Heidi Parton Releases Sophomore Album Featuring Duet with Dolly

by Ben Childers

Album cover. Owepar (2025)

Owepar Records on Friday, June 6, 2025, released Heidi Parton's sophomore album, Reflections. A followup to her 2017 debut, This Kind of Love, the album features a mix of covers and original songs that find Heidi honoring her family's musical legacy while blazing her own trail. Among the album's thirteen tracks are songs written by Heidi's father Randy Parton, aunts Dolly Parton and Rachel Parton George, uncle Floyd Parton, and Heidi herself.

The title track was written by Dolly in the mid-1990s, possibly for the album that later became Treasures (Reflections was one of the album's working titles at the time). Heidi does a superb job interpreting this unheard composition from Dolly's catalog. Also included is a cover of Dolly's 1992 duet with Les Taylor, "Burning", written by Dolly and Bill Owens for the Straight Talk soundtrack album, and a cover of "Sure Thing" from Dolly's 1978 album, Heartbreaker.

Heidi covers "Radio Man", a song written by her uncle Floyd Parton, and recorded by her father Randy on his America, From Where I Stand album in the 1990s. Heidi adds her own unique flavor to the song while also staying true to the original.

"Countryfied" (Randy Parton, Jimmy Lee Bryant), "Get Back" (Randy Parton, Jimmy Lee Bryant), "Hey Hey" (Rachel Parton George), and "Thank You Very Much (I'm Outta Here Goodbye)" (Randy Parton, Jimmy Lee Bryant, Deb Parton) were all originally written for and performed by Honey Creek, a short-lived country-rock group from the 1990s consisting of Randy, Rachel, Jimmy Lee Bryant, and Lakieta Bagwell-Graves. This group of songs comprise a third of the album and are some of the strongest tracks.

Heidi composed "A Kiss of Red" with Jimmy Lee Bryant. It's a fun song with a great beat and melody. Irresistibly catchy!

The highlights of the album for me are the closing two tracks. "Dollywood Lights" is a cover of a song written by Randy with his wife Deb as a gift for Dolly and originally recorded by Randy in the early 1990s. Hearing Heidi sing this song made me a little emotional. She takes it to a whole new level and I know Randy would be so proud of her performance. The album closes with "The Gift". Written by Heidi with Jimmy Lee Bryant and performed as a duet with Dolly, the song was the first Heidi wrote after her father's passing in 2021. The song is a heartwarming tribute to Randy Parton, Bill Owens, and the gift of music that has touched this family for generations.

Reflections is a masterclass in how to appreciate your past while not letting it define you. Heidi is forging her own path with her family by her side.

The album is available now on all digital platforms and the Smoky Mountain DNA store.