{"id":15601,"date":"2025-04-27T02:15:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T02:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=15601"},"modified":"2025-04-27T02:15:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T02:15:21","slug":"under-the-tennessee-sky-where-the-smoky-mountains-cradle-memories-like-an-old-love-song-dolly-parton-stood-before-a-crowd-at-dollywood-on-friday-her-voice-carrying-the-weight-of-love-and-loss-it-w","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=15601","title":{"rendered":"Under the Tennessee sky, where the Smoky Mountains cradle memories like an old love song, Dolly Parton stood before a crowd at Dollywood on Friday, her voice carrying the weight of love and loss. It was her first public appearance since the passing of her beloved husband, Carl Dean\u2014a man who stayed out of the spotlight but lived forever in her heart. With emotion laced in every word, she looked out at the gathered fans and spoke the kind of truth only Dolly can: \u201cI will always love him.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 id=\"h-just-days-after-her-husband-carl-dean-died-dolly-parton-made-a-public-appearance-to-help-celebrate-the-40th-anniversary-of-her-dollywood-theme-park\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Just days after her husband Carl Dean died, Dolly Parton made a public appearance to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of her Dollywood theme park.<\/h2>\n<p>Carl Dean, Dolly Parton\u2019s husband of 58 years, passed away on Monday, March 3, 2025. Dolly shared the news on social media, saying, \u201cCarl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can\u2019t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two days later,\u00a0Parton thanked fans\u00a0for their love and support, and shared that she\u2019s \u201cokay\u201d knowing that Carl is now \u201cin God\u2019s arms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dolly followed the statement with news that she was releasing a new single in Carl\u2019s honor. The song, titled \u201cIf You Hadn\u2019t Been There,\u201d was written to be included in the upcoming musical about Dolly\u2019s life. It is a tribute to everyone who has been a part of her career and her success.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI 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,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dolly Parton - If You Hadn\u2019t Been There (Official Audio)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JPzwXz1RX4s\" width=\"350\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-origwidth=\"350\" data-origheight=\"235\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-on-friday-march-14-dolly-made-her-first-public-appearance-since-carl-s-death\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">On Friday, March 14, Dolly made her first public appearance since Carl\u2019s death.<\/h2>\n<p>In honor of the 40th anniversary of her Dollywood theme park, Dolly made a surprise appearance in front of a crowd of season pass holders. In a press release shared ahead of the event, it was unclear if Dolly would be in attendance as she has been in years past.<\/p>\n<p>When she was announced and made her way on stage, the audience was clearly surprised that she was there. When she took the stage, she briefly addressed Carl\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cI just want to take a minute to thank all of you for all of the flowers and cards and the well wishes for the loss of Carl. You know how I loved him. He would want me to be working today,\u201d Dolly said. \u201cI just wanted you to know, of course, that I will always love him. And I will always miss him.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>She referenced the loss of her husband later in the presentation when she and her co-host, Eugene Naughton, engaged in silly banter that him laughing. Naughton told the crowd,\u00a0<em>\u201cShe said she was in a mood today\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Dolly replied,\u00a0<em>\u201cI said I need to laugh. I need some fun so I\u2019m probably gonna be stupid. I\u2019ve been crying enough the last week or two\u2026.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Watch Live: Dolly Parton speaks as Dollywood kicks off its 40th season \ud83e\udd8b\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LsMwbmL-6wc\" width=\"350\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-origwidth=\"350\" data-origheight=\"235\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-dollywood-will-officially-open-for-it-s-40th-season-on-saturday-march-15\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dollywood will officially open for it\u2019s 40th season on Saturday, March 15.<\/h2>\n<p>The upcoming season will feature the park\u2019s famous festivals, such as the I Will Always Love You Music Festival, the Flower &amp; Food Festival, the Smoky Mountain Summer Celebration, Dollywood\u2019s Harvest Festival, and Smoky Mountain Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>A new show called \u201cPlay On\u201d will open during the official anniversary weekend in May. Other new additions include a restaurant and the conversion of the Heartsong Theater into the Imagination Playhouse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just days after her husband Carl Dean died, Dolly Parton made a public appearance to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of her Dollywood theme park. Carl Dean,&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Under the Tennessee sky, where the Smoky Mountains cradle memories like an old love song, Dolly Parton stood before a crowd at Dollywood on Friday, her voice carrying the weight of love and loss. It was her first public appearance since the passing of her beloved husband, Carl Dean\u2014a man who stayed out of the spotlight but lived forever in her heart. With emotion laced in every word, she looked out at the gathered fans and spoke the kind of truth only Dolly can: \u201cI will always love him.\u201d -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=15601\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Under the Tennessee sky, where the Smoky Mountains cradle memories like an old love song, Dolly Parton stood before a crowd at Dollywood on Friday, her voice carrying the weight of love and loss. It was her first public appearance since the passing of her beloved husband, Carl Dean\u2014a man who stayed out of the spotlight but lived forever in her heart. 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