Mel Tillis, 1932-2017: R.I.P.

Mel Tillis, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and a Florida native, has died at age 85.

Tillis was born in Pahokee, Florida, near Lake Okeechobee.

His best years were the 1970's. He was a stammerer, which he worked into his road show - - his musicians would helpfully finish his sentences and he would yell "Shut up!" Like many individuals with stammers, it would vanish when he sang. It also vanished if he had memorized his lines, as in a film cameo he did in the Burt Reynolds film W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings, where he played a gas station attendant.

The second concert I ever went to was a Mel Tillis concert with my father at the old Alligator Alley basketball arena at the University of Florida.

Here's one of his early 1970's hits: