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5 Songs Dolly Parton Wrote About Late Husband Carl: 'Forever Love' and More

Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ was famously inspired by her late husband, Carl Dean, but she wrote several other songs about him over the years

Jason Kempin/Getty Images Dolly Parton ’s late husband, Carl Dean, was a very private person, but his superstar wife still celebrated him in her music — and occasionally ribbed him too. Courtesy of Dolly Parton/InstagramThis famous cut isn’t a love song, but it’s one of Parton’s biggest hits — and it was directly inspired by a conversation she had with Dean early in their relationship. As a singer, actress and philanthropist, she looms larger than life; as a wife, she kept a veil of privacy over her marriage to late husband Carl Dean, who died in March 2025 at the age of 82.

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