reduced Stephen Colbert to tears this Tuesday by singing the old bluegrass ballad Bury Me Beneath The Willow.

The 74-year-old appeared on  and spontaneously broke into the song which is about a woman whose fiance left her.

As she crooned a couple of verses Stephen took off his glasses and dabbed his eyes prompting her to briefly stop and ask: 'Are you crying?

Still got it: Dolly Parton reduced Stephen Colbert to tears this Tuesday by singing the old bluegrass ballad Bury Me Beneath The Willow

However she was a consummate performer and after quickly asking the question she launched right back into the song.

Dolly introduced Bury Me Beneath The Willow as one of the songs her mother Avie Lee would sing around the house.

Avie Lee, who brought up 12 children with Dolly's father Robert in rural Tennessee, died in 2003 at the age of 80.

'Mama used to sing all those old songs brought over from the old world,' Dolly told Stephen while appearing on his show this week.

Country legend: The 74-year-old appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and spontaneously broke into the song which is about a woman whose fiance left her

Considerate: As she crooned a couple of verses Stephen took off his glasses and dabbed his eyes prompting her to briefly stop and ask: 'Are you crying?'

'But Mama was a good singer too and she would just sing a capella all the time, and so many of those songs were sad, and as I say, some of them just plum pitiful.'

Dolly recalled: 'There was a song she used to sing called Bury Me Beneath The Willow. It was about a girl that was gonna get married and her boyfriend left her at the altar, whatever. So she died, of course. She killed herself, I suppose.'

The Jolene singer then broke into the chorus of the song: '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,' and sang a couple verses.

When she stopped she deadpanned: 'So I better hush before you cry yourself to death and we can't finish this show.' 

However: She was a consummate performer and after quickly asking the question she launched right back into the song

'We'd cry': As Stephen wiped his eyes Dolly said modestly: 'I know you’re not really crying but we used to cry when Mama would sing, though

As Stephen wiped his eyes Dolly said modestly: 'I know you’re not really crying but we used to cry when Mama would sing, though. Mama would cry. We’d cry. And those old songs were just amazing, though.'

She was on the late-night program to promote her book Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life In Lyrics which will come out on November 17.

Bury Me Beneath The Willow is a folk song that was first recorded in 1927 and has been sung by acts like the Carter Family, Almeda Riddle and the Stanley Brothers.

Dolly herself performed the number on her ABC variety show in the 1970s as a trio with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.

Plugging away: She was on the late-night program to promote her book Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life In Lyrics which will come out on November 17

Back in the 1970s she gushed about Avie Lee to Family Circle magazine: 'I owe a lot to her when it comes to independence.'

She shed some light on her background: 'Now Momma was the daughter of a Fundamentalist preacher and her people was strict. A woman wasn't allowed to dance, to wear bright clothes. She couldn't even cut her hair. Well, Momma married Daddy at 15 - he was 17 - and the first thing she did was cut her hair.'

Dolly explained: 'She was so young, she really grew up with us kids, and as she found her own self, she taught us to be ourselves no matter what.'

Said she: 'Life was hard, but Momma made it seem beautiful. She didn't have much to work with, but she always encouraged imagination.'

Side by side: Dolly introduced Bury Me Beneath The Willow as one of the songs her mother Avie Lee would sing around the house

Remember when: Dolly earlier performed Bury Me Beneath The Willow on her ABC variety show in the 1970s as a trio with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris