Is my royal empress paulownia dead?

[Theskystheway]

I bought a beautiful royal empress tree fall of last year, it was to late to plant it when it arrived anyway, I was told to put it in a pot, and bring it in when the frost came, but I just left it in the ground, and the deer ate all of the leaves off of it, I then brought it into the house for four months and planted it in the ground in February, it now looks like a dead brown stick, and the roots are brown, is it dead? or did it just not bloom yet, I cut it back to the ground, we live in Pa, so it got pretty cold for it over the winter, how do I know if its alive or not? please let me know.
Thanks.

I posted an old picture of it.

I called the person I purchased it from, but she said that it is impossible for this tree to be killed, my other trees in the backyard are budding, does this one take longer?