact, the first thing I blurted out was how my mum used to make clothes for the family when we were little, just as Dolly's mum made clothes for her when she was growing up. I was one of six, and our mum struggled to bring us all up.

"Dolly was just so interested. It was great being able to meet her."

Andrea, a professional singer, says Dolly has been a genuine inspiration to her over the years and that she hopes she does the star justice with her live show.

"I once recorded my own album of original songs, which has always been a dream of mine," Andrea says. "I've always written my own songs, about things that have happened to me in my life, just the same way that Dolly writes about things that are meaningful and true to her.

"I finally got round to doing the album about five years ago. I called it Stormy's Daughter, because my dad Ernest's nickname was Stormy; I dedicated it to him because we lost him nearly 10 years ago.

"People kept commenting, saying they thought I sounded like Dolly when I'm singing naturally, doing my own stuff. Some of my phrasing reminded them of her.

"I've sung at weddings for the last 20 years and people have always said I'd make a cracking Dolly, and could I do any more of Dolly's songs?

"Eventually I decided - and I can't believe it took 20 years to dawn on me - to do a show about her. I said, let's do a show, let's have it all guns blazing, I'll have the costumes made, the wigs, and I'll do it all in character, with the all the jokes and things like that. That was how it started."

Andrea has now read three biographies about Dolly and is lost in admiration for how much she has managed to achieve despite her impoverished family background.

Dolly was one of a family of 12 children who grew up on a farm in Tennessee. Her parents struggled to make ends meet - but her hard rural life was the foundation of Dolly's career.

She has had countless chart-topping albums and singles, has sold 100 million records worldwide, and has Grammy awards and Oscar nominations to her name.

Andrea's live shows feature all of Dolly's best-known hits, from 9 to 5 and Jolene to Coat of Many Colours. Her live band includes her husband, Richard, "who plays bass guitar and does everything in the office that I don't want to do, like paperwork!"

When Andrea signs copies of her CDs after each show, it's not unknown for fans to tell her her that they couldn't afford tickets to see the real Dolly - but they so liked Andrea's performance that they didn't feel so sad about not seeing Dolly.

"Other people say they have seen other people do Dolly and that my show is the closest they've seen to the real thing," says Andrea.

In a testimonial on her website Pavilion boss Iain Gordon says: "To call this a tribute show would be an injustice, it is much more than that, shut your eyes and it was Dolly."

Andrea's proud of that. "Glasgow is a lovely audience," she says. "This will be my third time back at the Pavilion.

"There's a couple of gentlemen who always come to see me. This will be their third time. I've become Facebook friends with them and they let me know when they've got tickets.

"I've never in my life met so lovely people since I started doing this. It's wonderful."

* The Dolly Parton Story (www.dollypartonstory.com) is at the Glasgow Pavilion on Saturday, March 28. Andrea is also doing a solo show at Cumbernauld Theatre on April 25.