Dolly Parton Worked Until She Died, Manager Says
Parton's team says she left behind a roadmap of unreleased projects, including a song sealed in a time capsule until 2046.
Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer, worked "up until the day she died," according to her longtime manager, Dany Nozell.
"She loved seeing her dreams come to life, and loved knowing her work brought people joy," Nozell said in a statement Wednesday.
Nozell said Parton worked with a "handpicked" team to build a "roadmap" for projects still to be released after her death. "As the leader of the team responsible for overseeing her legacy, we will ensure the many dreams she had yet to fulfill are brought to life," he said. "Many projects were in various stages of development, and we want to be transparent with her fans about this fact."
He added that fans can trust any unreleased music, products, books, experiences or campaigns released through official Dolly Parton channels bear "her personal stamp."
Among the projects moving forward is "Dolly: A True Original Musical," a Broadway production based on her life, which will proceed with previews beginning Dec. 7 at the St. James Theatre in New York before officially opening Jan. 19, 2027 — what would have been Parton's 81st birthday.
Parton also left behind an unreleased song, "My Place in History," locked inside a chestnut box at Dollywood's DreamMore Resort in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the theme park confirmed to ABC News. She wrote and recorded the song in 2015, the year the resort opened, with instructions that the box stay sealed until Jan. 19, 2046, her would-be 100th birthday. The recording is stored on a CD, and Parton included a CD player inside the box so people could still play it decades later.
In her 2020 book "Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics," Parton joked about whether the technology would last. "There's no telling what music is going to be by then," she wrote. "Hopefully, it will play and the whole thing ain't rotted." She was 69 when she recorded the song and mused she might live to see the box opened herself: "I might, and if I do, I'm going to be at that opening."
Parton had also arranged her funeral in advance, requesting a small, private service for immediate family. In a 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly, she said she wanted the hymn "If We Never Meet Again" performed — a favorite of her father, Lee Parton, played at his funeral in 2000. Her nephew and head of security, Bryan Seaver, said Parton wanted to be laid to rest in a "beautiful bed of plush cotton."
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