Every Friday around 11 a.m. Central, it’s time for Classic Americana on Radio Heartland. We pull a special track from the archives or from deep in the shelves to spotlight a particular artist or song.

This week’s Classic Americana pick honors a hitmaking singer who became a champion for people with speech impairment. We’re talking about Mel Tillis.

Tillis was born August 8, 1932, in Tampa, Florida. While growing up in that subtropical climate, Tillis contracted malaria as a child, and he was left with a stutter. But by age six, Tillis realized that his stutter disappeared whenever he sang.

A speech therapist, who asked to remain anonymous for this article, explained there are multiple theories why someone may stutter during typical conversation but not stutter while singing. One prominent idea is a neurological theory, which holds that one uses different parts of the brain for conversation and for singing; it’s a theory Tillis himself embraced: “Your singing,” he said, “and your creative ability comes from one side of your brain, and your speech from another side.”

The other prominent theory is a physiological one, which takes into account the physical mechanics of vocalization; specifically, the way that sounds are produced while singing — the airflow, the formation of words, sounds and syllables — is a different set of physical processes than those used during the exchange of ideas that happens in conversation.

There are also actors who describe similar outcomes; that is, they may stutter while casually conversing, yet when they are onstage, the stuttering disappears. All this said, the speech therapist stressed that each person is unique, and that activities like singing or acting are not cure-alls. For some people, however, the stuttering will dissipate or disappear in those contexts.

And that was certainly the case for Mel Tillis. Beginning in childhood, Tillis embraced music, and by the time he was a teenager, he was playing in bands.

It was during his service in the U.S. Air Force that Tillis played his first paying gig as a lead vocalist in a band. Following his service, Tillis moved to Nashville and his music career began in earnest. In addition to performing, Tillis also dug into songwriting, and he earned his first hit in the year 1965. He would go on to release 62 studio albums and score 37 Top 10 country hits.

One of his No. 1 hits came in 1979, when Tillis released the song “Coca-Cola Cowboy.” An interesting note about the song is that both the song and Tillis appear in the Clint Eastwood film, Every Which Way But Loose. When Tillis performs the song in the film, he changes the lyric “you’ve got an Eastwood smile” to “you’ve got a sexy smile” so as not to break Eastwood’s character.

While Tillis’ music career is certainly a hallmark of his life, he was very proud of his advocacy for people who have stutters or other speech impairments. He became a spokesperson for the Stuttering Foundation, and he also helped raise funds for Shriner’s Children’s Hospital.

In 2012, in recognition of his contributions to country music, President Barack Obama awarded Mel Tillis the National Medal of Arts. Tillis continued to perform live up until January 3, 2016, when, in Laughlin, Nevada, he gave his final concert. Back in his home state of Florida, Tillis died on November 19, 2017, at the age of 85.

External Link

Mel Tillis – official site