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28 The Nashville Musician April-June 2007
Launches new Stellar Cat label
By WALT TROTT
All eyes are on aurburn-haired Pam Tillis,
her feminine form swaying confidently across
the media room, as she arrives for our chat at
the Country Radio Seminar (CRS).
Glancing at me, she asks can I play guitar,
as they need a redheaded picker for her “Band
In the Window” video, set to shoot on
Nashville’s Lower Broad, prior to her leaving
for the South By Southwest (SXSW) Music
Festival in Austin.
Declining, I politely suggest Pam round up
a bona fide musician to fill the bill. Tillis had
been taping station promos at CRS, where she
was also hyping her latest album,
“Rhinestoned.”
It marked her first in more than four years
and is also the premiere release (April 17) under
her indie imprint Stellar Cat, an effort that’s
been two years in-the-making.
“Being my own A&R chief, it’s the first
album for me where I didn’t have to think about
coming up with three radio singles,” purrs Pam,
who can be either kitten or tigress.
The star’s previous album paid homage to
pop, singer-songwriter Mel, that is: “Indeed
that album (‘It’s All Relative - Tillis Sings
Tillis’) was special to me, and I’ll tell you that
it and ‘Rhinestoned’ are kind of book-ends.
‘Tillis Sings Tillis’ sort of represents the past
and celebrates my dad’s legacy as a songwriter,
but then I carry a lot of the style and sound
forward to 2007 with ‘Rhinestoned.’ So you
could say these are sort of flip-sides to one
another.
“I don’t know where I’ll take it next,” she
smiles radiantly. “Sometimes I feel like a
bridge, crossing from that era producing the
music of my formative years, coming forward
into today. I feel fortunate though, as some
artists don’t have any real deep roots in country
music. What they think of as ‘roots’ just
goes back to this afternoon. A lot of it is just
having the education to know the music and
where it’s coming from.”
“Rhinestoned,” co-produced by Pam, guitarist-boyfriend
Matt Spicher and songwriting
pal Gary Nicholson, contains 13 original songs,
including two she had a hand in writing.
“One of which I wrote with my brother
(Sonny a.k.a. Mel, Jr.) called ‘The Hard Way.’
It’s another song about being hard-headed,
learning everything the hard way. I think a lot
of people can relate to that, and actually sometimes
that’s the best way to learn.”
The other co-write is “Life Has Sure
Changed Us Around,” something she heard
somebody say, “and I knew exactly what he
meant when he said that. I took it to Gary
(Nicholson) and that song just seemed to come
tumbling out (with an assist from writer Tom
Hambridge).”
Adding a personal touch to the song’s track
is John Anderson, a singer whose style Tillis
admires. Another artist and writer Pam respects
is classy Matraca Berg, who furnished “Crazy
By Myself.”
“That’s a little bluesier element on the album,”
explains Tillis. “Matraca is remarkable
and this is really a funny song. I think on a lot
of albums my sense of humor will raise its
head. I can’t be too serious for too long. I like
her song, which says if you’re thinking I need
some help in going crazy, I don’t. She’s just
Tillis: Tigress or kitten
declining to get involved with this guy because
of where it will go, thinking I’m nutty enough,
so I don’t need you to drive me crazier.”
Noting several selections are penned by the
softer sex, is this something Tillis insists on,
in pulling a project together?
“No, I really don’t. They just supply songs
that interest us. I don’t think their songs are
like overtly feminine per se, but they have a
slant that seems to suit me. You know, one of
my biggest hits - ‘All the Good Ones Are
Gone’ - is such a female-oriented song, written
by two guys (Dean Dillon and Bob
McDill). So who knows?”
Coincidentally, the album boasts two fellows
aiding her in production. How did that
come about?
“I started it with Matt and we recorded at
home, just cutting some songs, and then began
the process of narrowing it down. About
half-way through the project, we thought
where is this going? So I pulled in our good
friend Gary. He’s a roots music sort of guy,
who has a low tolerance for anything plastic
or contrived. Gary just loves real music and I
really trust him and his honesty.
