Beloved country music icon Dolly Parton has a secret unreleased song buried at her namesake theme park Dollywood.
The song, titled “My Place in History,” is in a chestnut box on display, sealed until January 2046, which would have been her 100th birthday.
In a 2022 interview on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” Parton teased the closely guarded song, saying: “You have no idea how that has bothered me. I wanna go dig that up so bad. It’s a really good song!”
The Tennessee native died on Tuesday at the age of 80, after a brief battle with cancer.
On whether she thought she would be there for the song’s release, she told Clarkson, “I might be here, I might not be.”
Parton said she was nervous about the preservation of the song that she wrote and recorded in 2015.
“It bothers me to think that it’s going to be a song that no one ever hears, if it rots in there before anyone opens it up.”
The box contains a CD of the song, along with a CD player so it can be played when the time capsule is finally opened.
Parton co-founded Dollywood, an amusement park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, with a museum highlighting her life and career.
The musician’s longtime manager, Dany Nozell, hinted that there may be even more unreleased projects left behind.
“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,” Nozell said in a statement. “Many projects were in various stages of development, and we want to be transparent with her fans about this fact.”
He continued, “If you see unreleased music, products, books, experiences, and campaigns launched through official Dolly Parton channels, you can have confidence in knowing that she placed her personal stamp on it.”
On the unearthing of the song, Parton told Clarkson, “Hopefully it’ll be special and hopefully you’ll still be there.”
In 2022, Parton told Jimmy Fallon she “regretted” putting the song in the time capsule “because it was a really good song.” She told him, “I keep wanting them to let me dig it up and put something else in it that’s not as good.”
