How we might hear new Dolly Parton music in the future
In 2022, Parton explained in several interviews that she had buried a secret song called "My Place in History" in a time capsule at her Dollywood resort in Tennessee, only to be opened in either late 2045 or 2046, around the 100th anniversary of her birth.
People visit the Dolly Parton exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee, on August 26, 2026. (AFP)
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NASHVILLE — Dolly Parton's classics like "Jolene" and "9 to 5" will live on long after her death, but will we get new music from the Queen of Country as well?
Her own interviews indicate there is more to come.
At least one tune is recorded and ready, if you can wait until 2045.
In 2022, Parton explained in several interviews that she had buried a secret song called "My Place in History" in a time capsule at her Dollywood resort in Tennessee, only to be opened in either late 2045 or 2046, around the 100th anniversary of her birth.
"We do a lot of things at Dollywood. They asked me if I would write a song that nobody would ever hear," she told "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon.
"I wrote a song and I put it in the box to be opened... and saying what we were doing with our music at that time, left all the instructions. And here's how you can play this," she added.
"I don't know what they'll do with it, but I have regretted that, because it was a really good song!" she joked. "I keep wanting them to let me dig it up and put something else in it that's not as good."
That same year, she told fellow singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson about the song, expressing concerns it would never be heard.
"I figure it'll probably disintegrate and probably nobody will ever hear it, that's what bothers me... if it rots in there before they open it."
'That will go on forever'
But beyond that song, Parton said in a 2019 interview for WNYC's "Dolly Parton's America" podcast that she had written "hundreds, even thousands of songs" -- many of them unrecorded.
"There's enough stuff to go on forever with my music -- to do compilation albums, to do actually new and original stuff," she said.
"And I am purposely trying to put songs down for that very purpose, to have a click track and my vocals to where any, any arrangement can be done," Parton added.
"So that will go on forever. I'm one of those people that believe in being prepared."
Parton did not offer specifics about how such arrangements could work, or how her estate would handle the rights issues, but it offers the tantalizing prospect of Parton tunes for years to come.
Tina Tallon, a professor of artificial intelligence and music composition at The Ohio State University, explains that a "click track" features clicks or beeps such as a metronome, or other cues to capture rhythm.
By recording her vocals with such a track, Parton could "communicate her intentions with respect to tempo, mood, and structure," Tallon told AFP.
"She certainly found a way to preserve her artistic vision while also inviting people to continue to be a part of her legacy," Tallon said.
"One of the things that she was so good at was creating community and fostering collaborations, and this is yet another way she continues to give us those gifts, even after her passing."
Tallon noted that some artists are exploring the idea of licensing their voices for artificial intelligence uses, and while Parton's intentions on that concept are not known, her estate would be responsible for managing the legalities.
No matter what happens, at least one Parton tune will eventually be unearthed.
"If any of you are around when they open that box, well, I hope you enjoy my song," Parton told the "Tonight Show" audience in 2022.
Essential Dolly: five key Parton songs
Over her six-decade career, country music legend Dolly Parton wrote about 3,000 songs: upbeat tunes perfect for sing-alongs, introspective heart-wrenching ballads and anthemic pop smash hits.
Here is a look at five of Parton's best-known songs, including the stories behind them and some of her searing lyrics:
'Jolene'
The 1973 song is one of Parton's greatest hits, and one of the songs most covered by other artists. In her crystal-clear soprano, she sings plaintively to the titular woman not to take away her man, saying he is the only one for her.
"He talks about you in his sleep / And there's nothing I can do to keep / From crying when he calls your name, Jolene," she sings against a driving guitar rhythm.
Parton told USA Today that the song was inspired by a bank teller she believed was flirting with her husband, Carl Dean.
"I was just a little jealous that she was prettier than me, so you always feel a little threatened when that happens. But it was not a big deal -- it was just good for a song, let's put it that way," Parton said in 2023.
The song has been covered by everyone from Beyonce on her country album "Cowboy Carter" to rocker Jack White, who first played the song with the White Stripes and did it again Tuesday at a show in London just hours after Parton's death was announced.
'I Will Always Love You'
Legend had it that on the same night she wrote "Jolene," Parton also composed "I Will Always Love You," a heartfelt farewell to her mentor Porter Wagoner that became a global pop hit when Whitney Houston covered it for the 1992 film "The Bodyguard."
Parton later clarified that she was no longer sure and it "could have been a few days apart" but "they were certainly written within a very short span of time."
"I hope life treats you kind / And I hope that you have all that you ever dreamed of," she wrote.
"And I wish you joy and happiness / But above all of this, I wish you love / And I will always love you."
'9 to 5'
Parton recorded the song for the 1980 office satire film of the same name in which she starred with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. She earned an Oscar nomination for the fun-loving tune, which she says she wrote on the set.
"I did it on my fingernails," she said on NBC "Today" show in 2020. "It sounded like a typewriter."
"Tumble out of bed and I stumble in the kitchen / Pour myself a cup of ambition / And yawn and stretch and try to come to life," she sang.
"Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin' / Barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin'."
In the 2020 interview, Parton said: "I played my nails on the real record just for fun."
'Coat of Many Colors'
Parton grew up dirt poor in rural Tennessee with 11 siblings. Her mother once made her a coat of fabric patches because they had nothing else.
Young Dolly endured bullying over the coat, and channeled that pain into a 1971 hit song. She later turned the story into a children's book of the same title, and a television movie.
"And I didn't have a coat / And it was way down in the fall / Mama sewed the rags together / Sewin' every piece with love," she sang.
"She made my coat of many colors / That I was so proud of."
'The Bridge'
This 1968 song revealed Parton at her storytelling best, as she chronicled a love affair gone sour, leaving the song's main character pregnant and alone. She tackled the taboo subjects of extramarital sex and suicide, as she ends the song despondent.
She told podcaster Brene Brown that she wrote the song after hearing adults talk about difficult situations as a child.
"Tonight, while standing on the bridge / My heart is beating wild / To think that you could leave me here / With our unborn child," she sang matter-of-factly, before the abrupt, tragic ending.