Dolly Parton releases new song honouring late husband Carl Thomas Dean

Dolly Parton offered an emotional tribute to her late husband, Carl Thomas Dean, who died earlier this week.

The legendary country artist released a new song titled, If You Hadn’t Been There, in an Instagram post on Friday.

“I fell in love with Carl Dean when I was 18 years old,” Parton wrote. “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 pair were together for six decades before he died on Monday aged 82.

Her voice trembles as she sings the new song, “If you hadn’t been there / Where would I be? / Without your trust, love, and belief”.

“You made me drеam / More than I dared,” she continues. “And I wouldn’t be hеre / If you hadn’t been there.”

The cover of the track includes an old photo showing Parton with her arms wrapped around Dean.

Parton, 79, expressed her gratitude for fans’ support after her husband’s death.

“This is a love note to family, friends, and fans,” she wrote on Instagram on Thursday. “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. He is in God’s arms now and I am okay with that. I will always love you.”

The singer, known for songs such as 9-5 and Jolene, met Dean outside a laundromat the first day she arrived in Nashville as an 18-year-old aspiring singer.

“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” Parton said when recalling their first meeting.

“He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”

Two years later, in 1966, the pair married.

They lived a private life – Dean was rarely seen in public – and did not have children together.