A FEW MOMENTS WITH … MEL TILLIS
When the 2016 Country Cruise sets sail, it will be sixty years since Mel Tillis used his railroad pass to make his first trip from Pahokee, Florida to Nashville. Most of us remember his big hits from the ‘70s and ‘80s (“I Ain’t Never,” “Sawmill,” “Midnight, Me and the Blues,” “Good Woman Blues,” “Coca Cola Cowboy,” “Southern Rains,” and many more) and we remember his appearances in movies like W.W. and the Dixie Dance Kings and Smokey and the Bandit II. Not so many know that during the ‘50s and ‘60s he was one of Nashville’s top songwriters with hits like “Detroit City,” “Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love to Town),” “Snakes Crawl at Night,” “Mental Revenge,” “I’m Tired,” “Honky Tonk Song,” and many more.
The Country Music Cruise caught up with him at his home in Florida. He’d just returned from a weekend fishing trip after several straight weeks on the road.
Where’s home these days?
I got a ranch in Silver Springs, Florida and a farm in Tennessee. We go back and forth. When I’m not on the road, of course.
Who was your favorite singer when you listened to the radio back before you ever started writing or performing?
Hank Williams and Red Foley were my favorites, but to my mind the best singer ever in country music was Slim Whitman from right here in Florida.
When you come to Nashville these days, it’s booming and growing so quickly. Do you ever think back to the tiny Southern town you first visited in 1955?
Man, yes. Back when I first come to Nashville, the whole country music business was centered on the Grand Ole Opry. There was one or two studios, four or five music publishers. That was it! So the business has grown, but I’m pretty sure the music was better back then.
What was the song that got you out of the strawberry patch in Florida?
Webb Pierce recorded a song of mine, “I’m Tired.” I wrote it in the strawberry fields ‘cause it was hard work. But I was working on the railroads when I came to Nashville. I was an extra fireman on the Atlantic-Coastal Line Railroad. I’d use my railroad pass, go to Tampa and Jacksonville, then get the L&N and that would take me to the railroad station right in the middle of Nashville, just a few steps from the Ryman. It’s gone now. I knocked on doors. I think folks remembered me ‘cause I stuttered.
Your stutter has almost been your trademark through the years. You even titled your autobiography “Stutterin’ Boy.”
I stuttered real bad when I first came to Nashville. People wanted to laugh at me. My mama said, “Give ‘em something to laugh about.” So I did. It ain’t so bad now. The other night I was signing autographs, and some ol’ boy at the back yelled out, “Mel Tillis, I paid forty dollars to hear you stutter, and you ain’t stuttered yet.” When I was working in Hollywood, they’d write my stutter onto those big ol’ cue cards they use. I’d say, “Well, I might not stutter there.”
Which has been the top-producing song for you through the years? “Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love to Town)” or “Detroit City”?
I’d say they’re about equal. So many people cut both of those songs. Tom Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Porter Wagoner and hundreds of others cut “Detroit City.” Just as many people cut “Ruby.” I was recording when I wrote “Ruby,” and I handed it into my music publisher, Cedarwood Music. I said, “I’m going over to Europe on tour, don’t no one touch this song. I’m recording it myself.” I probably wasn’t out of the office five minutes and they were pitching it around town. A guy called Johnny Darrell recorded it first. Then Kenny Rogers recorded it, and there were riots up at Kent State University in Ohio. A dee-jay up there started playing it, and it just exploded. Funny thing is, people think I wrote it about the Vietnam War, but I wrote it about something that happened during the Korean War. It was about a guy I knew in Florida. They even recorded it over in Ireland and changed it to, “It wasn’t me who started this ol’ crazy Irish war.” That’s when you know you’ve got a hit! I’ll get my statements and see where it was recorded and played. Lord, just everywhere in the world!
Most songwriters run out of ideas or inspiration after a few years. What kept you coming up with fresh, good ideas for so many years?
Someone looking out for me, I guess. I was thinking all the time, listening and thinking. Would that make a good song title? What about that line? I had to keep writing. I had a wife, five girls, and one boy. Like I said, there wasn’t that many songwriters in town back then, and there was one time I had five or six songs in the Top 50 country songs.
Do you still get the inspiration to write songs?
Sure. I started one not too long ago. One line goes, “I wish babies could be babies a little bit longer.” I started doing it in my shows, and I’ll look out in the audience and see folks moppin’ their eyes.
How was the experience like of going to Washington to receive a National Medal of Arts from President Obama?
It was great. I got to meet the others who were receiving the award, like Al Pacino. I kinda hung with him. He said, “Man, you talk funny.” I said, “Man, so do you!” I got to meet the President and his wife and go on a tour of the White House. It was an honor to be honored. That was in 2012. Then, in 2009, I was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. I was wondering who else had been inducted. Turns out I’m in there alongside Ernest Hemingway, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings who wrote The Yearling, Ray Charles, Burt Reynolds, and a bunch of others. And then in 2007 I was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry by my daughter, Pam. Now that’s an honor, too.
You were one of the founders of the Branson scene. You saw what Branson could be earlier than most.
Well, the music was changing in Nashville, and not for the better. I knew I was still drawing people, but the older crowd wanted someplace to go, and Nashville wasn’t it. I had a theater in Branson for ten years, and I’m playing fifty-seven shows there this year. Older people got a right be to be entertained, too, right? My band, the Statesiders, is always properly turned out. No holes in their britches, like you see today. I tell ‘em, “Respect that audience!”
You offer prints for sale on your website. When did you take up painting?
I took it up when I was in Branson. I had a room specially built so folks could come see me paint. I still do it. Love to do it.
Any plans for a new record?
I’m working on a new album. I’ve got some good stuff. Different from what passes for country music today. All the songs I hear today are all the same tempo, same beat, and same music. All the guys look alike. Can’t tell one from another. We’re gonna try to have this album ready by the time we go on the Country Cruise.
Have you ever worked on a cruise before?
Just one time. I loved the food and hanging out with the audiences and the other entertainers.
Do you still love to perform?
Man, yes! When the guy says, “Ladies and gentlemen, Mel Tillis…” That’s what I live for!
Don’t miss your opportunity to hear more stories from Mel Tillis on the Country Music Cruise 2016 – Book today