Tuesday 6pm: Across The Tracks – Mel Tillis

In honor of Mel Tillis we feature 60 minutes of his hits.  Stay tuned for Across The Tracks Part II. 

In Memoriam: Mel Tillis (1932 – 2017)

Lonnie Melvin Tillis (August 8, 1932 – November 19, 2017) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s, with a long list of Top 10 hits.

Tillis’ biggest hits include “I Ain’t Never”, “Good Woman Blues”, and “Coca-Cola Cowboy”. On February 13, 2012, President Barack Obama awarded Tillis the National Medal of Arts for his contributions to country music. He also won the Country Music Association Awards’ most coveted award, Entertainer of the Year. Additionally, he was known for his speech impediment, which didn’t affect his singing voice. His daughter is country music singer Pam Tillis.

Following his heyday in the 1970s, Tillis remained a songwriter in the 1980s, writing hits for Ricky Skaggs and Randy Travis. He also wrote his autobiography called Stutterin’ Boy. (The title comes from Tillis’ speech impediment.) Tillis appeared as the television commercial spokesman for the fast-food restaurant chain Whataburger during the 1980s. Tillis continued to record and have occasional hits through the decade, with his last top-10 hit coming in 1984 and his last top-40 country hit in 1988; like most country artists of the classic era, his recording career was dented by changes in the country music industry in the early 1990s. He also built a theater in Branson, Missouri, where he performed on a regular basis until 2002. In 1998, he teamed up with Bobby Bare, Waylon Jennings, and Jerry Reed to form The Old Dogs. The group recorded a double album of songs penned entirely by Shel Silverstein. In July 1998, Old Dogs Volumes 1 and 2 were released on the Atlantic Records label. A companion video, as well as a Greatest Hits album (composed of previously released material by each individual artist), were also available. In the 1990s, Tillis’ daughter, Pam Tillis, became a successful country music singer in her own right, with hits like “Maybe It Was Memphis” and “Shake the Sugar Tree”.

The Grand Ole Opry inducted Mel Tillis on June 9, 2007. He was inducted into the Opry by his daughter Pam. Along with being inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, it was announced on August 7 that year that Tillis, along with Ralph Emery and Vince Gill, were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Tillis had been unwell since January 2016 with various illnesses. Tillis died of respiratory failure in Ocala, Florida, at the age of 85. He is survived by his six children: singer-songwriter Pam Tillis, songwriter Mel “Sonny” Tillis, Jr., Carrie April, Connie, Cindy and Hannah Tillis. – Wikipedia

RadioMax will feature the music of Mel Tillis Tuesday November 21, 2017 at 6pm.

MaxCountry 70s 7pm ET

This week on MaxCountry 70s:  Music from Olivia Newton-john, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash, Eddie Rabbitt, Johnny Paycheck, Dolly Parton, Ronnie Milsap, Barbara Mandrell, Elvis Presley, TG Sheppard, Mel Tillis and more!

Artist Countdown: Pam Tillis Top 35 Hits 6pm ET @PamTillis

Pamela Yvonne “Pam” Tillis (born July 24, 1957 in Plant City, Florida) is an America country music singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis and one of five children.

Originally a demo singer in Nashville, Tennessee, Tillis was signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1981, for which she released nine singles and one album, Above and Beyond the Doll of Cutey. By 1991, she had signed to Arista Nashville, entering Top 40 on Hot Country Songs for the first time with “Don’t Tell Me What to Do”, the first of five singles from her album Put Yourself in My Place. Tillis recorded five more albums for Arista Nashville between then and 2001, plus a greatest hits album and 22 more singles. Her only number 1 hit on the country charts was 1995’s “Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)“, although 12 other singles made Top 10 on that chart. After exiting Arista, Tillis released It’s All Relative: Tillis Sings Tillis for Lucky Dog Records in 2002, plus RhineStoned and the Christmas album Just in Time for Christmas on her own Stellar Cat label in 2007. Her albums Homeward Looking Angel (1992), Sweetheart’s Dance (1994) and Greatest Hits (1997) are all certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), while Put Yourself in My Place and 1995’s All of This Love are certified gold.

Besides her own work, Tillis co-wrote and sang on the 1990 Warner Bros. single “Tomorrow’s World”, written in honor of Earth Day, and Dolly Parton’s 1992 single “Romeo”. She has won two major awards: a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals in 1999 for the multi-artist collaboration “Same Old Train”, and the 1994 Country Music Association award for Best Female Vocalist. (Source: Wikipedia)

1	Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)
2	Shake the Sugar Tree
3	Maybe It Was Memphis
4	Deep Down
5	All the Good Ones Are Gone
6	In Between Dances
7	One of Those Things
8	Let That Pony Run
9	Spilled Perfume
10	When You Walk in the Room
11	Put Yourself in My Place
12	I Said a Prayer
13	Land of the Living
14	The River and the Highway
15	Don’t Tell Me What to Do
16	Cleopatra, Queen of Denial
17	Do You Know Where Your Man Is
18	It’s Lonely Out There
19	I Was Blown Away
20	Please
21	Blue Rose Is
22	Romeo (with Parton, Cyrus, Mattea, Carpenter, Tucker)
23	Every Time
24	After a Kiss
25	Betty’s Got a Bass Boat
26	Those Memories of You
27	I Wish She Wouldn’t Treat You That Way
28	Goodbye Highway
29	There Goes My Love
30	Killer Comfort
31	Love Sneakin’ Up on You
32	Thunder & Roses
33	Unmitigated Gall
34	So Wrong
35	Band in the Window