March 3, 2004

Country Legend Tillis Performs at MASS MoCA

(North Adams, Mass.) -- After two consecutive platinum albums and numerous songs on the top ten list, and sales of more than seven million records, Pam Tillis brings her biggest hits and newest album -- It’s All Relative: Tillis Sings Tillis, a tribute to her legendary father, Mel Tillis -- to MASS MoCA’s Hunter Center on Saturday, April 3, at 8 P.M. “Being honored as [a Country Music Award’s] Female Vocalist of the Year was not a fluke. Tillis is consistently creative and innovative in her music,” according to Country Charts. Country Charts went on to say “Not only does Pam bring to life Mel’s music, she stunningly evokes images of Nashville’s past, of young hopefuls making their way down to the Bluebird Café with their guitars strapped on their backs and their dreams trapped somewhere behind the lush curtains of the Grand Ole Opry.”

Pam Tillis’ six number one hits including "Mi Vida Loca", "It's Lonely Out There", "In Between Dances" and "Spilled Perfume”, 13 top fives, and 17 top tens are just a partial indication of the depth and richness of her skills, and her relationship to music that cuts across many genres.

Some of her earliest memories are of her father writing new songs on his guitar. She began taking piano lessons at the age of 8, switching to guitar at 12. As a rebellious 15-year-old, she began singing for beer in a local Nashville club doing the tunes of Arlo Guthrie, Phoebe Snow, and Janis Joplin. The teenage rebellion ended the next year with a near-fatal car crash which brought a new-found focus to her musical goals. In San Francisco at age 19 she sang with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and Freelight, the backing band she founded. Her first release, in the late 1970s, was a rock and roll album.

Her long-standing and successful relationship with Arista Records started in 1990 and resulted in her first #1 hit; "Don't Tell Me What To Do.” 1991 was a banner year for Tillis when she was named the Horizon Award recipient at the Country Music Awards. That award would be the first of many for Tillis, later winning "Video of The Year," "Female Vocalist of the Year" and a Grammy along the way. Five out of seven of her albums have certified either gold or platinum, selling an impressive seven million copies including her gold Greatest Hits album. Tillis also toured with the best in country music including George Strait, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, Alabama and Brooks & Dunn.

She’s written for the likes of Chaka Khan, Gloria Gaynor, Barbara Fairchild, and Conway Twitty and has even performed on Broadway in Smokey Joe's Café. Other acting credits include Diagnosis Murder with Dick Van Dyke, Touched By An Angel, Hollywood Squares, and most recently Showtime's Chris Isaak Show. Today, Tillis stands among the first female country music producers as well as a legend in her own right.

Lickety Split will be open at 7 P.M. for dinner and drinks. The Pam Tillis concert is sponsored by BEAR Country Radio, FM 95.3.

Tickets for Pam Tillis in concert are $30 for orchestra seats or $24 for mezzanine. MASS MoCA members receive a 10% discount. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located off Marshall Street in North Adams from 11 A.M. until 5 P.M. (closed Tuesdays). Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or purchased on line any time at www.massmoca.org.

MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located off Marshall St. in North Adams on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katherine Myers
(413) 664-4481 x8113
katherine@massmoca.org