Following his death earlier this month, Dolly Parton has released a song in tribute to her late husband, Carl Dean.
The singer made the announcement via Instagram on March 8, revealing the heartfelt ballad was called If You Hadn’t Been There.
“I fell in love with Carl Dean when I was 18 years old. We have spent 60 precious and meaningful years together. Like all great love stories, they never end. They live on in memory and song. He will always be the star of my life story, and I dedicate this song to him,” she said in the post.
Throughout the country ballad, she sings about his impact on her and his unwavering support.
The couple, who met in 1964, enjoyed a private life away from the spotlight. The singer and songwriter broke the news of his death on March 4, 2025, via Instagram.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” she said, thanking fans for their prayers and sympathy.
Find out more about their relationship over the years below.
When did Dolly Parton and Carl Dean meet?
Their love story took off before the legendary singer’s career began, with a meet-cute on her first day when she moved to Nashville.
They met outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat in 196, when she was 18, and he was 21.
Writing on her website for their 50th wedding anniversary in 2016, the singer said there was an instant connection.
“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me). He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about,” she said.
Two years later, they tied the knot on May 30 in a simple and private ceremony in Georgia, with her mother, the preacher Avie Lee, and his wife in attendance.
She told Parade in 2015 that being life-long friends was key to their marriage.
“I married a really good man, a guy that’s completely different from me. He’s not in show business. He’s not resentful of any of that. He loves to hear about the things I do. I love to hear about the things he does. So we enjoy each other’s company,” she said, adding that he had a great sense of humour.
What did Dolly Parton’s husband Carl Dean do for a living?
While Dolly was making a name for herself as a singer and songwriter, her husband worked out of the limelight as a businessman and owned an asphalt-paving business.
What was Carl Dean’s tragic diagnosis?
Although his cause of death was not disclosed in the announcement, there have been reports about his health prior to his passing. It’s been reported that Carl was impacted by Alzheimer’s disease and she became his primary caregiver, but this was not confirmed by the couple.
When she spoke to Entertainment Tonight in 2024 at CMA Fest in Nashville, she told fans she did not have plans to retire.
“Maybe — someday I may have to. I’ve always said that if my husband was in ill health or needed me, I would most definitely pull way back,” she said.
Did Dolly Parton and Carl Dean have children?
The couple did not have children, and Dolly said this allowed her to have freedom.
“I didn’t have children because I believed that God didn’t mean for me to have kids so everybody’s kids could be mine, so I could do things… because if I hadn’t had the freedom to work, I wouldn’t have done all the things I’ve done,” she told Oprah Winfrey on her Apple TV show The Oprah Conversation.
Is Jolene about Carl Dean?
One of Dolly’s most famous songs Jolene, was inspired by a bank teller who flirted with Carl at his local branch.
Speaking to the crowd at Glastonbury in 2014, she said it was “loosely based on a little bit of truth”.
“I wrote that years ago when my husband [was] spending a little more time with Jolene than I thought he should be,” she began.
When the crowd booed, she said: “I got rid of that redhead woman in a hurry. I want you folks to know, though, that something good can come from anything. Had it not been for that woman I would never have written ‘Jolene’, and I wouldn’t have made all that money, so thank you, Jolene.”
But that is not all to the story of the legendary hit.
Dolly has also mentioned that she met a little girl called Jolene, who wanted her autograph. Taken by her green eyes and auburn hair, she told the girl that she would write and name a song after her.
Along with If You Hadn’t Been There and Jolene, Just Because I’m a Woman, Tomorrow is Forever, Say Forever You’ll Be Mine, From Here to the Moon and Back and Forever Love, were all inspired by her late husband.
In 2023, she told AP that he also inspired her album Rockstar, which was released that year. Her song Blue Tears, which was written in the 1960s and 1970s, was one of Carl’s favourites, she said, so she wanted to include it.
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