Latest news with #WhatWouldDollyDo?Radio
NBC News
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
The origin story for ‘Jolene'? Dolly Parton's husband and another woman's ‘terrible crush'
One of Dolly Parton's biggest hits was inspired, in part, by her late husband, Carl Thomas Dean. The country music icon said her 1973 smash hit 'Jolene,' which went to the top of Billboard's country music chart, came about thanks to a bank teller who had a little thing for Dean. 'She got this terrible crush on my husband,' Parton told NPR in 2008. 'And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kind of like a running joke between us when I was saying, 'Hell, you're spending a lot of time at the bank. I don't believe we've got that kind of money.' So it's really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.' Parton, who also said she came up with the name of the song after meeting a young fan at a concert, announced on Instagram on March 3 that Dean had died at the age of 82. The couple were married for nearly 60 years. 'Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can't do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,' the 10-time Grammy winner wrote, while adding her husband died in Nashville and 'will be laid to rest in a private ceremony.' Dean, who worked in the asphalt industry, met Parton at a laundromat in 1964. They married two years later in Georgia when they were both in their early 20s. While Parton has enjoyed immense fame throughout her career, Dean was not often seen, remaining out of the public eye. 'He went to one thing with me early on, when we first married, to a BMI Song of the Year,' she said on Apple's 'What Would Dolly Do? Radio' in 2023. 'And he came out there, taking off his tuxedo, his tie and all that, and said, 'Don't ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things, because I ain't going.' So I never asked him, and he never did.' The couple never had children, and Parton has spoken about how much Dean meant to her in her life. 'I think I've had many loves, but Carl is my best and lasting,' she told Woman's World in an interview in January. 'He was the one that's lasted for 60 years.'
NBC News
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Dolly Parton's husband of nearly 6 decades dies
Dolly Parton's husband, Carl Thomas Dean, whom she was married to for nearly 60 years, has died, she said. He was 82. The music icon, 79, on Monday posted a statement confirming Dean's death on Instagram. 'Carl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, passed away March 3rd in Nashville at the age of 82. He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. He was survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie," the statement said. 'Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can't do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.' The star asked for privacy for the family as they grieve Dean's death. Parton and Dean, a businessman from Nashville, married in 1966 after meeting two years prior and mostly kept their relationship out of the public eye. In a November 2023 interview for her Apple Music show, 'What Would Dolly Do? Radio,' Parton opened up about why they kept their relationship so private. 'Carl has never been in the limelight and all, never wanted to be in it. He don't like it,' Parton explained at the time. 'He went to one thing with me early on when we first married to a BMI Song of the Year (event), and he came out there taking off his tuxedo, his tie and all that and said, 'Don't ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain't going.'' She added, 'I never asked him and he never did.' Parton famously penned one of her biggest songs, 'Jolene,' which was released in 1973, about a woman flirting with her husband. Speaking about the inspiration behind the song in an interview with NPR in 2008, she said, 'She got this terrible crush on my husband. And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying, 'Hell, you're spending a lot of time at the bank. I don't believe we've got that kind of money.' So it's really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.' In May 2016, the longtime couple decided to renew their vows. She told Rolling Stone that they had an intimate ceremony at their Nashville-area home. 'I got all dressed up in the most beautiful gown you've ever seen and dressed that husband of mine up. He looked like a handsome dude out of Hollywood,' she gushed. 'We had a few family and friends around. We didn't plan anything big at all because we didn't want any kind of strain, any kind of tension, any kind of commotion, so we planned it cleverly and carefully. We just had a simple little ceremony at our chapel at our place. We just had just a few people who needed to be there to make sure they got the pictures and the few things that we needed.'
