Who Are Dolly Parton's Sisters?

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Dolly Parton may be the most famous member of her family, but her sisters have long sung beside her. Growing up, the love for music ran in the Parton family. "My mama and her people had all of the musical genes in our family. Mama would sing all of the time and my sisters and brothers loved to sing too," she told The Guardian in 2016. "I always tried to get them to be my backup singers when I would pretend to be on stage, but they had no interest in taking a back seat to me."

Three of the Parton sisters, including Dolly, would eventually become professional singers, but all six sisters have dipped their toes into the music world at least once. This shared love of music might be why the Parton sisters were present in Dolly's songs even when they weren't singing together. "Family is everything to me, and not just as a loving memory. My family will always be my greatest love. Sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle, but there's an element of family in everything I do. My music is shaped by my family," she added to the outlet.

And it's not just her music. The singer's other businesses — Dollywood, The Imagination Library, and Dixie Stampede — are all designed with family in mind. Even Dolly Parton's 2022 fragrance products, which she released ahead of the holidays, were inspired by her childhood growing up in the Great Smoky Mountains. The "Jolene" singer has admitted that growing up with so many siblings — 11 in all — was difficult, but she's made it clear that the positive memories are what she remembers most.

Born in 1940, Willadeene Parton is the oldest Parton sibling and the stereotypical eldest daughter. Her protectiveness and love for her siblings make a strong case that one's birth order can actually determine certain personality traits. She doted on her younger siblings, and once they grew up and wrote her letters, Willadeene kept every one of them. 

Like the rest of the family, Willadeene was musically inclined. She, Dolly, and two other Parton sisters actually started their own gospel band. They produced their first album, "In the Garden," in 1967, but Willadeene didn't push further in her musical career. Instead, she became an author. Some of her popular books include "In the Shadow of a Song: The Story of the Parton Family" from 1985 and "Smoky Mountain Memories: Stories from the Hearts of the Parton Family" from 1996.

The author's love for her family is also evident in how her sisters speak about her. When the movie "Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors" was released in 2015, the actor who played Willadeene, Carson Meyer, had this to say about the real person behind the character: "I bought all of her books [...] And then Stella Parton (another Parton sister) being on set told me great stories about her sister," she said (via The Dollywood Foundation). "One of my favorites is that Willadeene would put perfume on the girls before she would go out, which would always make them happy."

Stella Parton, who was born three years after Dolly Parton, is one of the more famous of the bunch. She was also one of the sisters who sang on "In the Garden" in 1967. But despite their musical similarities, Stella and Dolly led very different lives. From the age of 7, Stella took on a lot of cleaning and childcare duties while Dolly was away building her career. "I'm sure at the time she felt more fortunate than me, maybe because she was excluded from the day-to-day drudgery at home. But I think it also brought her a certain amount of guilt — that was painful for her," Stella said in 2016 (via the Daily Mail).

At 17, she was married. She had her son two years later and was divorced at 21. When she tried to enter the music industry, she was told that she had no chance and that she needed to dress more like Dolly or even receive a breast enhancement. Stella turned all this advice down. By 1975, she released her widely popular song "I Want to Hold You in My Dreams Tonight." The next year, she signed to Elektra Records, though Stella would eventually leave the label and go on to record over 20 albums in total.

But she didn't limit herself to music. She's also been an actor and a writer, and she even appeared on "Celebrity MasterChef" in 2018. "I would never have been comfortable with the kind of public image my sister has enjoyed," Stella added in her 2016 interview. "But she was my sister before the world knew her, and she will be my sister to the very end of our lives."

Cassie Parton (the furthest right pictured above) was born in 1951 and also began singing from a young age. She sang on "The Porter Wagoner Show" in 1970 and was part of the Parton sisters' gospel band." In 1976, when Dolly Parton hosted the "Dolly" series, a syndicated music show, Cassie also appeared. Unlike her other sisters, though, she leads quite a private life, and not much is known about her currently. However, it's clear that she and Dolly remain close, especially because they've continued to collaborate on several projects.

In 1990, Cassie and the other Parton sisters appeared in a Christmas special where they all sang "O Little Town of Bethlehem" together (via YouTube). Cassie also performed on stage alongside one of their brothers, Randy Parton, in "My People: Dolly's Letter Home," a 2013 show at Dollywood. Then, in 2022, she made an appearance in "Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas." These days, Cassie seems to be more focused on her family. She married Larry Seaver, and the pair have two children, Bryan and Rebecca Seaver.

Freida Estelle Parton is the younger of the Parton twins . She was born in 1957 alongside brother Floyd, and unlike the other Parton siblings who sang country, Freida was into punk. She started a band in the 1980s but also made time to sing backup for her famous sister. However, Freida didn't stay in the music industry for long. She later became a minister and opened a chapel specifically for weddings. "I love weddings and I love being a part of it because a little bit of that love falls on me. And if I can be a blessing to someone else, I've done my job," she told the Knoxville News Sentinel in 2014. Freida also has a famous daughter, Jada "Star" Andersen, who is building her own music career. Jada Star released her first album in 2018 and appeared on the reality series "Claim to Fame" in 2023.

Freida made headlines in October 2025 for sharing a Facebook post asking everyone to pray for Dolly Parton. Naturally, this alarmed fans, as everyone wants the singer to be healthy and happy, especially after Dolly Parton's marriage sadly ended when her husband, Carl Dean, passed away earlier in the year. "Many of you know she hasn't been feeling her best lately. I truly believe in the power of prayer, and I have been [led] to ask all of the world that loves her to be prayer warriors and pray with me," she wrote.

Hysteria ensued, but both Dolly and Freida cleared the air. "I want to clear something up. I didn't mean to scare anyone or make it sound so serious when asking for prayers for Dolly [...] It was nothing more than a little sister asking for prayers for her big sister. Thank you all for lifting her up. Your love truly makes a difference," she later wrote on Facebook.

Rachel Parton George is the youngest of the Parton siblings. She was born in 1959 and dabbled in singing before switching to acting. In 1982, she appeared in the "9 to 5" sitcom and later in the TV special "Sunset Music Festival" in 1993. Rachel also had a love for makeup and worked for Dolly Parton part-time until she finished eighth grade, eventually leaving school to become Dolly's full-time makeup artist.

In 2024, the pair released a cookbook titled "Good Lookin' Cookin': A Year of Meals." In one of their promotional interviews, the siblings talked about each other and their shared love for making meals. "Rachel is the better of the two because hers is good looking and is good cooking," Dolly said (via CMT). "I tend to be a little messier than Rachel. But she follows the recipe, and she does it all just right. So you can always depend on hers. You can't always depend on mine." In her love life, Rachel divorced her first husband, Richard Dennison, but she later married Eric Wilson George.