Dolly Parton’s death at age 80 has fans looking back on her 58-year marriage to Carl Dean and how music played a part in it.
The beloved singer’s cover of the 1971 Led Zeppelin classic “Stairway to Heaven” took on a personal meaning for the couple, becoming one of the songs associated with their decades-long love story.
Parton covered “Stairway to Heaven” twice. The first time, in 2002, she recorded a bluegrass version of the song, complete with a full choir, for her album Halo & Horns. More than 20 years later, she released a rock-oriented rendition of the song for her 2023 album Rockstar, just as she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Rolling Stone ranked the 2002 version of “Stairway to Heaven” among Parton’s 50 best songs, describing it as “a bluegrass-gospel tour-de-force, with heavenly choir and some ad-libbed revisions to the Jimmy Page–Robert Plant lyrics.”
For Parton, the covers of “Stairway to Heaven” became a love letter to Dean, who was a massive Led Zeppelin and rock music fan.
“It was a song I loved and a song that [husband] Carl loved. We used to love it together,” she once shared in her Dollymania newsletter. “My love for the song comes from a very real place.”
In 2023, Parton told Classic Rock magazine that Dean was a little worried about her covering the British rock band’s signature masterpiece.
“My husband is a huge fan of Led Zeppelin and thinks ‘Stairway To Heaven’ is one of the classic songs of all time,” she shared in the interview. “So he was kind of concerned about me doing it. He said, ‘I don’t know if you need to mess with that, because I think you’ll get a lot of criticism. People don’t want other people messing around with that song.’ But I did it anyhow.”
Parton was determined to sing the song in its “original form” 20 years after recording her more “countrified” version of the song.
“I wanted people to know that I could sing it in its original form,” she explained. “And I wanted, more than anything, for Carl to know that I could do that too. So I decided to be true to its form. I have to add that Carl said ‘Y’know, that’s pretty good.’ That’s really something coming from him.”
RELATED: Dolly Parton’s Final Resting Place Reflects Her 60-Year Love Story With Carl Dean
Parton’s cover of “Stairway to Heaven” also received the approval of Led Zeppelin legends Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.
“I was scared to death to send it to Robert Plant and Jimmy Page,” Parton admitted in Dollymania. “They sent word back that it was fine [to change lyrics] and they loved it.”
“You know, the thing is that she’s not wailing—she’s keeping it within the genre, and she’s a good singer,” Plant also told Launch of Parton’s cover, according to Blabbermouth.net.
Parton credited Dean, who died in March 2025, for introducing her to hard rock music.
“My husband, Carl, is a rock’n’roll freak, the craziest thing,” she told MOJO in 2023. “He only likes rock’n’roll, with the exception that he loves Merle Haggard and Lester Flatt. He’s one of those acid rockers. Led Zeppelin was his favorite group. The harder, the better. AC/DC he loved, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, anything that was loud and exciting. He loved that song every time it comes on in Miami Vice, ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again.’ Carl loved Judas Priest. I’ve heard everything that’s ever been done in rock’n’roll.”
Many rock stars paid tribute to Parton following her death, inclduing Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, who posted to Instagram, “Mighty joy bringer to so many of us … always in the heart of such beautiful songs … adopted by every household here across the water … very sad.”
Related: KC and the Sunshine Band’s Harry Wayne Casey Pays Tribute to Dolly Parton With a Look Back at Their 1976 Disco Duet
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