CMT Blog: Pam Tillis

Sara Evans sounds pretty good these days, doesn’t she? That strong, feisty vocal has been a trademark of her recordings for years, and she’s had a lot of power the last couple times I’ve seen her in concert.

Which makes this week all the more significant. Five years ago (April 25), she underwent surgery at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville to have a blister removed from her vocal cords.

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All year long, I listen to every CD that comes my way – so you don’t have to! Anyway, here’s a list of songs I couldn’t get enough of in 2007, and the reasons why.

1. “Missing You,” Alison Krauss & John Waite – Something about the way he sings the line “You don’t know how desperate I’ve become…”

2. “The Story,” Brandi Carlile – You know that part where she kind of screams? I love that.

3. “Hard Edges,” Chris Knight – A little girl’s dreams of becoming a dancer come true, sort of.

4. “Talking in Your Sleep,” Crystal Gayle – I was late to find this classic. Even when he’s asleep, he can’t say the right thing.

5. “In a Perfect World,” Gene Watson – With so many things going wrong for him, you’ll feel better about your own life.

6. “Falling Slowly,” Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova – My favorite song from my favorite scene in my favorite movie, Once.

7. “Love is a Battlefield,” Jann Arden – I was always too busy finger-snapping on Pat Benatar’s version to realize what a heavy, intense lyric this has.

8. “Pistol Packin’ Mama,” John Prine & Mac Wiseman – Cracks me up every time, and I get a kick out of whoever’s wailing in the background.

9. “Right Moves,” Josh Ritter – I was giving a friend a ride home one night and she said, “Who is this? I like it!” Me too. A great groove.

10. “Your Next Lover,” Lori McKenna – “She puts her pocketbook down and smiles at you” … and you know this isn’t going to turn out well.

11. “Let the Music Get Down in Your Soul,” Marc Broussard – It’s a remake but advice like this never goes out of style.

12. “The Calling,” Mary Chapin Carpenter – Some things you just don’t have control over. It’s OK to embrace those things.

13. “People Change,” Nick Lowe – He’s right, of course, but only a randy chap like Nick can tell a story like this.

14. “Someone Somewhere Tonight”, Pam Tillis – She’s still got it. A fine reminder that the great circle of life goes on.

15. “Heavenly Day,” Patty Griffin – An upbeat love song about her dog!

16. “Because of You,” Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson – My friend cries every time she hears this because it reminds her of her dad.

17. “Follow the Lights,” Ryan Adams & the Cardinals – Such words of encouragement are always welcome.

18. “Fallen,” Storyhill – They sing, “This year the winter will not break me,” and I always think, “Me neither, I hope.”

19. “If You Leave Me Now,” Suzy Bogguss – With her pristine voice, this Chicago oldie sounds like a whole new song.

20. “Don’t Ask Me to Be Friends” (bonus track), Teddy Thompson – If you really don’t want to be friends after a breakup, please don’t pretend otherwise.

21. “This is Me You’re Talking To,” Trisha Yearwood – It’s inevitable that you’ll run into old flames in Nashville. What can I say? This song gets it just right.

Twenty minutes before her second show of the evening, while eating a quick bite of dinner, Pam Tillis shared with me her excitement and passion for Christmas Dinner Party, which has made its home in Nashville’s stunning Gaylord Opryland Resort for three years. Running through Christmas day, she performs classic Christmas tunes, originals from her holiday album, Just in Time for Christmas and ever-popular favorites like “Maybe It Was Memphis” and “Shake the Sugar Tree.”

“It’s a family show,” she said. “I love it that there are people of all ages that can come and enjoy it. For some people, it’s a family tradition. They dress up, they come every year. I love being a part of that.”

The evening begins in an exquisitely decorated ballroom with servings of scrumptious stuffed chicken, mashed and sweet potatoes, corn casserole and more. Mouth-watering desserts of chocolate bread pudding and cheesecake soon follow along with the beautifully orchestrated performance.

