In 1966, Dolly Parton brought her brand-new husband, Carl Dean, to an awards ceremony. The date took much coaxing, and afterwards, Dean vowed never to attend another red-carpet event. Dolly never asked him to, and he remained almost entirely out of the public eye until his death in March 2025. However, Dean didn’t let his distaste for the spotlight stop him from taking over the mic at least once. During a recent talk with longtime friend Reba McEntire, the “Jolene” singer recalled a rare moment when her late husband decided to emerge from the shadows.
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Dolly Parton Talks About the Time Carl Dean Cut Loose
The two queens of country sat down on TalkShopLive to discuss Dolly Parton’s new hardcover book, Star of the Show: My Life on Stage, out Nov. 11. If you haven’t pre-ordered your copy yet, you might want to get on that. Otherwise, you might miss an incredibly rare photo of Carl Dean, Dolly’s husband of nearly 60 years.
Proving that Dean didn’t stay behind all the time, the photo shows him cheek-to-cheek with Dolly’s backup vocalist, Richard Dennison, onstage at the Kentucky State Fair. Far from the elusive figure he cut throughout their marriage, Dean has his arm slung around Dennison’s shoulders as they belt Dolly’s 1977’s hit “Higher and Higher.”
According to his wife, that was the last time Dean ever attempted to grab the spotlight. “No, he never went on the stage again cause I wasn’t gonna let him,” joked the 11-time Grammy winner. “That was so out of character for him.”
[RELATED: 6 Songs Dolly Parton Wrote About Her Late Husband Carl Dean, Besides “Jolene”]
Carl Dean Surprised Everyone—Including Dolly
If the audience was shocked to see Carl Dean grab the mic, so was his wife. “I didn’t know he was gonna do that,” Dolly Parton said. “When we started the song — I was opening with ‘Higher and Higher.’ That was a song Carl loved. And so when we started the opening song, I thought, ‘Why are the background singers sounding so off key?’”
“And then I looked back and there was Carl,” she continued with a laugh. “I didn’t even know he was at the fair ’cause he had just drove up on his own.”
In an attempt to get back at her husband, Dolly called on the security guard to remove him from the stage. “I leaned down and I said, ‘That guy back there… I don’t know who he is. Get him offstage.’”
Her road manager intervened before the scheme could take off, but Dolly admitted she was hoping to send him to jail. “That was a funny, crazy night,” she said.
Featured image by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for ACM
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