Dolly Parton is putting down the pen and closing the songbook for a while, due to the passing of her husband, Carl Dean.
The 79-year-old country music icon sat down with Khloé Kardashian on her podcast, “Khloé in Wonder Land,” and talked about how difficult the songwriting process has been for her since her husband’s passing in March 2025.
“[There are] several things I have wanted to start, but I can’t do it,” Parton said to Kardashian when she was asked if she ever started a song that she was unable to finish.
“I will later,” she continued. “I’m just coming up with such wonderful beautiful ideas, but I think I won’t finish it. I can’t do it right now, because I got so many other things.”
“I can’t afford the luxury of, you know, getting that emotional right now,” she states. “There are times like that, things like that, that will stall you a little bit. But I’ll write something else though, if it comes.”
But prior to her husband’s passing, songwriting was something Dolly truly loved, as it allowed her to connect more to her “spiritual self.”
“I love feeling like that I can create something, to leave something in the world today that wasn’t there yesterday,” she said to Khloé.
Prior to her interview with Khloé Kardashian, Parton said in an interview to “Entertainment Tonight” that, “I’m having to really go through a lot trying to figure out how to be without him because I was with him for so long. I’m holding up, I’m doing as well as one can after 60 years, being with and loving somebody.”
“There’s a part of me that’s happy he’s at peace and at rest,” Parton added. “But then of course, there’s that part of me that will miss him forever and long for him every day. For the rest of my life, I’m sure.”
At the beginning of this summer, Parton revealed that she paid tribute to her late husband, for what would have been their 59th anniversary, by taking a trip to a Ringgold, Ga., church where they were married on May 30, 1966.
“We would always go down to Ringgold so — in and around our anniversary every year since we were married,” she told FOX News’ America Reports.
Dolly Parton’s husband, Carl Dean, passed away in March 2025.Dolly Parton via DollyParton.com
While Dolly Parton may not be writing any new tunes anytime soon, you can get tickets to see her perform an abundance of songs from her iconic discography in Las Vegas from Dec. 4 to Dec. 13.
“I haven’t worked Vegas in years, and I’ve always loved singing there,” Parton said in a statement. “I’m looking so forward to the shows in The Colosseum at Caesars, and I hope you are, as well.”
This string of shows will mark the first time she has performed in the city since 1993.
You can also listen to the song that was released as a tribute shortly after his passing, “If You Hadn’t Been There.”
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