Two Doors Down

I have posted this audio here before. It had to do with one of my crushes and the bittersweet memories it brought to the forefront. Now I'm using it again, but because Dolly Parton has a series on Netflix, and I thought it would be relevant again. Jolene is a beautiful song, and hearing it as if a man would be singing it to a woman to let him keep his bisexual lover was more than motivation.

Also, I guess one thing we all agree on is that Dolly is a national treasure. She SOUNDS like an ideal 'South' to me. And it's not only the musicality of her speaking voice or the fantastic tone of her singing voice. She kind of personifies the tart with the heart of gold we all think lived in some Saloon at the turn or the XIXth century living in some kind of mythical South, where people did not live to be racist motherfuckers.

In Heartstrings, we see some of Dolly's songs come to life, among them Jolene and Two Doors Down. I have to confess that given the Country Music Heathen (c) I seem to be, I have only heard Jolene (and Nine to Five, I Will Always Love You and Islands in the Stream, that is, her pop hits). But I've always thought her voice is just fantastic. Now,  in Jolene they managed to choose an actress that is just absolutely, well, Jolene, and in Heartstrings Dolly preaches the gospel. The gospel of inclusion, that is, because she decided to include an LGBTQ-inclusive storyline and you can imagine how the homophobic, ignorant public reacted when they saw it: they walked out. Also, Tennessee, so that's that.

It's nothing new, though. She's been an ally for years and now she has made sure an LGBTQ-inclusive storyline is included in the series and the episode goes as far as scolding someone for not being inclusive of a non-binary character. The South collectively reached for its salts and the fainting couch. And I'm HERE FOR IT. Wouldn't you?

The Gays:
Dolly: imgoingtogivethegayseverythingtheywant.gifhttps://t.co/LQOX3wRFCl

— Andy Mientus (@andymientus) November 27, 2019

I just binged the whole thing this long weekend (Thanksgiving weekend has more than turkey to it) and I'm glad I did. The mini-series plays like short Hallmark movies with the redeeming quality that they all follow one of Dolly's songs storylines. If you like country music, you'll love it. If you don't like country music you may like it, too, because the stories are universal and the soundtrack is just added icing on the Dolly cake. And she appears on Two Doors Down singing Nine to Five. Could we ask for more?



So If you have some time to kill, watch Two Doors Down and if you are country music aficionado go ahead and binge watch the whole thing. If you don't have Netflix (I'm looking at you, Dave) let me know, and I'll send you my password. Kidding! Get with one gay and do some Netflix and Chill and use Dolly as an excuse. I promise it'll be good.

XOXO