Country singer Dolly Parton has released a moving ballad in memory of her longtime husband, Carl Dean, who died on Monday at the age of 82.
“He will always be the star of my life story, and I dedicate this song to him.”
In the emotional new track, titled “If You Hadn’t Been There,” Parton chronicles Dean’s unwavering devotion and support throughout their marriage and her career.
“If you hadn’t been there, where would I be?” Parton sings at the start of the song. “Without your trust, love, and belief. The ups and downs, we’ve always shared. And I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been there.”
She continues: “If you hadn’t been, well, who would I be? You’ve always seen the best in me. Your loving arms have cradled me. You held me close and I believe I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been there.”
The couple’s love story dates back to May 1964, when the then 18-year-old aspiring country singer first met Dean outside a Nashville laundromat.
Parton, who hailed from Locust Ridge, a rural community in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, had just graduated from high school and had moved to the Music City that very day to pursue her dream of becoming a musician.
“I'd come to Nashville with dirty clothes. I was in such a hurry to get here,” she told The New York Times in May 1976.
“And after I'd put my clothes in the machine, I started walkin’ down the street, just lookin’ at my new [home], and this guy hollered at me, and I waved. Bein’ from the country, I spoke to everybody. And he came over and, well, it was Carl, my husband.”
Parton also recounted the chance encounter in December 2024 while speaking to Woman’s World magazine, describing Dean as “the cutest thing” she had ever seen.
“I thought that he was meant to be and it has turned out,” she told the publication. “He said it was truly love at first sight. I’d always heard that, but it truly was.”
The couple dated for two years before marrying on May 30, 1966, in a private ceremony in Ringgold, Georgia, which was attended only by Parton’s mother, Avie Lee, a preacher, and the preacher’s wife.
Parton told The New York Times that she had never planned on getting married. “I hadn’t intended to find anybody, but you know how love goes,” she said.
A little more than a year after the couple’s wedding, Parton launched her debut album, “Hello, I’m Dolly,” in September 1967.
Since then, the multi-hyphenate has released more than 45 studio albums, her most recent being the 2023 album, “Rockstar,” which debuted in November 2023.
Despite Parton’s heavily publicized work in the entertainment industry, Dean—who previously ran an asphalt-paving business—largely remained out of the public eye throughout his wife’s decades-long career.
During an April 2014 appearance on “The Big Interview with Dan Rather,” Parton said her husband preferred to stay out of the spotlight.
“Now, he’s a very complex involved person; I never get tired of him. He’s got his own sense of humor, he’s got his own way of thinking. He’s not involved in the music business at all but he loves music. And we’re different, but yet we just are so compatible.”
A few days after Dean’s death, Parton expressed gratitude on social media for the outpouring of support she had received in the wake of her husband’s passing.
“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.”