“He became a good sounding board, a neutral
party, somebody who could diffuse any
kind of tension. You know when you’ve been
in there for a year, things start to get kind of
tense. Gary said, ‘Let’s just keep it country
and you can’t go wrong. Just keep it country.’
I thought, ‘You’re right, because everywhere
I go, people say they don’t get to hear enough
music that sounds like country.’ It’s true. Some
of the country music doesn’t sound country.”
Once they heard the Lisa Brokop-Kim
Johnston song “Band In the Window,” it all
seemed to fall into place: “That’s the one we’re
about to do the video on. It’s like a little snapshot
of what makes Nashville such an amazing
town. People come here and you see them
waiting tables, parking cars, and everybody’s
a singer or a songwriter, or at least it seems
that way.
“Any given evening or afternoon, there’s a
band playing on Lower Broad in the little dives
and at The Stage, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge or
Robert’s Western Wear, in the window. I’ve
been in those bands in the window. Hey, some
of them go on to become stars. It’s a colorful
scene, where all the tourists come to hang-out
with these characters. That’s what the song is
all about.
“When I heard that, I thought that’s our
centerpiece. I think we were kind of floundering
for direction when we found ‘Band In the
Window.’ I felt it’s what we needed to celebrate
what’s unique about Nashville and in a way,
that’s what it’s all about, my love affair with
country music. That’s realy what this album
represents to me.”
Pam’s a second generation pro, who recalls,
“I used to sleep in my dad’s guitar case, and
woke up many times in the middle of the night
to the sounds of the latest demo session.”
Growing up, the elder of his and her mom’s
Tillis on the red carpet a few years ago at the official
opening of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
five children, she resented the job that took him
away from them for days on end. Still, she herself
was drawn to music, initially studying classical
piano as a youngster at the Blair School
of Music, then teaching herself to play guitar
at age 12.
Following a near-fatal car accident at 16
that required intensive facial surgery to reconstruct
her features, Pam convalesced, spending
time reflecting on her future. Ahead were
studies at the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville
campus, where she formed her Country
Swing Band; a move to Sausalito, Calif., where
she sang jazz; then working awhile in her
father’s publishing firm.
“I concentrated on the craft of country
songwriting, especially lyrics. That’s really
where I learned about structure and style . . . ”
Pam had even sung backup on stage for him
as a Stutterette and on sessions, but it didn’t
fulfill a rebellious desire deep down to be her
own person: “It was hard to grow. Singing for
my dad was the work and headaches, with none
of the satisfaction of having done it myself.”
In California, Pam fronted the Freelight
Band in the Bay Area, selling Avon on the side
to augment her meager income. Next, she got
the attention of producer Jimmy Bowen, who
in 1983 inked her to Warner Bros., resulting in
her rockin’ “Above and Beyond the Doll of
Cutie” album. When it failed to generate much
steam, she soon signed with Tree Music.
Pam Tillis co-wrote her first 1984 Billboard
charting “Goodbye Highway,” with Pam Rose
and Mary Ann Kennedy. Over time, writer
Tillis has had cuts by such notables as Juice
Newton, Conway Twitty, Chaka Khan, Barbara
Fairchild and Highway 101, including “The
Other Side Of the Morning,” “When Love
Comes ’Round the Bend” and “Someone Else’s
Trouble Now.”
Like her father, who has suffered failed
marriages, she has experienced divorce and a
hurt that fills her songwriter’s well of emotional
inspiration.
Along the way, Pam also had a son, Ben,
now in his early 30s, whose father is Rick
Mason. She later wed songwriter Bob DiPiero
(formerly with the band Billy Hill), a match
that lasted from 1991-1998, and with him cowrote
her chartings “Blue Rose Is,” “Cleopatra,
Queen of Denial,” “It’s Lonely Out There” and
her biographical “Melancholy Child.”
“You take a black Irish temper/And some
solemn Cherokee/A Southern sense of humor/
And you get someone like me . . . Heaven help
us all/Another melancholy child.”
With her songwriting credits boosting her
stock, the newly-created Arista Records label
signed her in 1989, along with newcomers Alan
Jackson, Diamond Rio and Brooks & Dunn,
all of whom scored smash hits.
