Country music icon Dolly Parton has died at age 80 following a decline in health, leaving behind an unreleased song locked in a time capsule at her Dollywood theme park that will not be opened until 2045.
Parton passed away on Tuesday after being admitted on Friday to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, suffering from autoimmune and kidney problems, according to tabloid news site TMZ. Her death followed months of health issues that had forced the singer to pull out of a string of public appearances.
Parton was an internationally renowned singer, songwriter, and philanthropist whose career spanned six decades, establishing her as one of the most prominent figures in American country music. Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a major academic healthcare institution located in Nashville.
Her death was confirmed on Tuesday in an Instagram video posted by her nephew Bryan Seaver, who also served as her head of security.
"This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago before I fully absorbed it as a future reality," Seaver said in the clip. He praised his famous aunt for having "lived in the light" and said she was now "in the arms of Jesus" and in the company of her late husband Carl Dean, as well as her parents and "countless others who have watched her and longed to meet her in the heavens."
Just four days before her passing, Parton gave a devastating final interview in which she stated: "I still have so many things I want to achieve."
Following her death, a resurfaced interview from December 2022 highlighted Parton's long-standing frustration over an unreleased track she buried in a time capsule at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Resurfaced comments on the 2045 time capsule
Appearing on The Kelly Clarkson Show in December 2022 at age 76, the country icon revealed that she wrote and recorded a song that will not see the light of day for nearly two decades. Dollywood, the popular theme park in the Smoky Mountains co-owned by Parton, holds the sealed capsule.
"You have no idea how that has bothered me," Parton told host Kelly Clarkson during the broadcast. "I wanna go dig that up so bad. It's a really good song!"
Parton acknowledged during the interview that she might not be alive to see the track unearthed, noting she would be 99 years old by the time the capsule is unlocked in 2045. "I might be here, I might not be," she said at the time.
"I don't know whose damn idea that was," Parton said as the live audience laughed. She continued: "They weren't expecting me to be there at all, and I probably won't be. I might be there, who knows. I figure it'll probably disintegrate and nobody will ever hear it, that's what bothers me... if it rots in there before they open it."
Memoir reflections on the hidden song
Parton had previously written about the hidden song in her 2020 memoir, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics. In the book, she likened storing the music away to "burying one of my kids, putting it on ice or something, and I won't be around to see it brought back to life."
She lamented in the memoir: "It's just burning me up inside that I have to leave it in there."
Tributes to Carl Dean and six-decade career
Throughout her six-decade career in music, the Grammy-winning artist achieved legendary status with hits including Jolene, 9 to 5, and her 1974 classic I Will Always Love You. The Grammy Awards are the American music industry's premier annual honors.
Parton lost her husband of 58 years, Carl Dean, in March 2025. She was just 18 years old when she first crossed paths with him in 1964 at Nashville's Wishy Washy Laundromat.
Three days after his death in March 2025, the artist released a song dedicated to him titled If You Hadn't Been There.
Weeks later, she took to Instagram to share her reaction to a tribute paid to Dean during the Opry 100: A Live Celebration show. The Grand Ole Opry is Nashville's iconic weekly country music stage concert. Stars including Reba McEntire, Carrie Underwood, Lady A, and about 50 members of the Opry choir performed Parton's 1974 song I Will Always Love You in remembrance of Dean.
Writing via Instagram Stories to her 7.5 million followers, Parton said: "I have not stopped crying over the beautiful tribute of 'I Will Always Love You' on the 100th Anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry show."
She added: "All those beautiful people with all their beautiful voices singing my song as a tribute to my husband Carl... the emotion was beyond words."
Parton concluded her statement: "I have cried enough to wash a great deal of the pain away so thanks to all of you beautiful people that helped make that possible. I also will always love you."
