Pam Tillis reviewed
Pam Tillis
Rhinestoned
(Stellar Cat)
Though she resided in the country Top 20 with relative frequency during the ’90s, Pam Tillis has slowly backed out of the lite rock game and concentrated on her (and some would say her father’s) roots.
While the mention of her father, country legend Mel Tillis, was a burden to her early on, Pam Tillis has slowly come around to a more traditional way of thinking. Certainly she was always more Reba McEntire than Faith Hill (though this album’s overblown “Someone Somewhere Tonight” is an exception), but Rhinestoned avers she knows her history and has accepted it. Far from the trash-chic of Gretchen Wilson, Tillis’ heart is in her Stellar Cat debut even though it really hurts. “That Was A Heartache” treats a familiar rejection with detached bitterness, while her duet with Mark Anderson (“Life Has Sure Changed Us Around”) looks fondly on the past with a Porter & Dolly playfulness.
— Steve Forstneger
