Pam Tillis (born July 24, 1957 in Plant City, Florida) is an American count… Read Full Bio ↴Pam Tillis (born July 24, 1957 in Plant City, Florida) is an American country music singer and actress. The daughter of singer Mel Tillis, she grew up in Nashville, TN surrounded by music. At age eight, she sang on the Grand Ole Opry.
Rhinestoned says it all. No other word, real or invented for the occasion, sums up as well where Pam Tillis stands now.
She is, after all, a superstar as well as a survivor. A child of Music City royalty and a former rebel, she was determined to find her own way as a singer and songwriter — and she succeeded. A CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, she has written songs for some of the top singers in and beyond Nashville, including more than a few of her own hits.
She knows what it's like to break the platinum barrier, to top the singles charts time and again, to bask in an ovation at her induction as a member of the Opry or play in the intimate hush of the Bluebird Café. She has bathed in the lights of Broadway, posed for glamour magazine spreads, sung ballads in Bay Area bistros, batted wicked one-liners back to Tom Bergeron on Hollywood Squares, even made cameos in movies.
But no matter where she wandered, Pam Tillis never lost her connection to country music — even when country began to lose touch with itself. Trends came and went, and though she rolled easily with the tides and drew something from every new twist, she was aware that changes come with a cost, even as the business side of country flourished.
Her response was to insist on writing and cutting songs that spoke from the soul, rather than the boardrooms and focus groups of the country music industry. The results have been records that emanate an almost painful beauty, as did her 2002 release, the critically acclaimed It's All Relative (a tribute to her father, the great Mel Tillis).
"What I'm doing is country — but not necessarily the kind that you hear on the airwaves these days," Tillis explains, one drizzly afternoon over coffee, not far from Music Row. "Now, I admire a lot of this music; after all, I've sung rock, pop, R&B, and jazz, so I'm hardly a purist. But what I'm hearing now sounds often more like pop than country to me. And I just seriously felt called by that old different drummer to something a little bit more like the country I remember from my formative years, the country music of my youth." It's also something Tillis' fans and friends clamor for as she encounters them out on the road.
With It's All Relative, which she affectionately calls "the Dad album," Tillis produced one of the most memorable discs to have come out of Nashville in years, largely because of her refusal to conform to expectations. Combing through her father's catalog, she chose songs that had an especially timeless quality, with built-in resistance to the whims of the market. It was a bold statement; more than that, it set the stage for the even more assertive statement that Rhinestoned would make.
"Pam had reached a point where doing a record every year or two wasn't as important as taking the time to make something that had more meaning," says Matt Spicher, who co-produced Rhinestoned with Tillis and Gary Nicholson. "So she decided to embrace the momentum she had established with the Dad record."
"That was the first record I ever made where I wasn't concerned about having to come up with three singles," Pam points out.
"The labels understood that from the beginning," Matt says.
"They said they did," she clarifies.
And that's one reason why Rhinestoned marks the first album to be released on Stellar Cat, Pam's own imprint. With total creative control, she let her heart lead the way toward material that she could perform honestly and emotionally. "This is an A&R-free zone," she says, smiling. "But it is, first of all, real country. It's a bookend to the Dad album, except it has all new songs. It's like a bridge between the present and the past."
How past is this particular past? "If you look at my record collection circa 1974," Pam answers, "you'd see Emmylou, Gram Parsons, Waylon Jennings, Don Williams, Linda Ronstadt, and Neil Young. Flying Burrito Brothers — hippie country I call it — that was some of the best music that ever came out of this town. Maybe it wasn't happening on country radio at the time but it sold record and built careers. It was the vibrant scene on the fringes of country, which was very cool — just as it is today."
The Rhinestoned sessions started in 2004. Pam and Matt whittled 20 songs down to ten, which they cut and set aside, like bottles of wine allowed to mature. A few months later they repeated the process. And then, after reflecting for a while on what she had accomplished, Pam decided something wasn't right. She talked about it with her trusted friend and writing partner Gary Nicholson and reached a critical decision.
"It needed to be more country " she sums up. "I played what we had for Gary, brought him into the picture, and suddenly it felt like we weren't wandering in the woods anymore. Then when I found the song "Band in the Window," suddenly I could see and hear the whole project in my mind right down to the t-shirts, Tillis laughs.
With that, the final round of recording began. All of it, aside from backing vocals, was cut the old-fashioned way: live, just the way those bands still play in the windows along Lower Broadway. Many of Pam's performances were actually guide vocals, laid down in real time with the instrumental tracks but too strong in the end to throw away. Overdubs and fixes were kept to a bare minimum.
