General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Heartstrings

Dolly Parton's Heartstrings is an American anthology drama series released on Netflix on November 22, 2019, in which each of eight standalone episodes dramatizes a story inspired by a song from Dolly Parton's country music catalog.¹ Parton serves as executive producer, introduces each episode on camera, and acts in several of the stories.²

Key fact	Detail
Format	Eight-episode anthology; each episode is a standalone story based on one Parton song, scored with new and classic Dolly music¹^•³
Release	November 22, 2019, globally on Netflix²
Production companies	Parton's Dixie Pixie Productions, Sam Haskell's Magnolia Hill Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros Television²
Parton's roles	Executive producer, on-screen host introducing each episode from Dollywood, narrator, and actor²^•⁴
Episode runtimes	Roughly 56 minutes to 1 hour 7 minutes per episode¹
Reception	57% Tomatometer and 94% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; 7.6/10 on IMDb from about 2,500 users; one Primetime Emmy nomination⁵^•⁶
Age rating	TV-14 (13+ on Netflix)¹^•⁷

Spoilers

Episodes

Each episode is named after the Parton song it adapts.⁴ The eight episodes, in Netflix's order, are:¹

Jolene (1h 7m): a modern take on the auburn-haired icon of the 1973 song and her seductive reputation. Julianne Hough plays the title character, a waitress at a honky-tonk owned by Parton's character Babe, with Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Dallas Roberts also featured.¹^•⁹
Two Doors Down (1h 2m): a family prepares a big-budget wedding amid a string of life-changing announcements.¹
If I Had Wings (1h 2m): Ben Lawson, Brooke Elliott, and Michele Weaver play three siblings who come back to the Mississippi farm belonging to their father (Gerald McRaney), from whom they had long been estranged, to celebrate his turning 70; his girlfriend is played by Delta Burke, who has been McRaney's real-life wife for 30 years.¹^•⁹
Cracker Jack (1h 4m): four women reunite for a weekend of memories and try to make peace with lingering secrets.¹
Down From Dover (1h 6m): young love faces adversity during the Vietnam War.¹
Sugar Hill (59m): a decades-spanning romance returns to its roots.¹
J.J. Sneed (56m): a western-flavored story.¹
These Old Bones (1h 5m): set in the Great Smoky Mountains in 1944, with Kathleen Turner as Miss Mary, known as Bones, a local legend who gives psychic readings and is rumored to be a witch, and Ginnifer Goodwin as an attorney who returns to her hometown to sue her.⁷^•¹¹

The cast also includes Melissa Leo and Sarah Shahi.⁸^•⁶ About 133 cast members were attached to the first season before release.²

Origin and production

Netflix announced the series in June 2018 as an eight-episode anthology with each episode based on a Parton song, with Parton as singer/songwriter, executive producer, and on-screen performer.² Filming began in November 2018.² The series was the second project of Parton's development deal with Netflix; the first was the 2018 film adaptation of the young adult novel Dumplin', starring Jennifer Aniston.⁸

Creative approach. Showrunner Patrick Sean Smith described the working motto as "When in doubt, go back to the lyrics," and Parton approved each plotline.⁹ Executive producer Sam Haskell, a longtime Parton collaborator, reported that she was moved by early screenings of the episodes.⁹ Production designer Ina Mayhew, who joined the project after working on Parton's television movie Christmas of Many Colors, developed storyboards, color palettes, and tear sheets so that episodes shown side by side shared visual overlaps.¹⁰ Parton attended some production meetings and approved designs in person or remotely, with Haskell serving as the day-to-day point of contact.¹⁰

Netflix's own synopsis describes stories varying in tone from love stories and inspirational tales to family dramas, westerns, and revenge comedies.³

Reception

Critical response was mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes the season holds a 57% Tomatometer from 14 reviews and a 94% Popcornmeter audience score; the site's critics consensus says the tales of heartache and love do not always play, but strong performances and a sense of tension should satisfy fans of music and melodrama.⁵ The Hollywood Reporter called the series "sensitive but sloggy," observing that there are no twists or surprises not already laid out in Parton's lyrics.¹² The Guardian's review found none of the episodes had the wit or energy of Parton herself.¹² The Daily Beast criticized the episode length, arguing that stories adapted from three-minute songs did not justify 80-minute episodes, while calling Parton's Dollywood introductions the best part of the show.⁴ Richard Roeper, reviewing for the Chicago Sun-Times, described the series as carrying more sunlight than twilight and praised Turner's performance in "These Old Bones."

The series earned one Primetime Emmy nomination, with 3 wins and 5 nominations in total across award bodies.⁶

Availability

The series streams on Netflix, including the ad-supported tier, and can be purchased as a download on Amazon Video, the Apple TV Store, and Fandango At Home; a DVD edition is also sold.⁷ It has been available on Netflix in the United States since November 22, 2019, and in dozens of other countries.¹³

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Drama and prestige series (individual series) › Family and relationship drama › Family and domestic drama › Romance and couple dramas

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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