Dolly Parton dedicates new song to late husband of nearly six decades

Dolly Parton thanked fans for reaching out to her after her husband’s death. File picture: Yui Mok/PA

Dolly Parton has dedicated her new song If You Hadn’t Been There to her husband, Carl Dean, who died earlier this week aged 82.

The couple spent nearly six decades married, with businessman Dean largely remaining out of the spotlight as Parton became a two-time Oscar nominee and 10-time Grammy winner as well as one of the biggest-selling US musicians.

US country singer Parton, 79, wrote on Instagram: “Carl and I fell in love when I was 18 and he was 23, and like all great love stories, they never end. They live in memory and in song, and I dedicate this to him. If You Hadn’t Been There.”

She shared the post, about the track, a reflection on their life together, alongside an image of the two of them.

Parton, who met Dean outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat the day she moved to Nashville at 18, has previously told NPR in 2008 that she wrote the song Jolene about a flirty bank teller who seemed to take an interest in him.

They married on Memorial Day, May 30, 1966, in a small ceremony in Ringgold, Georgia.

On Thursday, Parton wrote that she was sharing a “love note to family, friends and fans”.

She added: “Thank you for all the messages, cards and flowers that you’ve sent to pay your respect for the loss of my beloved husband Carl.

“I can’t reach out personally to each of you but just know it has meant the world to me.”

“He is in God’s arms now and I am okay with that. I will always love you.”

In 2023, she brought out the album, 'Rockstar' which includes heavy-weight collaborators Beatles stars Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Elton John and Sting.

At the time, Parton said that Dean enjoyed the record, which featured some of his favourite songs re-recorded.

She joked that he called her previous cover of a rock song, Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven, “Stairway To Hell”.

As well as her singing career, Parton is a successful actress, starring in films including 9 To 5, Steel Magnolias and The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas.

Her tracks Nine To Five and Transamerica’s Travelin’ Thru have both been nominated for Academy Awards, while Jolene and I Will Always Love You have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.