The rollicking reverence she brings to "Band in the Window," the affection that radiates between her and John Anderson on "Life Sure Has Changed Us Around," the goofball humor of "Crazy By Myself," the insight of her recitation on "Bettin' Money on Love": All of the up-tempo moments on Rhinestoned emit a sense of freedom that's impossible for Pam to suppress or for any listener to miss.
Even the ballads and deeper performances — the languorous sway of "Something Burning Out," the wounded wisdom of "Train Without a Whistle," the almost whispered yearning of "Someone Somewhere Tonight," and the recklessness of "Down by the Water" — carry a quality that's become sadly unfamiliar in much of today's music.
It's that feeling of delight that comes from singing exactly what you were meant to sing at that moment. It's almost like a kind of ecstasy, which goes a long way when delivered by the incomparable Pam Tillis, without compromise or apology.
You might call it joy, but there's a better word than that for this state of creative exhilaration.
We'd call it Rhinestoned.
Rhinestoned says it all. No other word, real or invented for the occasion, sums up as well where Pam Tillis stands now.
She is, after all, a superstar as well as a survivor. A child of Music City royalty and a former rebel, she was determined to find her own way as a singer and songwriter — and she succeeded. A CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, she has written songs for some of the top singers in and beyond Nashville, including more than a few of her own hits.
She knows what it's like to break the platinum barrier, to top the singles charts time and again, to bask in an ovation at her induction as a member of the Opry or play in the intimate hush of the Bluebird Café. She has bathed in the lights of Broadway, posed for glamour magazine spreads, sung ballads in Bay Area bistros, batted wicked one-liners back to Tom Bergeron on Hollywood Squares, even made cameos in movies.
But no matter where she wandered, Pam Tillis never lost her connection to country music — even when country began to lose touch with itself. Trends came and went, and though she rolled easily with the tides and drew something from every new twist, she was aware that changes come with a cost, even as the business side of country flourished.
Her response was to insist on writing and cutting songs that spoke from the soul, rather than the boardrooms and focus groups of the country music industry. The results have been records that emanate an almost painful beauty, as did her 2002 release, the critically acclaimed It's All Relative (a tribute to her father, the great Mel Tillis).
"What I'm doing is country — but not necessarily the kind that you hear on the airwaves these days," Tillis explains, one drizzly afternoon over coffee, not far from Music Row. "Now, I admire a lot of this music; after all, I've sung rock, pop, R&B, and jazz, so I'm hardly a purist. But what I'm hearing now sounds often more like pop than country to me. And I just seriously felt called by that old different drummer to something a little bit more like the country I remember from my formative years, the country music of my youth." It's also something Tillis' fans and friends clamor for as she encounters them out on the road.
With It's All Relative, which she affectionately calls "the Dad album," Tillis produced one of the most memorable discs to have come out of Nashville in years, largely because of her refusal to conform to expectations. Combing through her father's catalog, she chose songs that had an especially timeless quality, with built-in resistance to the whims of the market. It was a bold statement; more than that, it set the stage for the even more assertive statement that Rhinestoned would make.
"Pam had reached a point where doing a record every year or two wasn't as important as taking the time to make something that had more meaning," says Matt Spicher, who co-produced Rhinestoned with Tillis and Gary Nicholson. "So she decided to embrace the momentum she had established with the Dad record."
"That was the first record I ever made where I wasn't concerned about having to come up with three singles," Pam points out.
"The labels understood that from the beginning," Matt says.
"They said they did," she clarifies.
And that's one reason why Rhinestoned marks the first album to be released on Stellar Cat, Pam's own imprint. With total creative control, she let her heart lead the way toward material that she could perform honestly and emotionally. "This is an A&R-free zone," she says, smiling. "But it is, first of all, real country. It's a bookend to the Dad album, except it has all new songs. It's like a bridge between the present and the past."
How past is this particular past? "If you look at my record collection circa 1974," Pam answers, "you'd see Emmylou, Gram Parsons, Waylon Jennings, Don Williams, Linda Ronstadt, and Neil Young. Flying Burrito Brothers — hippie country I call it — that was some of the best music that ever came out of this town. Maybe it wasn't happening on country radio at the time but it sold record and built careers. It was the vibrant scene on the fringes of country, which was very cool — just as it is today."
