Pam Tillis

One Liner: The chameleon child of Mel Tillis doing country, soft rock, blues, and more.

Wikipedia Genre: Country
Home: Nashville (but originally from Plant City, Florida)

Poster Position: small Type 
Sunday.

Thoughts:  Pamela Yvonne Tillis is the daughter of Mel Tillis, a country singer who was part of the outlaw country movement, and was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama (as well as many other awards).  

Literally none of these songs ring a bell at all.  Not even a little glimmer of remembrance.  But she has three platinum albums and one #1 song under her belt, so she's got some action.  Her biggest song is called "Maybe It Was Memphis," with 21.6 million streams.  I don't recognize it, and I don't love it either.  From her 1991 debut called Put Yourself in My Shoes.

Less country and more like soft rock.  Feels like just because she mentions the south and Memphis that they called it country.  Cheesy as hell.  The Internet says this is her "signature song."

At age 16, she was nearly killed in a car accident, and had to go through five years of surgeries, including facial reconstruction.  She went to the University of Tennessee, but then dropped out and moved to San Francisco, where she was in a jazz/rock band called Freelight.  She worked with her dad some, singing background vocals and helping write songs.  Her first solo releases were pop and disco songs, before shifting into country music in 1989.  But she got to sing with her dad, on stage at the Grand Ole Opry, at age eight, so that's pretty sweet.  While she was trying to break into the country music scene, back in Nashville, she sang advertising jingles for Country Time powdered drink mix, Coca-Cola, and Coors beer.

Her sophomore album included a hit as well, although with considerably less streams, called "Shake the Sugar Tree."  Which sounds like a euphemism.  8.5 million streams.

Kind of a violent message here, Pam.  "I'll shake the sugar tree / Till I feel your love falling / All around me / You've got to tend to what you've planted / And if you take my love for granted baby / I'll shake the sugar tree."  So, if I don't give you enough attention, you're going to beat me up?  Also, those first three lines definitely sound like a euphemism.  If this was a Red Hot Chili Peppers song, those three lines would have a different understanding.

Later albums continued to drop in stream counts, many sounds are just in four figures.  But several greatest hits collections gather up those two songs above any some others that crack a million.  None of those are particularly good though.  The duets disc with Lorrie Morgan is actually pretty good - sounds like actual country music.  Her most recent album, 2020's Looking for a Feeling, has a little country flair at times, but sounds a little more like a bluesy lounge singer disc.  Like a Susan Tedeschi thing.  "The Scheme of Things" is the most emblematic of that sound on here.

Because an associate in my firm claimed that this song was a banger, I'm also going to give you "Let That Pony Run," from 1992's Homeward Looking Angel.  1.6 million streams, so not in her top ten by any means, but it's pretty solid.

Not so sure about a banger, but it is for sure catchy and a good story-song.

A little disappointed here.  Nothing sounds vital to add to my collection, nothing sounds timeless like some of the other groups and artists I've discovered or re-discovered on this poster.  I don't think I'd go out of my way to see it.