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Clark and Tillis team up for Alberta shows
09/03/08
Two of country music’s most acclaimed performers will share the bill for four special shows this fall.
Roy Clark and Mel Tillis perform at the Memorial Centre Nov. 1.
Showtime is 7 p.m.
Tillis and Clark are indeed synonymous with country music - their legendary status on radio and TV make them two of the most recognizable icons of the genre.
“Really, it’s about the people,” explains Clark during a recent chat from his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“When you see the smiling faces, it reminds you of why you are there,” he says of performing.
“If you ever hear an entertainer complain, it’s not about the concerts. It’s usually about the travel because if we could be born on stage, we’d probably work 365 days a year.”
Clark was born with music already in him.
His father and uncles played, but Clark didn’t really get serious about the guitar until he was 13, he recalls.
“Something about the sound of that instrument, it’s like a light switch was turned on. I thought I’ve got to learn how to play it.
“Even when I’d thought about doing other things, when I look back on it I see how I just kept going back to the guitar. Music was getting to be stronger in my life.”
A guitar wizard who toured with legends such as Hank Williams and Grandpa Jones, Clark is also probably most well known by the masses for his hosting and brilliant musicianship on Hee-Haw – a series first broadcast in 1969.
Clark, like Tillis is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Yesterday When I Was Young remains one of his most beloved songs. He has recorded 32 albums to date.
Meanwhile, he can’t wait to hit the road with his buddy. Clark and Tillis have been friends for decades.
“He’s one of my dearest friends,” says Clark of Tillis, who has written more than 1,000 songs in his career.
“I have a lot of very close and dear friends, and Mel is at the top of the list.”
Tillis started performing in the early ‘50’s with a group called The Westerners while serving as a baker in the United States Air Force stationed in Okinawa.
“He’s like me – just very deeply involved with his music,” says Clark, also describing Tillis as a guy who is consistently upbeat – never “gloomy or negative.”
In 1956, Webb Pierce recorded a song written by Tillis entitled I’m Tired, and it launched Mel’s musical career.
I Ain’t Never, Good Woman Blues and Coca Cola Cowboy are also counted amongst his greatest hits while Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To Town - Kenny Rogers and the First Edition; and Life Turned Her That Way - Ricky Van Shelton also turned into chart topping hits for both artists.
With more than 60 records to his credit, Tillis was inducted just one year ago (2007) into the Grand Ole Opry as well as the Country Music Hall of Fame.
For tickets, call 403-755-6626 or visit www.bkticketcentre.ca.
mweber@reddeer.greatwest.ca 309-5459
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