Dolly Parton’s husband, Carl Thomas Dean, dies at 82
Carl Thomas Dean, the husband of country music legend Dolly Parton, has died at the age of 82.
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Dolly Parton is delivering a melodic sendoff for her late husband Carl Dean.
Dean, who died Monday at 82, was Parton’s longtime leading man, supporting her quietly behind the scenes for six decades. To honor their love, the celebrated songstress released a new track Friday. “If You Hadn’t Been There,” a single dedicated to Dean, features a cover photo of the couple and chronicles a tender and enduring love.
“I fell in love with Carl Dean when I was 18 years old,” Parton wrote in an Instagram post announcing the song. “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.”
The track, a slow-moving ballad characteristic of Parton’s signature sound, pays tribute to Dean’s support throughout their relationship.
“If you hadn’t been there / Where would I be?” she asks in the song’s opening line. “The ups and downs / We’ve always shared / And I wouldn’t be here, if you hadn’t been there.”
In it, she calls Dean her “rock” and “soft-place to land,” a characterization that echoes comments she made last year to The Knoxville News Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network. “There’s always that safety, that security, that strength,” she said. “He’s a good man, and we’ve had a good life and he’s been a good husband.”
The song joins other tracks like “Jolene” and “Just Because I am a Woman” that were inspired by Dean. An intensely private man, Parton met Dean in 1964, the day she moved to Nashville, Tennessee. As her star continued to rise in the country music genre and beyond, Dean retreated from the spotlight, but always supported her from afar.
In a statement posted to Instagram Thursday, Parton mourned Dean’s death.
“This is a love note to family, friends, and fans,” Parton wrote. “Thank you for all the messages, cards, and flowers that you’ve sent to pay your respects 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.”
She closed, “He is in God’s arms now and I am okay with that. I will always love you.”
Contributing: Brendan Morrow
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