Two Words, One Answer.
Pam Tillis
 Homeward Looking Angel $15.98 As usual with the very talented Pam Tillis, this is a very good record (though not a recent one, 1992); fine songs chosen with love and care, this is an evidence, and first rate interpretation.  Above and Beyond the Doll of Cutey $15.98 i just discovered this lp is the record shop, and had to hear it immediately. Her voice is amazing and the music is timeless.. Her voice is powerful and emotive, quite different from the country music that she is know for..which in my opinion is kinda subdued  Put Yourself in My Place $13.98 I've been exploring country music as part of my personal effort to break into country songwriting. I'd heard a couple of Pam Tillis's songs and decided to check out more. So I got her concert DVD thru Netflix and was BLOWN AWAY (to quote the title of one of her songs). On the DVD they played "Ancient History" (Bob DiPiero / John Scott Sherrill) during a photo slide-show in the Extras. I absolutely loved that song, so I hightailed it down to the used-CD store and bought this album, which includes that song and several other classics -- "Melancholy Child," "Maybe It Was Memphis," "Don't Tell Me What To Do" (written by country songwriting legends Harlan Howard and Max D. Barnes), and more. The songs on this album, several of which were cowritten by Tillis, are so good that it plays like a "Greatest Hits" CD. In fact, while it played I had to keep double-checking the CD insert to make sure I hadn't accidentally bought a compilation of hits. As another reviewer hinted, the 1990s were a golden age of neo-traditionalism in country music, right before it veered off into its current state of destitution (for more on that topic, listen to "Murder on Music Row" by Larry Cordle). Pam Tillis was right at the forefront of that golden age. Songs like "Put Yourself in My Place" and "Ancient History" harken back to the honkytonk/swing country sound that I've always loved from the 1960s, but with a contemporary spin. In short, this album is a classic -- and this is coming from a guy who spent most of his life listening to Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, opera, classical, and jazz. Not only does Pam Tillis know how to choose (and cowrite) great songs, but her great voice enables her to interpret them with great passion, flair, and beauty. If I could, I'd give a six-star rating for *Put Yourself in My Place*. |
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