Her own 1990 breakthrough was the spunky
“Don’t Tell Me What To Do,” penned by
Harlan Howard, who ironically had provided
her father’s breakthrough vocal hit two decades
earlier, “Life Turned Her That Way.”
Pam’s next hits “One Of Those Things,”
she co-wrote with Paul Overstreet; and “Put
Yourself In My Place,” with Carl Jackson, the
latter the title track of her first Arista gold
record.
A trio of Top Five singles followed - “Maybe
It Was Memphis,” “Shake the Sugar Tree” and
“Let That Pony Run” - all penned by others.
Following the successful singles “Spilled Perfume”
(she and Dean Dillon co-wrote) and
“When You Walk In the Room,” Pam scored
her first #1 record, “Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy
Life).”
She grins when we mispronounce the title,
saying, “Think Velveeta (cheese).” In turn, we
point out that accomplishment led to her dad,
brother and Pam making record books as the
first father, son and daughter to write #1
records: “Isn’t that cool!” (Sonny scored his
charttopping cut “When I Think About Angels”
sung by Jamie O’Neal in 2001, and Mel sang
his first #1 “I Ain’t Never” in 1972.)
Meanwhile, Pam and her mom Doris, a visual
artist, remain close: “She’s still into art
Pam with ‘signature guitar’ at CRS.
and is very, very creative. Right now, she’s
actually doing a column for a magazine outside
of Springfield, Mo. It’s a kind of home
decorating, home improvement publication,
covering all things domestic. This is her first
real job, and she loves it.”
Doris is equally proud of her daughter’s
achievements which include additional Top
10s “In Between Dances,” “Deep Down,”
“The River & The Highway” and “Land Of
the Living” in 1997, her last Top 10 to date;
plus platinum albums “Homeward Looking
Angel” and “Sweetheart’s Dance.” She was
CMA vocalist of the year in 1994, and became
a Grand Ole Opry member in 2000.
Local 257 member Pam has also tried her
hand on stage, playing Mary Magdalene in
The Tennessee Repertory’s 1986 production
“Jesus Christ, Superstar,” on Broadway in
1999 for “Smokey Joe’s Cafe”; and on screen
in such series as Diagnosis Murder and
Touched By An Angel.
So what’s it like now wearing the hat of a
record executive?
“It’s really exciting, and yet it has its difficulties
and its pressures, you know, all those
little things that you worry about on the business
side of the business. It’s all the same at
every level, I promise you. I don’t care
whether you’re a new artist starting out or
you’re a major star, everybody has the same
thing to deal with. Running a label is not that
much different. I’m having to pay attention
to a few more details, but you know if you’re
smart as an artist, you need to be doing that
anyway.”
One important indie factor is marketing,
does this concern Pam regarding her new CD?
“Certainly, but there are plenty of independent
contractors. I can hire those folks as
easily as Sony can hire them. Of course, they
have in-house promoters, but there are people
out there that do the same job and do it independently.
We’ve got a great team put together.
I’m quite amazed by it all myself. It’s
incredible really.”
Tillis’ previous 13-track CD, “It’s All Relative,”
was released in 2002 on Sony’s Lucky
Dog label, and was co-produced by Ray
Benson: “That album was absorbed into another
label, where there was a different type
of structure. I’m not knocking the way they
do business, obviously they’re very successful
at it, but it didn’t work as well for me. So
this is more suited to a girl with my temperament,
and I’m not saying that I would never
partner with a label again, but, it would have
to be the right situation. I just needed to get
this record out and so I decided to do it myself.
It works for me.”
Does she relish the new-found freedom?
“Starting out with Arista, they just always
let me do my own thing and pick my own
singles. They never told me what to record,”
she says, adding facetiously “And as they say
here, that just ruined me, I was just ruint!”
Going independent was also prompted by
the CD’s material, she insists: “My album is
a little left-of-center, that was another reason
I decided to do it myself. It’s country, but I
don’t know if it’s Top 20 country, so rather
than leave it to somebody else to figure out
how to handle it, I will work all that out. You