Dolly Parton Brings Stephen Colbert to Tears Singing “Bury Me Beneath The Willow” on ‘The Late Show’

A nation as divided as ours has but one thing we can all agree on: The talents of Ms. Dolly Rebecca Parton. Which is why, no matter your personal views, any time she takes a mic is a good time for us all to sit down and shut up. When Parton appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert this week, not only did she continue to woo us with her charm offensive, she gave Colbert a good, cathartic cry too.

As the two discussed Dolly’s prolific work as a songwriter in an effort to promote her book, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, Dolly told Colbert how her mother influenced her songwriting.

“Mama used to sing all those old songs brought over from the old world, and Mama was a good singer too, she would just sing a capella all the time and so many of those songs were sad and some of them, as I say, were just plum pitiful. There was a song she used to sing called ‘Bury Me Beneath The Willow’ It was about a girl who was going to get married and her boyfriend left her at the alter or whatever, and she died, of course. Killed herself,” Dolly explained before performing an impromptu version of it.

As she sang, the camera cut between her and Colbert who was visibly moved, and it seemed like he couldn’t decide whether to let a full cry out or laugh off his emotions. When Dolly saw him wipe his tears away, she interrupts her song briefly to ask “Are you cryin’?” and seamlessly kept on singing. When she wrapped up the song, she delivered a real Dolly of a line, telling him, “I better hush before you cry yourself to death.”

“Like a lot of Americans, I’m under a lot of stress right now,” Colbert laughed through his tears. “Isn’t it funny that sometimes there’s nothing happier than a cry?” Grab your tissues and give a listen in the clip above.

In a separate segment, Dolly revealed her definitive, favorite songs of her own. (Of course “Jolene” is on it.) Check out which other songs of her own make the list below.