Dolly Parton left behind one final musical surprise before she died – but fans will have to wait before they can hear it.
The world has lost a true star and is now mourning the death of country music legend Dolly Parton. Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, confirmed her passing in a video shared on social media Tuesday.
He started the video by saying: “My name is Bryan Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I’m representing the Parton and Owens family today announcing the passing of my aunt, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean, Sister, Sis and Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next.”
He continued: “This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality. As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it til now.”
Her representatives later confirmed that Parton had been diagnosed with cancer and died at the same medical center where she had been admitted days earlier.
Dolly Parton’s music
But even though she is no longer with us, Dolly Parton’s musical legacy lives on. In fact, the country music icon wrote a previously unreleased song called “My Place In History” and placed it inside a time capsule at Dollywood in Tennessee. The capsule is scheduled to be opened in 2045, meaning the song will not be heard by the public until then.
Parton revealed the unusual story behind the song in her 2020 memoir, “Songteller: My Life in Lyrics.” She had been asked to write a song that would remain sealed away for 25 years, creating a piece of music specifically intended for an audience she might never meet.
“I had to write this song that nobody was going to hear ‘til then, and I tell you you have no idea how that has bothered me,” she said during a 2022 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, according to E! News. “I want to go dig that up so bad.”
Parton also made it clear that she believed the song was worth waiting for.
“it’s a really good song,” she said. “I don’t know whose damn idea that was.”
“I won’t be around to hear it”
Despite her frustration with having to leave the track untouched, Parton understood the idea behind creating something that would not be heard until 2045.
“Hopefully it’ll be special,” she said. “I have to honestly say, it was an odd feeling to be asked to write a song that was not going to be heard ‘til [2045]. But it’s a good song.”
She even joked about whether she would still be alive when the time capsule was eventually opened.
“I won’t be around to hear it,” Parton told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show in 2022, according to E! News. “I’ll be dead and gone – well I might not be, ’cause I’ll be 99. You know me, I might still be hoppin’ around.”
The song will now become a rare piece of Parton’s work that was deliberately created for a future she would never see. And when the capsule is opened in 2045, fans will finally find out what Parton considered good enough to hide away for 25 years.
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