She wants to focus on songwriting and spending quality time with her longtime life companion, Carl Thomas Dean. Dolly and Carl first crossed paths in 1964 in Nashville, and Carl reminisced about their first meeting, saying, “I had an intuition that this was the woman I was destined to wed.” Despite initially turning down his advances, Dolly later invited him into her life, and they married in 1966 in a small ceremony in Georgia. Their love story reached a remarkable milestone in 2016 when they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Dolly’s decision to retire from touring stems from a desire to be closer to home, as she no longer wishes to be away for extended periods. She wants to avoid disappointing her dedicated fans due to unforeseen domestic circumstances.