Dolly Parton thrills fans with show for Marty Stuart's Congress of Country Music. Details here

Thousands of Dolly Parton fans converged on the Mississippi town of Philadelphia Saturday afternoon to see the oft-described Queen of Country Music perform some of her most beloved hits.

The event was billed as a fundraiser for the Philadelphia-based Marty Stuart's Congress of Country Music, a museum and theater spearheaded by country music star Stuart, who hails from the area.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dolly Parton to the Ellis Theater for two special shows,” Stuart said. “We are thankful that Dolly has so graciously donated her time to help raise money for the Congress of Country Music.”

The first show was at 3 p.m. and the second show was at 7 p.m.

Premium tickets for the Ellis Theater shows were trading in excess of $1,000 online prior to Saturday, but promoters also set up a giant “Dollytron” video projector on Byrd Street in front of the theater where fans could watch the event from outside with a $35 admission.

The initial phase of the Congress of Country Music project has resulted in renovation of the historic Ellis Theater that formerly operated as a movie theater and is now reborn as a music and multi-purpose performing arts center. When completed the project that includes additional properties on the block will also be home to the largest private collection of country music artifacts in the world.

“It was absolutely fabulous — the story telling, the songs, all of it,” said Marcia Brewer of Meridian as she was leaving the early performance. She said “I Will Always Love You,” “9 to 5,” and “Jolene” are some of her favorite Parton songs.

“I have watched all the movies she was in,” Brewer said.

Parton is hailed as the most honored and revered female country music singer-songwriter of all time, having achieved 27 RIAA-certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards, and 26 No. 1 songs on the Billboard Country charts.

“We were on the outside. It was extremely hot, and we drank lots of water,” said Brittany Vice of Ridgeland who traveled to see the show on the "Dollytron."

Despite the heat, Vice said she enjoyed the show.

“She (Parton) told lots of jokes and great stories,” Vice said.

A highlight for devoted fans such as Vice who braved the heat to watch the performances on the "Dollytron" was when Parton and Stuart came out between the two shows to unveil a 14-foot mural painted on a wall of the Porterhouse Restaurant just across Byrd Street from the Ellis Theater that memorializes one of Parton’s songs titled "Wildflowers."

The two musicians appeared with their entourage promptly at 5:30 p.m. as workers climbed a ladder to the top of the Porterhouse Restaurant to remove a black tarp covering the artwork.

Shawn Byars, chair of the mural committee for the Congress of Country Music, was first to address the crowd.

She said to find artists willing to create the project she approached members of the Meridian Museum Art Collective who she described as “gung ho” on the project.

The resulting mural, which features a floral motif and lyrics to the Parton-written song “Wildflowers,” was designed by Daniel Etheridge and painted by artists Cary Haycox, Kris Gianakos, Leslie Carruth and Marsha Iverson, Byars said.

Byars also thanked Porterhouse Restaurant owner Porter Frazier for allowing the mural to be painted on the side of his restaurant’s wall directly opposite of the Ellis.

“This is a song I wrote a thousand years ago and recorded with Linda (Ronstadt) and Emmylou (Harris),” Parton said of “Wildflower.”

The actual year was 1986 and the project was initially nicknamed “The Queenston Trio” (in reference to the legendary folk act The Kingston Trio) according to then-published reports by Robert K. Oermann of Gannett News Service.

But upon release in 1987 the album was simply titled “Trio.” The album peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, selling over 4 million copies internationally and winning the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

"Wildflowers" was the fourth single released from the album and reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in July 1988.

The original recording featured an autoharp, acoustic guitar (played by Harris) and fiddle and was arranged to sound like an old-fashioned Appalachian folk song.

As part of the ceremony, Parton, accompanied by Stuart, performed an abbreviated version of the song during the mural unveiling.

Thereafter, addressing the cheering crowd, Parton said, “Thank you so much. I’ve got to go get ready for the second show.”

“I love you all very much. Thanks for coming. See you in a little bit,” Stuart said.

For 13-year-old Gabby Buford of Flowood, the chance to see Parton live in concert was the realization of a lifelong dream.

Diagnosed with brain cancer and now a wheelchair user, one of Buford’s wishes when she spoke with representatives of the Make-A-Wish Foundation two years ago was to see her favorite singer perform live.

Although the foundation was unable to grant that wish immediately, Buford’s Mom, Kimberly Buford, said, “God worked it out,” by allowing her daughter to attend the Philadelphia concert.

A Northwest Rankin Middle School student, Gabby said she had begun liking Parton’s music when she was only 4 years old and described the entire experience as magical.

“I liked the fact that we were all in there celebrating,” Gabby said.

Some fans reported driving for 10 hours or more and others flew in from as far away as California and Alaska to see Parton perform. Lines for the first 3 p.m. show began forming as early as 6 a.m. in the Mississippi town of about 7,000 residents, according to reports.

“I just love her so much,” said Grace Ayers, who convinced her mom Mary Ayers to drive all the way from Derby, Kansas, to attend. They were joined at the event by Mary Ayers’ sister, Stephanie Stasulis, and her daughter Addison Harriman, who made the trip from Gulfport. The foursome dressed in matching pink costumes and all waved signs expressing their undying love for the multi-Platinum, Grammy Award winning singer.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Dolly Parton in Philadelphia MS for Congress of Country Music event