Dolly Parton Sang “In the Ghetto” While Elvis Stood in the Wings — Then He Walked Out Mid-Verse

May 1975. The Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Ten thousand people had come to a benefit concert for the families of McComb, Mississippi, whose homes had been torn apart by a tornado that January. Elvis Presley was giving the whole night for free. What almost nobody knew was that Elvis had nearly called it off. An eleven-year-old girl from McComb had written him a letter asking for one song, "In the Ghetto," for her mother. Her family had one record left after the storm, and that was it. And Elvis had not sung that song in years, because he no longer believed he had the right to. Dolly Parton wasn't even supposed to be there. She had called from a truck stop pay phone two days earlier and asked for two songs. Then, at the end of her set, she told ten thousand people about a little girl in a borrowed yellow dress, and sang Elvis's song herself, slow and plain, like a mountain hymn. Elvis was standing in the wings. #ElvisPresley #DollyParton #InTheGhetto #Elvis1975 #JacksonMississippi #CharityConcert #MacDavis #JamesBurton #TCBBand #CountryMusic