Country Music Memories - Mel Tillis Receives National Medal Of Arts

Kevin Richards' Country Music Memories - February 2025

This week in 2012 Mel Tillis was awarded the National Medal of Arts! According to the official website: The honor is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government. The National Medal of Arts is awarded by the President of the United States to individuals or groups who "...are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States."

Mel Tillis was such a talented personality that represented our genre in television, movies, stage and radio for decades.  At one point, Tillis was so in-demand he was a regular on the Tonight Show and a favorite of TV game shows and variety programs- even starring in his own movie 'Uphill All The Way' with Roy Clark. In addition to writing classics like 'Detroit City' for Bobby Bare and 'Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town' for Kenny Rogers, he scored several hits of his own with 'Send Me Down To Tucson' 'Lying Time Again' 'I Got The Hoss' 'Southern Rains' 'Sawmill' 'Good Woman Blues' 'I Ain't Never' and 'Coca-Cola Cowboy', which was featured in the Clint Eastwood movie 'Every Which Way But Loose'.

Mel's story is quite inspirational, as he overcame a stutter to become an entertainer.  Moreover, using the stutter as part of his act and inspiring others through the National Stuttering Foundation: "A longtime supporter of the Stuttering Foundation who served as the 1998 spokesman and its honorary chairman, Tillis' active presence in the stuttering community gave hope to so many. Most importantly, he was one of the first to openly talk about his stuttering and urge others to do so."

Today, we salute and honor Mel Tillis-  The CMA's 1976 Entertainer Of The year, A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, The Songwriter's Hall of Fame and The Grand Ole Opry until his passing in 2017 at the age of 85.

Click Here to listen to Kevin's Conversation with Mel Tillis.