'Blue Valley Songbird'

November 1, 1999
Blue Valley Songbird

'Blue Valley Songbird,' made-for-tv movie, inspired by Dolly's song of the same name

Dolly starred as Leanna Taylor in her made-for-television movie, "Blue Valley Songbird" and worked behind the scenes as the film’s executive producer.

The movie aired on Lifetime in November of 1999. Leanna Taylor is a Nashville singer who uses her music to face her troubled upbringing. Dolly’s inspiration came from her song "Blue Valley Songbird" on her album "Hungry Again." Dolly said,

“As soon as I wrote the song, I had full intentions of making a movie from it… In my mind, I thought, 'This is like a screenplay.'”

Dolly took a hands-on approach to the project.

"I was very involved… And I promoted shooting the movie in Nashville from day one. I was thrilled that we could film it here… I felt it was very important to find Southern people to write this script… The writers we chose were both from the South, so they had an understanding of it."

While there is no official soundtrack, a number of the songs in the movie are available on Dolly’s album "Hungry Again."