Dolly Parton honors late husband Carl Dean with new song 'If You Hadn't Been There'

(TNND) — Dolly Parton is paying tribute to her late husband, Carl Dean, by releasing a new emotional song titled "If You Hadn't Been There."

The country music legend announced the song on her Instagram Thursday alongside a throwback photo of the couple showing Parton behind Dean hugging him.

"I fell in love with Carl Dean when I was 18 years old. We have spent 60 precious and meaningful years together," she wrote. "Like all great love stories, they never end. They live on in memory and song. He will always be the star of my life story, and I dedicate this song to him."

Parton confirmed Dean's death on Monday, writing, "Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can't do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy."

She met Dean outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat the day she moved to Nashville and married him two years later, on Memorial Day 1966 in a small ceremony in Ringgold, Georgia.

He inspired Parton's classic, "Jolene." Parton told NPR in 2008 that she wrote the song about a flirty bank teller who seemed to take an interest in Dean.

Parton and Dean maintained strict privacy in their relationship for decades.

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Editor's note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.