The Rhinestoned sessions started in 2004. Pam and Matt whittled 20 songs down to ten, which they cut and set aside, like bottles of wine allowed to mature. A few months later they repeated the process. And then, after reflecting for a while on what she had accomplished, Pam decided something wasn't right. She talked about it with her trusted friend and writing partner Gary Nicholson and reached a critical decision.
"It needed to be more country " she sums up. "I played what we had for Gary, brought him into the picture, and suddenly it felt like we weren't wandering in the woods anymore. Then when I found the song "Band in the Window," suddenly I could see and hear the whole project in my mind right down to the t-shirts, Tillis laughs.
With that, the final round of recording began. All of it, aside from backing vocals, was cut the old-fashioned way: live, just the way those bands still play in the windows along Lower Broadway. Many of Pam's performances were actually guide vocals, laid down in real time with the instrumental tracks but too strong in the end to throw away. Overdubs and fixes were kept to a bare minimum.
The rollicking reverence she brings to "Band in the Window," the affection that radiates between her and John Anderson on "Life Sure Has Changed Us Around," the goofball humor of "Crazy By Myself," the insight of her recitation on "Bettin' Money on Love": All of the up-tempo moments on Rhinestoned emit a sense of freedom that's impossible for Pam to suppress or for any listener to miss.
Even the ballads and deeper performances — the languorous sway of "Something Burning Out," the wounded wisdom of "Train Without a Whistle," the almost whispered yearning of "Someone Somewhere Tonight," and the recklessness of "Down by the Water" — carry a quality that's become sadly unfamiliar in much of today's music.
It's that feeling of delight that comes from singing exactly what you were meant to sing at that moment. It's almost like a kind of ecstasy, which goes a long way when delivered by the incomparable Pam Tillis, without compromise or apology.
You might call it joy, but there's a better word than that for this state of creative exhilaration.
We'd call it Rhinestoned.
Go Your Own Way
Pam Tillis Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Go Your Own Way' by these artists:
Art of Dying Loving you isn't the right thing to do How can I…
Automatic Black I will get along better without you I will go but…
BEDROOM - Fleetwood Mac Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
Biffy Clyro Loving you isn't the right thing to do How can…
Big Kenny It's late at night, I'm all alone, I see your number on…
Brie Larson Walk away 'Cause it's time to be on your own…
Chris Rea You can go your own way You can go your own…
Cimo Fränkel Loving you Isn`t the right thing to do How can I ever…
Cranberries Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
FLEETWOOD Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
Fleetwood Mac Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I Ever change…
Fleetwood Mac (Mark II) Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
Fleetwood Mac - Topic Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
G. Point Allstars 꺼져줄게 잘 살아 똑바로 얘기해 날 보고서 내 눈을 쳐다보고 말을…
Gareth Gates Gotta go, gotta go Go your own way What's it all about,…
Glee Cast Rachel Loving you isn't the right thing to do How c…
Glee Cast Featuring Lea Michele (Rachel) Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
God Forbid ""Forget you all and your rules They are pointless I…
Grass Jaw It's the natural order of things Kids will push like birds…
Greg Graffin & NOFX Lovin you isn't the right thing to do How can I…
Jennifer Brown Loving you isn't the right thing to do How can I…
Karl Wolf Hey, you can go your own way Go your own way You…
Karlien van Jaarsveld Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I Ever change…
KITCHEN 1 - Fleetwood Mac Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
Lars Bygdén Mama come quickly I’m fading away I am of no use…
Laurent Wery vs Sir-G 꺼져줄게 잘 살아 똑바로 얘기해 날 보고서 내 눈을 쳐다보고 말을…
Leroy Wild Go your own way Go your own way Leave behind everything you…
Lindsey Buckingham Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
Lindsey Buckingham and Little Big Town Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
Maylyn Loving you isn't the right thing to do. How can I…
Mercy Figure out your own way There's always more to work through …
Michele Lea Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
NOFX Lovin you isn't the right thing to do How can I…
Nova Bossa Ltd. Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
Seaweed Loving you, isn't the right thing to do How can…
Shine DJs vs. Fleetwood Mac Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
Silverene Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
The Cranberries Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
The Nicks You left me, but that wasn't enough You could never remember…
