Dolly Parton recorded a secret song that won't be heard until 2045
by: Robert Holder, Gregory Raucoules
Posted: May 20, 2021 / 08:11 PM EDT / Updated: May 20, 2021 / 08:11 PM EDT
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — An unreleased Dolly Parton song is locked in a special time capsule at the DreamMore Resort in Pigeon Forge and will not be released until 2045.
The East Tennessee icon wrote in her book "Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics" that a CD with a never-before-heard song is locked in a Dream Box at the resort. The Dream Box display can be seen in the lower lobby of Dollywood's DreamMore Resort and Spa.
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Inside the display are four personal items, including a box made of chestnut wood. It honors Dolly's uncle Bill Owens, who died in April. The box holds a letter to the future from Dolly, the song and a means to play it, and the handwritten lyrics.
A display in DreamMore Resort in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. holds box made of chestnut wood that was crafted by Dolly Parton's Uncle Bill Owens. In the box is a never-before heard song by Dolly Parton to be played in 2045. Photo courtesy of Dollywood
Parton, 75, said keeping the song a secret has been challenging but added she would attend the grand unveiling if she can.
"They said, 'you'll be long dead,'" Parton wrote. "I said, 'Well, maybe not. I'll be 99. I've seen people live to be older than that.'"
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Parton said the box came about after a member of her team suggested the idea as a marketing tool for the resort.
"Anyway, it's kind of weird or strange that they would ask me to write this mystery song," she said. "I don't know if I want to live to be 100 or not. But you never know. I might, and if I do, I'm going to be at that opening."
Dollywood celebrated the 35th anniversary of its grand opening on May 3.
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The song and box are accompanied by a copy of Parton's 2012 book "Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You" which expands on her 2009 commencement speech delivered at the University of Tennessee, and a piece of wood from the front porch of Parton's Tennessee Mountain Home that is now in Dollywood.
by Robert Holder / Jan 20, 2022
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said the current COVID-19 surge is "starting to plateau and starting to drop off in our metro areas" during a state House Health Committee meeting on Wednesday in Nashville.
While the update was encouraging, the commissioner noted that rural areas "aren't quite there yet" but historically those case numbers have lagged behind by a week to three weeks.
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