THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220043
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
PAM TILLIS, fishing for comedy, found it in ``Betty's Got a Bass Boat.''
``My newest album is serious, with that as comedy relief,'' she said during a phone interview from icy Burlington, Iowa. ``All of This Love'' is a unique album; she's the only chart-topping female in country music to produce her own albums. Tillis will perform Sunday at a concert at Little Creek Amphibious Base in Norfolk.
``It makes an even more personal statement,'' she said. ``There are people who do this for a living, of course, but I didn't want any kind of mediator. I wanted to get in there and get my ideas out.''
She was halfway there in 1994 when she co-produced, with Steve Fishell, the album ``Sweetheart's Dance,'' which was described by New Country magazine as ``maybe the best country album by a woman in the '90s.''
Now, working by herself, she hopes to eliminate that ``maybe.''
Tillis - strong, independent, intelligent - is atop the ``most-respected-in-Nashville'' list.
Tillis has two platinum albums, one gold and has had singular success with such songs as ``Maybe It Was Memphis'' ``Cleopatra, Queen of Denial'' and her current hit, ``Deep Down.''
Her next hit, she predicts, will be ``The River and the Highway.'' The video is already a Country Music Television pick hit.
``I'm as proud of that video as anything. It was shot in British Columbia. The scenery is fantastic,'' Tillis said.
Tillis, the Country Music Association's 1994 Female Vocalist of the Year, promises a classy, happy stage show. ``Visually, we've upgraded everything,'' she said. ``And I'm working with a lively crew - the most fun band I've ever had.'' ILLUSTRATION: Arista
Pam Tillis has two platinum albums and one gold. She predicts her
next hit will be "The River and the Highway."
by CNB