Dolly Parton‘s late husband Carl Dean was not a fan of the spotlight, but that didn’t stop him from jumping on stage at least one time to hop on the mic.
The country veteran recalled the moment in a chat with Reba McEntire on Talk Shop Live. The two were discussing Parton’s new book Star of the Show: My Life on Stage when McEntire brought up a rare photo of Dean included in the publication.
When Did Dolly Parton’s Husband Sing on Stage?
The photo shows Dean and Parton’s backup vocalist Richard Dennison on stage at the Kentucky State Fair. It’s unclear what year it was, but the two are cheek-to-cheek in front of the microphone singing their hearts out. Dean’s arm is slung around Dennison’s shoulders.
McEntire reveals the song they were singing was Parton’s “Higher and Higher” and asks if Dean ever tried to get on stage again.
“No, he never went on the stage again cause I wasn’t gonna let him,” Parton jokes. “That was so out of character for him.”
The “Jolene” singer goes on to explain that Dean and Dennison had a special bond because the band member was married to her sister Rachel at the time.
“He had come to the Kentucky State Fair to see me ’cause he loved the fair,” she continues. “He loved to watch it, looking at all the trucks and the tractors and the cows and the horses and the pigs. So he loved to come when I would go to the fairs.”
Listen to Parton tell the story at the 17-minute mark in the video below.
Dolly Parton’s Late Husband Carl Dean’s Performance Was a Prank
And while going to the fair was normal, seeing Dean get on stage was a huge surprise, even for Parton.
“I didn’t know he was gonna do that,” she points out. “When we started the song — and the song was ‘Higher and Higher.’ That was a song Carl loved. And so when we started the song I thought, ‘Why are the background singers sounding so off key?'”
“And then I looked back and there was Carl. I didn’t even know he was at the fair ’cause he had just drove up on his own.”
Parton shares that she tried to get back at Carl in that moment by telling the security guard that she didn’t know who the mystery singer was on stage with her. Unfortunately her road manager got to him before security could detain him.
She admits she thought it would be funny for him to be hauled off to jail and they’d pick him up later.
The photo Parton included in her book was the one published in the newspaper the next morning, forever enshrining the rare moment.
Why Didn’t We Ever See Dolly Parton’s Husband Carl Dean?
Although the couple were married for nearly 60 years, it was very rare to see the two of them out in public together. Dean was not a fan of the spotlight, and it was always understood between the two of them that the glitz and the glam was Parton’s world.
Aside from his time on stage at the fair, Dean attended one awards show with Parton and was so uncomfortable that he never went to another one. That’s doesn’t mean he didn’t support his wife’s career.
“He said, ‘Look now, I want you to do everything you want to do, and I wish you the best, but don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things, because I’m not doing it.’ And he never did,” she said in a podcast interview with Jelly Roll‘s wife Bunnie XO in 2025.
Sadly, Dean passed away on March 3, 2025 at the age of 82.
30 Photos of Dolly Parton Young
Dolly Parton has been a fixture in country music and really, all of entertainment, since the 1960s. The only thing that has changed about the icon is her age — she’s as radiant as she’s ever been! Check out these pictures of a young Dolly Parton.
Gallery Credit: Evan Paul
