Tillis, Morgan team up for ‘Grits and Glamour’ Tour

“Grits and Glamour” have been ideal ingredients on tour for Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan.

The country superstars, both longtime members of the Grand Ole Opry, will play the Calvin Gilmore Theater in Myrtle Beach at 6 p.m. Sunday.

Calling earlier this month from her home in Tennessee, Tillis said their pairing clicked because of being “from the same era” in the 1990s, with similar musical backgrounds while growing up. Running into her one night at the Opry, where Tillis said Morgan sounded and looked “great,” Tillis said they agreed to talk about touring in tandem.

“That was five years ago,” Tillis said, and that partnership also generated their “Dos Divas” CD, released in 2013 by Red River Entertainment.

Chatting with Tillis entailed an ease and comfort like catching up with a trusted next-door neighbor. Asked about the many projects she’s enjoyed with other artists through the years, she said they start because “people just call.”

Tillis, with her own slew of hits such as “Maybe It Was Memphis,” “Shake the Sugar Tree” and “Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life),” sang “What We Believe,” the closing number on pianist Jim Brickman’s “Destiny” CD in 1999.

Thanks to a fan who “came up to me the other night,” Tillis was reminded of a duet with Billy Gilman, “Almost Over (Gettin’ Over You),” from his CD in 2006. She said she forgotten about that project, but hearing it again, declared, “Dang, that was really good.”

Tillis also teamed up with Marty Stuart on “Milk and Honey” for “The Prince of Egypt (Nashville)” soundtrack, among an all-star cast in 1998.

“He is just one of my favorites,” Tillis said. “He’s fantastic, and he’s underrated in so many ways.”

Liner notes on other artists’ albums will turn up Tillis’ name, as a composer for recordings by the likes of the eldest sibling from the Jackson family, Rebbie Jackson, as well as Gloria Gaynor, Cheryl Lynn, and a former competitor on the new season of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” Chaka Khan.

“I’ve always loved all kinds of music,” said Tillis, who co-wrote “So Close” on Khan’s “Destiny” album, from 1986.

“What an incredible singer,” Tillis said, remembering how her voice “blew everybody’s mind” at a function. “Chaka’s just an amazing powerhouse.”

The value that Khan placed on “So Close” among the 11 selections on “Destiny” still thrills Tillis.

“She said that was her favorite song on the album,” Tillis said, “which made my day.”

Contributing on other musicians’ works fuels Tillis’ talent, she said, making “you change or step out of your own style.”

Like some country colleagues who have Broadway roles on their resume – such as Reba McEntire in “Annie Get Your Gun,” and K.T. Oslin in “Hello, Dolly” – Tillis enjoyed her run with “Smokey Joe’s Cafe.”

Tillis chalked up the 24-show guest venture to “just timing, because that musical had been running so long,” and that the producer sought some guest performers toward the end its tenure, and “he was a big fan already” of her music. With connections made with personnel at her record label leading to a “little, five-minute conversation, ... and that was that.”

“That was neat,” Tillis said, of fulfilling a role with which other singers such as Gladys Knight also took a turn.

Tillis, like Morgan, is the daughter of an inductee in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, in Nashville, Tenn. Referring to Mel Tillis fondly,” she said, “Daddy is Daddy,” always on the go, and at age 83, “still working” many nights on stage. She said her father has just finished penning a new book as well.

Speaking more about Lorrie Morgan – whose own catalog of hits includes “Five Minutes,” “What Part of No” and “Back in Your Arms Again” – Tillis said they each did solo and some joint numbers on their “Grits and Glamour” CD, but their forthcoming album “will really be more of a duet record.”

Such a project’s “kind of fun,” too, Tillis said, “because it’s sort of like doing a Christmas album: People don’t really have any expectations, so it can really be anything.”

Fielding a question about what might surprise fans at the concert this Sunday, Tillis shared a tidbit.

“We might just have to fly something up the flagpole from the new album,” she said.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Tillis, Morgan team up for ‘Grits and Glamour’ Tour."