Dolly Parton is remembering her late husband, Carl Thomas Dean, in the best way she knows.

The country music icon, 79, released a new love song called “If You Hadn’t Been There” on Friday, March 7. The cover art for the single is a throwback photo of herself and Carl, who died at 82 years old on Monday, March 3. Dolly dedicated the song to her late husband in a sweet Instagram post.

“I fell in love with Carl Dean when I was 18 years old. We have spent 60 precious and meaningful years together,” she wrote alongside the song’s cover art. “Like all great love stories, they never end. They live on in memory and song. He will always be the star of my life story, and I dedicate this song to him.”

In the emotional ballad, Dolly sings about not knowing where she would be if Carl hadn’t been there to show her trust, confidence, care and love and push her to dream despite her fears.

“I wouldn’t be here / If you hadn’t been there,” one line reads, while another lyric adds, “If you hadn’t been, well, who would I be? You always see the best of me.”

Dolly confirmed via a public statement on Monday that Carl had died in Nashville. The announcement revealed that he would be laid to rest at a private ceremony with only immediate family in attendance. His family, which includes Dolly and siblings Sandra and Donnie, asked for privacy during this “difficult time.”

“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,” the “9 to 5” singer said in the statement. “Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”

Dolly returned to Instagram with another message for fans on Thursday, March 6, thanking them for their support.

“This is a love note to family, friends, and fans. Thank you for all the messages, cards, and flowers that you’ve sent to pay your respects for the loss of my beloved husband Carl,” she wrote. “I can’t reach out personally to each of you but just know it has meant the world to me. He is in God’s arms now and I am okay with that.”

The post concluded with a message directed at Carl: “I will always love you.”

Dolly met Carl at the Wishy Washy Laundromat in Nashville one day after she graduated from high school in 1964. “I guess kind of in the back of my mind I was maybe flirtin’ a little,” she recalled to The Tennessean in 1970. “But mainly I was just bein’ friendly because I’d always been the kind of person who would speak back and smile.”

In a public statement in 2016, Carl said it was love at first sight for him.

“My first thought was, ‘I’m gonna marry that girl,’” he shared of their first meeting at the laundromat. “My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good lookin’.’ And that was the day my life began. I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth.”

The couple tied the knot two years later in May 1966. They did not welcome any children together.