Theuns Jordaan Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
V.A. I gotta say what's on my mind Something about us Doesn't s…
why mona Loving you isn't the right thing to do How can I…
Wilson Phillips Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
滴草由実 一人には慣れていたのに 始まりがあれば終わりが来るって わかっていたのに こぼれた落ち葉の上 あなたの愛が 流れて離れて…
Fleetwood Mac Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Pam Tillis:
'Til All The Lonely's Gone Well Hank made a living out of lonely He sang like…
A Great Disguise People talkin', think I'm alright Think I'm doin' fine Goin'…
A Whisper And A Scream There's a tomcat in the alley scarin' up a fight There's…
After Hours In the after hours Slowly shifting down Last call is over Th…
All Of This Love Have you ever seen a wild magnolia There's only one place…
All the Good Ones Are Gone She'll turn thirty-four this weekend She'll go out with her …
Already Fallen You come banging on the screen door, begging me to…
Ancient History We can talk and talk all night If you want to…
Band In the Window His name is Red and he plays the Tele Broke it…
Be A Man So you think you got it figured out What a woman…
Better Friends I wish that we were better friends Just like we were…
Better Off Blue Who's that knocking in the middle of the night With a…
Betty's Got A Bass Boat Now Betty was your average ordinary girl Never wanted very m…
Blue Rose Is Her lips and her dress, they're both ruby red She tinks…
Burning Memories Tonight I'm burning old love letters Photographs and memorie…
Burning Star Wind and rain and moving mountains Can you feel the shifting…
Calico Plains Sweet Abilena looks out at the Midwestern sky Sweet seventee…
Cleopatra Well I said he had a lot of potential He was…
Cleopatra, Queen of Denial Well, I said he had a lot of potential, he was…
Colors of the Wind You think you own whatever land you land on The Earth…
Come On And Sing Come on and sing girl sing boy sing a happy…
Crazy By Myself Well, I see the world through an unusual lens A little…
Dark Turn of Mind Take me and love me if you want me But don’t…
Deep Down You know everyday I walk down memory lane Trying to find…
Demolition Angel I got walls around my soul, Walls around my heart,…
Detroit City I wanna go home I wanna go home oh how…
Do You Know Where Your Man Is Night is fallin' on this honky tonk city Country music spill…
Do You Know Where Your Man Is Blue Rose Is Night is fallin' on this honky tonk city Country music spil…
Dolly 1969 I got this black and white picture on my wall…
Don You make all the right moves And you talk so smooth And…
Don't Tell Me What to Do We tried and we tried but it's over Guess I didn't…
Don't Tell Me What To Do Live We tried and we tried but it's over Guess I didn't…
Draggin' My Chains My eyes may be hollow My face may be pale I may…
Emotions Emotions what are you doing oh don't you know you'll…
Every Time Every time that you walk by I can't believe that I…
Fine Fine Very Fine Love I never knew how good a love could be All I'd…
Five Minutes You look so disbelievin' at my suitcase by the door And…
Good Ones She'll turn thirty-four this weekend She'll go out with her …
Goodbye Wheeling I've been reeling around Wheeling West Virginia just a littl…
Heart Over Mind I love you so much that I can't leave you…
Heartache You've been spreadin' the blues All over the place Walking a…
Homeward Looking Angel She saw the ragged edge of nowhere from a fast…
Honey As the fireflies buzzed around him Like so many dancing star…
How Gone Is Goodbye Baby I've got this sinkin' feeling I've done something I can…
Hurt Myself Ain't tried cigarettes There is always alcohol I could stay …
I Ain't Never I ain't never I ain't never Seen nobody like you oh…
I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair I don't need your rockin' chair Your Geritol or your Medicar…
I Fell In Love The stage is set The lights are low Soft music on the…
I Said a Prayer Under the sun, under the moon Under the sky midnight blue Un…
I Smile Oh yeah...uh huh... Lost and all alone, Looking for a reaso…
I Was Blown Away You drove up in your pickup truck That hot September day Not…
I Wish She Wouldn't Treat You That Way The way she treats you Is a dog gone crime I just…
I've Seen Enough To Know I know it was pretty strange timing and maybe the…
If I Didn't Love You IF I DIDN'T LOVE YOU WRITERS TINA ARENA, PAM RESWICK, STEVE…
In Between Dances There's room at my table, why don't you pull up…
It Ain't Easy Surely you can sit down a while Maybe you can even…
It Isn't Just Raining The first I heard you close in my arms I was…
It's Lonely Out There I can't make you stay, and boy I wouldn't want…
Jagged Hearts You say she wounded your heart And it's too tender to…
Karma Everything that possibly could go wrong has gone wrong from…
Lady Music She pulled him right off of that row he was…
Land of the living You gave him some good years Now you'd like them back Mistak…
