The world hasn’t heard the last of Dolly Parton — and won’t for a good, long time.
The national icon, who died Tuesday in Nashville, forged a musical career spanning seven decades and making untold millions of fans in the country and around the globe.
And she once said her musical vault contains “thousands” of songs that haven’t been released; one of them won’t be public for almost two decades to come.
The song is titled, fittingly enough, “My Place in History,” the national media company Gray News reported Tuesday.
According to ABC News, Parton wrote and recorded the song in 2015.
The music industry publication Billboard reported Tuesday that “Parton specifically arranged for it to be unveiled on what would have been her 100th birthday: Jan. 19, 2046.”
Dolly Parton wrote a secret song called “My Place In History” that was sealed in a “Dream Box” time capsule at Dollywood that is set to be opened around her 100th birthday (January 19, 2046).⁰
What do you think the song will be about? pic.twitter.com/unptaz72z6— FreeThinkerFitness (@FreeThinkerFit) August 25, 2026
The Gray News story was based on a People magazine report in 2022 about a Parton interview on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”
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“I have written a song that nobody’s gonna hear till I’m 99 years old,” Parton said. “I might be there, I might not be.”
She said the song had been placed in a time capsule at Dollywood, her theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, near Knoxville.
“I put all the things that had to do with the times,” she said. “I put a cassette player, and I put all the … CD player …
“But I had to write this song that nobody was going to hear till then,” she said. “And you have no idea how that has bothered me. I wanna go dig that up so bad. And think, ‘Well, I need to use that song,’ cause it’s like, it’s a really good song …
“I don’t know whose damn idea that was.”
If that song really does stay buried until 2046, Parton fans won’t necessarily be deprived.
Should the song be released early due to Dolly Parton’s death?
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In 2020, the singer said there’s still plenty of material yet to come.
“I’ve got hundreds, hundreds, even thousands of songs — a big part of them have never even been recorded,” Parton said during an appearance on the “Dolly Parton’s America” podcast, according to Parade magazine.
“There’s enough stuff to go on forever with my music, to do compilation albums, to do new and original stuff. I am purposely trying to put songs down for that very purpose, to have a click track and my vocals where any arrangement could be done. So I think ahead.”
Regardless of what does or doesn’t happen in 2046, or any time before then, most Americans can probably agree that Parton’s place in history is assured.
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