Dolly Parton Made Stephen Colbert Cry On 'The Late Show' - Here's Why

Stephen Colbert was brought to tears by Dolly Parton on The Late Show tonight (October 20).

The talk show host had to remove his glasses and wipe away tears after Dolly, 74, sang a few verses of a song her own mom used to sing to her and her siblings.

“Mama used to sing all those songs brought over from the old world. Mama was a good singer too, and she would just sing a capella all the time,” Dolly shared during her interview via Zoom. “So many of those songs were sad, and as I say, some of them just ‘plum pitiful.’”

Dolly recalled that one song always spoke to her in particular and it was called “‘Bury Me Beneath the Willow.’ It was about a girl that was going to get married, and her boyfriend left her at the altar or whatever, so she died, of course—she killed herself, I suppose.”

It was then she sung the verses: “Bury me beneath the willow, under the weeping willow tree, where he may know where I am sleeping and perhaps he’ll weep for me. But where oh where can he be? He’s gone to seek him another bride, he cares no more for me.”

After her impromptu performance, she and the audience watched as Stephen began to tear up and he removed his glasses to wipe his eyes.

“Are you cryin’?” she asked.

Stephen replied, “I have to say… like a lot of Americans, I’m under a lot of stress now, Dolly! You got under my tripwire right there, I’ll tell you… that was pretty beautiful.”

“Mom would cry, we’d cry, those old songs were just amazing,” she added.

Watch the moment below:

If you missed it, Dolly opened up about some of her plans for her upcoming 75th birthday. See what they are here…