Last Summer's Wine I can just see us working up and down a…
Last Train to Clarksville Take the last train to Clarksville And I'll meet you at…
Lay The Heartache Down You've been spreading the blues All over the place Walking a…
Let That Pony Run Mary was married with children Had the perfect suburban life…
Looking for a Feeling Sisters on a sidewalk listening to the devil’s lies Brothers…
Love Is Only Human Duet with Marty Roe of Dimond Rio Tonight - I am…
Mandolin Rain The song came and went Like the times that we spent Hiding…
Maybe It Was Memphis Lookin' at you through a misty moonlight Katydid sing like a…
Medley: Do You Know Where Your Man Is / Blue Rose Is Night is fallin' on this honky tonk city country music splii…
Melancholy Child A baby with a baby just barely seventeen My mother mourned…
Mental Revenge I hope that the friend you've thrown yourself with gets…
Mi Vida Loca If you're comin with me You need nerves of steel 'Cause I…
Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life) If you're coming with me you need nerves of steel Cause…
Milk and Honey As the fireflies buzzed around him Like so many dancing star…
Morning Has Broken Morning has broken like the first morning Blackbird has spok…
My Crazy Life If you're coming with me you need nerves of steel 'Cause…
My Kind of Medicine Sometimes these bones they get to aching Oh and I just…
No Two Ways About It I walked into the club last night, I hadn't been…
Not Like It Was With You You may see me and think that I'm happy Cause I'm…
Not Me I followed you around like a little lost child barely…
Off-White I've got a scrap book full of pictures [?] frozen in…
One Of Those Things There's no mistakin' what's takin' place here I can't preten…
Pam Tillis Don't Tell Me What To Do We tried and we tried but it's over Guess I didn't…
Please Babysitter said 7 She's 15 minutes late Jimmy's still playin…
Pony Mary was married with children Had the perfect suburban life…
Pretty Paper Pretty paper Pretty ribbons of blue Wrap your presents To y…
Pull Your Hat Down Tight You think you're a special case That the world's got it…
Put Yourself In My Place Well she broke your heart into a million pieces And your…
River and the Highway She follows the path of least resistance She doesn't care to…
Rough And Tumble Heart It's been kicking around since '72 And there's not a whole…
Same Old Train Well I got on in Bristol, by the old Virgina…
Shake The Sugar Tree Love you're gettin' lazy You're forgettin' to give me Sweet …
Silver Wings Silver wings shining in the sunlight Roaring engines headed…
So Wrong I've been so wrong, for so long Thought I could live…
Someone Somwhere Tonight Someone somewhere tonight Is taking their first steps Lettin…
Space I'm stuck in a concrete canyon traffic jam Can't part the…
Spilled Perfume I ain't even going to ask you I can read you…
Sunset Red And Pale Moonlight We gave the day up to a back road And let…
Sweetheart's Dance Chorus: Sweetheart's dance, that's what we do The two he…
Sweethearts Dance Chorus: Sweetheart's dance, that's what we do The two heart…
Tennessee Nights Somebodies gone, a wind stirs the willows Whipoorwills call …
Tequila Mockingbird It's a slow, smoky scene at the county line catina Where…
That Was A Heartache Jimmy was a bareback rider Back in my hometown Cowboys fal…
The Hard Way I was always falling out of trees, And slipping in the…
The River And The Highway She follows the path of least resistance She doesn't care to…
The Scheme of Things Don’t you worry ‘bout me baby This too shall pass You know…
There Goes My Love There goes the one I used to know, there goes…
They Don't Break 'em Like They Used To You're here in my arms right where you say You…
Those Memories of You Those memories of you still haunt me Every night when I…
Thunder And Roses Once I had flowers at sunset Breakfast in bed And I hated…
Train Without A Whistle Train Without a Whistle Written by Jon Randall and Jim McBr…
Tryin' In a cloud of dust On a greyhound bus She crossed…
Unmitigated Gall Well how can you have the unmitigated gall To come back…
Violet And A Rose A violet fell in love with a rose And started it…
Waiting on the Wind In the middle of the meadow I sit staring at…
Walk In the Room I can feel a new expression on my face I can…
We Must Be Thinking Alike So many nights we didn't fight but never talked much We…
We've Tried Everything Else Going out every night Doing all the wrong things to feel…
When You Walk In The Room I can feel a new expression on my face I can…
Which Five Years Another birthday, another candle Sometimes it's hard to hand…
Whiskey On The Wound He was strong and of sound mind 'Til the day he…
Workin' Man Blues Night is fallin' on this honky tonk city country music splii…
You Can't Have A Good Time Without Me You say you're not missin' me darlin' I know you are…
You Put The Lonely On Me A baseball glove in the second grade put this little…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found