“I know so many different unique Christmas arrangements and Christmas songs, but in the end, you’ve got to anchor the whole thing with classics,” said Tillis. Along with singing an array of popular Christmas tunes (like “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”), several exciting surprises are scattered throughout the show. There is an elf SWAT team, comprised of three talented young dancers, “Cookie” the elf seeking the holiday spirit and even a “Jingle Bell Rock” duet via “elf satellite” with Tillis’ father, Mel. Pam even leaves the stage periodically to dance with crowd members. Her genuine and fun-loving nature only adds to this delightful musical experience.

“If I learned anything from my dad at all,” she said, “It is that. … There are better singers out there. There are people with bigger careers. But if I can go out and people feel like they got to know me a little bit and I could touch them in some way, and just be a real person, I love that.”

One of the coolest records to come across my desk this year is Suzy Bogguss’ Sweet Danger. All you country fans from the 1990s will remember her crystal-clear soprano from “Letting Go,” “Aces,” “Someday Soon” and several other hits. She knows she’s been out of touch lately but, like a lot of us, she checks her MySpace page every day.

“Just from getting on there half an hour a day, I feel like I have found so many old fans that I have lost touch with, because I didn’t have the big machine behind me anymore,” she told me over the phone. “That’s been incredibly valuable for me. Having started out by sitting down and writing 200 postcards, saying ‘Hey, I’m going to be back in Montana,’ this is a breeze. You blog one little paragraph and everybody knows what the heck is going on. I think it’s really groovy.”

It just so happened that while I was in Boston last month on vacation, she was playing at Club Passim in Cambridge. I was so impressed at her range of material that night, as she sang George Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me,” The Eagles’ “Take It to the Limit,” Merle Haggard’s “Somewhere Between” and Chicago’s “If You Leave Me Now,” to name a few. And of course, Patsy Montana’s “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart,” one of her early signatures.

I remarked, during our phone interview, that she came on the country scene when all eyes were on country music. “That was good timing for somebody who had the background and the influences that I have,” she replied. “Being a person with a rather eclectic taste, at that point in time, was a good thing.”

Back then, women were making the most memorable country records, in my opinion – Faith Hill, Pam Tillis, Lorrie Morgan, Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood, Patty Loveless, Reba McEntire, Wynonna and Mary Chapin Carpenter all come to mind. I remember marching out to “Letting Go” at my high school graduation in 1993 — and then doing a little dance that I was finally out of there once the procession moved into the hallway.

If you ever spend the morning looking up old classmates on MySpace, check out Suzy Bogguss on there too. She’ll add you, I bet.

This has to be a pretty good week in the life of Mel Tillis. He wakes up on his 75th birthday today with the knowledge that he’s finally taking his rightful place in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Most news accounts will hail Vince Gill’s induction, because he’s the most current of the three inductees. Ralph Emery will get his share of attention, because as a TV personality, country fans are extremely familiar with his visage. Mel, unfortunately, has been often overlooked. He had a successful career as a recording artist, culminating with his selection in 1976 as the CMA Entertainer of the Year. He placed an impressive 45 singles in country’s Top 15 from 1965-1984, though none of them quite attained status as a standard.

But as a songwriter, he left an indelible mark. “Detroit City,” a Grammy winner for Bobby Bare, created a believable portrait of misguided blue-collar pride. “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” helped define Kenny Rogers’ uniquely scratchy vocal presence. “So Wrong” provided Patsy Cline one of her most haunting performances. And while you won’t hear these songs on too many stations anymore, the Ray Price shuffles “Burning Memories” and “Heart Over Mind,” the Webb Pierce novelty “I Ain’t Never” and the reflective Jack Greene ballad “All the Time” are remarkably attractive works.

Pam Tillis paid homage to her dad five years ago with the album, It’s All Relative: Tillis Sings Tillis. It’s worth the price simply for a remake of his first charted single, “Violet and a Rose,” with extraordinarily sensitive background vocals from Dolly Parton, another Hall of Famer who — like Mel — was a regular on Porter Wagoner’s syndicated TV show. Mel also appeared regularly on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour and made a mark as a personality, in part because he was able to convert his stutter from an embarrassing weakness to a comedic strength. But his most impressive legacy is as a writer. Along with peers Kris Kristofferson, Bill Anderson, Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Harlan Howard and Felice & Boudleaux Bryant, he helped cement Nashville as a songwriting haven. It’s high time he joined them in the Hall of Fame.