Dolly Parton sealed a secret song in a time capsule (Ethan Beck, WaPo, August 26, 2026)

From The Washington Post:

Dolly Parton sealed a secret song in a time capsule

“My Place in History” won’t get released until 2046, on what would have been Parton’s 100th birthday.

August 26, 2026 at 2:48 p.m. EDT4 minutes ago

Dolly Parton at an opening day event at Dollywood in 2022. (Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel/USA Today Network/Reuters Connect)

By Ethan Beck

Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday at 80, has at least one more song that’s waiting to be shared. Over a decade ago, the country superstar recorded “My Place in History” and had it placed in a time capsule at Dollywood’s DreamMore resort in Tennessee. 

“We do a lot of things at Dollywood and one year, we thought about that,” Parton said in an interview on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in 2022. “They asked me if I’d write a song that nobody would ever hear.” 

The song remains sealed until Jan. 19, 2046, which would have been Parton’s 100th birthday. The time capsule is a chestnut box — a tribute to her uncle, Bill Owens, who was passionate about the restoration of the chestnut tree — that contains a CD and cassette tape of the song.

Years after the song was finished and recorded, Parton said that she had second thoughts about leaving “My Place in History” behind a velvet rope.

“I have regretted that because it was a really good song,” Parton told Fallon. “I keep wanting them to let me dig it up and put something else in it that’s not as good.” 

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