Dolly Parton Reveals Why She Don’t Date Musicians

When Dolly Parton packed up and moved to Nashville at 18, she was determined to make her dream of becoming a star come true. She had confidence in her talent, but the road to success wasn’t easy. Money was tight, and her early years in Music City were filled with struggles. Even finding a decent meal wasn’t always a guarantee.

Despite these challenges, Parton stayed focused on her career. She also made a firm decision when it came to her personal life—she wouldn’t date anyone in the music industry. That choice, along with her deep love for her future husband, Carl Dean, helped shape the private life she still values today.

Dolly Parton Avoided Dating Musicians in Nashville

Though she never doubted she would make it, Parton’s first years in Nashville were tough. She lived on very little and struggled to afford basic necessities.

“For two weeks once, I lived on mustard and relish,” Parton revealed to Alanna Nash in Dolly: The Biography. “Things you have in the refrigerator to eat alongside of somethin’ else? Thought I was goin’ to starve to death; I still can’t eat a bite of relish.”

Parton admitted that she could get a meal if she went on a date, but she didn’t go out often. The main reason? She wanted to avoid getting involved with musicians. She explained:

“I didn’t date anybody in the music business much because I didn’t want to get a reputation.
“Not that I would have done anything to get one, but you don’t have to really.”

Instead, she stayed focused on her work and kept her personal life separate from the world of country music.

Carl Dean Was the Perfect Match for Dolly Parton

Parton may have avoided musicians, but she found love in Nashville with Carl Dean—a man completely outside the music scene. From the very beginning, she made it clear that her career would always be a huge part of her life. Parton shared:

“I said, ‘It may be hard for you to visualize all of this now, but we won’t have the kind of marriage other people have because my music is going to take me away from home a lot, and the bigger I get, the more demands will be made on my time.’”

Dean didn’t flinch at her big ambitions. He supported her dreams, accepted her busy schedule, and never tried to stand in her way. She said:

“He loves me good, and my career bein’ separate from my marriage is perfectly natural for us.
“We like it that way. It’s too right and too natural and too comfortable and too secure for it to ever be anything else.”

Dean’s preference for privacy gave Parton the ability to balance both her public and private life. He stayed away from the spotlight while she dominated the music world—a dynamic that worked perfectly for both of them.

An Emotional Entanglement with a Bandmate

While Dean remained the love of Parton’s life, she once found herself emotionally attached to someone in the music business—her bandleader, Gregg Perry.

“Gregg and I became very close … I had never spent so much time with such a well-educated and knowledgeable man,” Parton admitted in Dolly on Dolly: Interviews and Encounters With Dolly Parton. “I let myself get completely wrapped up in him.”

Their bond deepened while working on The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, but when Perry suddenly left the project, Parton was devastated. The emotional toll became so overwhelming that she fell physically ill. She explained:

“I can handle the business — the bigger they are, the better I like dealing with them — but when it gets into business where I’m very attached to the people, it’s hard.
“I was going through a period of time that the nerves and the tension and the stress were actually what got me sick. So then it was like, which came first, the chicken or the egg?”

Though the experience was painful, Parton found a way to move forward, continuing her legendary career while maintaining the private love she shared with Dean.