Dolly Parton left behind a secret song – but there’s a catch

Dolly Parton left fans with one final musical mystery – an unheard song they will not hear for another 20 years.

The country music legend recorded My Place in History in 2015, more than a decade before her death at the age of 80 on Tuesday, 25 August, following a brief battle with cancer.

Parton then sealed the recording inside a time capsule at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort in Tennessee, with strict instructions about when it could finally be heard.

Dolly Parton’s secret song locked away for decades

According to a report, Dollywood confirmed that Parton instructed that the song remain sealed until 19 January 2046.

The date would have marked her 100th birthday.

Parton stored the recording on a CD and even placed a CD player inside the box to make sure people would still have a way to listen to it decades later.

The unusual arrangement effectively turned the song into a musical time capsule.

In a separate report, it states that Parton recorded My Place in History more than a decade ago before placing it inside the time capsule.

The publication says the box also contains a cassette recording of the song.

Parton wanted to dig up the recording

Parton later admitted she struggled to keep the song locked away.

During a 2022 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, she explained that she had written the song knowing nobody would hear it for decades.

She joked that she regretted choosing such a good song and wanted to dig it up and replace it with something “not as good”.

Parton also questioned whether the recording technology would last until the time capsule opened.

In her 2020 book, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, she wondered what music would sound like in the future and whether anyone would still be able to play the recording.

At the time, Parton even entertained the possibility that she might live long enough to hear it herself.

When will Dolly Parton’s secret song be released?

The song now takes on added significance following Parton’s death.

Unlike the music she released during her six-decade career, My Place in History was deliberately created for a future audience.

There is currently no indication that the song will be released early.

That means fans will have to wait until 19 January 2046 to finally hear one of the last musical mysteries Parton left behind.