Dolly Parton is paying tribute to her late husband, Carl Dean, in song. After nearly 60 years together, Parton announced that her beloved partner died Monday in Nashville at the age of 82. “He is in God’s arms now and I am okay with that. I will always love you,” she wrote in an Instagram post after his passing. Days later, the country icon released a sweet, heart-wrenching single, “If You Hadn’t Been There,” in Dean’s honor.
“I fell in love with Carl Dean when I was 18 years old,” Parton, 79, wrote on Instagram to announce the song’s release. “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.”
View this post on Instagram
“If you hadn’t been there / Where would I be? / Without your trust, love, and belief,” Parton sings in the ballad. “The ups and downs / We’ve always shared / And I wouldn’t be here, if you hadn’t been there.”
@dollyparton 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. ‘If You Hadn’t Been There’
Parton met Dean at a laundromat shortly after moving to Nashville to pursue her music career in the early 1960s. Though he mostly avoided the limelight, he said of meeting the then-starlet in a 2016 interview: “My first thought was, ‘I’m gonna marry that girl.’ My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good lookin’.’” The duo wed in 1966 in a small ceremony and renewed their vows on their 50th anniversary. “If I had it to do all over, I’d do it all over again, and we did,” Parton said at the time. “I’m dragging him kicking and screaming into the next 50 years. Wish us luck.”
Dean is set to be laid to rest in a private ceremony. He is survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie.
