Dolly Parton's husband Carl Dean: What she's said about elusive spouse

No one chronicles love quite like 

From the melancholy farewell that grounds "I Will Always Love You" to the dizziness of heartbreak laid bare in "The Grass is Blue," Parton has cemented her place as one of the premier balladeers of the American songbook. But  was her real-life love, Carl Dean, an asphalt paver and her loyal cheerleader 

For a woman known by her words, Parton stayed fairly mum  throughout their  That he rarely made any public appearances only grew the mystique around him.

"Carl and I spent many wonderful years together," she wrote in a post announcing his death across her  "Words can't do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy."

Here's what else Parton has said about Dean over the years, including the comments she made just months before his death.

### How Dolly Parton, Carl Dean met

Parton met Dean when she was 18 years old, shortly after moving to Nashville to pursue her music career. He spotted her while she was leaving the Wishy Washy Laundromat, and the rest is history.

"We did start talking and he did go back in the laundromat with me," Parton said in  on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson."

"Anyway, we met at the Wishy Washy and in all honesty it's been wishy washy ever since," she said.

"If I had it to do all over, I'd do it all over again," Parton wrote in 

Dolly Parton's husband,  in "Dolly's Greatest Songs." "I'm sorry, something went wrong. Please try again."

### Dolly Parton's 'normal' life together

"On weekends my husband and I always have pancakes or waffles,"  of her and Dean's breakfast ritual, "All those things are comfort foods to me ... How much comfort you want is how much of it you eat."

That image, of a normal couple sharing Sunday brunch together, is indicative of how Parton portrayed her and Dean's lasting bond.

"Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,"  in 2024 of her and Dean's marriage. "I stay gone … and there's a lot of truth in that − the fact that we're not in each other's faces all the time," she joked.

And just like any couple, despite the glitz and glam of Parton's stage life, she planned to put it all aside if Dean "needed" her.

"I would only retire if I was ill or if my husband was ill and needed me," Parton told USA TODAY in 2024. "That'd be the only thing that would make me pull back."

### How Parton, Dean cultivated a lasting love

Parton, who has become an elder stateswoman of country and pop, has advised that her long-lasting relationship worked because of shared humor and space from one another.

She spoke candidly about her marriage to Dean in comments released three months before his death.

"He's quiet and I'm loud, and we're funny,” Parton said of Dean in the December episode of "Dumb Blonde" podcast. "I think one of the things that's made it last so long through the years is that we love each other (and) we respect each other, but we have a lot of fun.

"Anytime (there's) too much tension going on, either one of us can like, find a joke about it to really break the tension," she continued. "We never fought back and forth. (He) would just run like a scalded dog. If somebody said, 'Are you Carl Dean? Can you answer a few questions?' 'No, I don't answer questions,'" the singer , part of the USA TODAY Network.

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