Mel Tillis Riverside Resort Laughlin Nevada I worked for Mel Tillis several times in the late 1980s, but the first time was most memorable for me. At the time, the Riverside was just dipping its toes into music performances, which were given in a small showroom better designed for stand-up comics and dance bands. It had a glass wall to allow viewing of the river outside and, for this reason, the curtains had to remain open during the shows. Very quaint and picturesque. Very bad for sound. I was running the casino's electronics department at the time and, even though it had been more than 10 years since I last did a concert, the showroom was part of my domain so I was in charge by default. Of course, this was the only reason I was working in a casino in the first place, and the Riverside in particular. The town was on the verge of entering the entertainment arena; the Riverside was going to start it. So I call the local country music station and ask if I can come down and listen to a couple Mel Tillis records. I thought it would be good to hear the production techniques he preferred in the studio, use of reverb or delay. Mr. Radio Station Guy said, "There ain't no effects in country music." I was never a big country music fan. My parent's were, though, which is most of the reason right there. I'd been listening to Tammy Waynette, Dolly Parton, George Jones and Merle Haggard my whole life. I was pretty sure that country pickers knew about reverb. Maybe this clown didn't hear any effects, but I knew better. I just wasn't that familiar with Tillis' music. He wasn't in the Mom & Dad Top 20. There were two shows on the first night. During the early show, things were going along smoothly. I was comfortable with the band. They were easy to mix, easy to get along with. I stuck with light, barely-there reverb on Mel and a little thicker reverb to smooth together the background vocals. Just a typical country set-up. No muss, no fuss. Remember... I've been doing sound for bands for years, but bars are not concerts. This is the second actual concert I've mixed and it's the first time where I get to mix the headlining act. Kind of a personal milestone, actually. I'm still thinking about "There ain't no effects in country music," but the truth was that the room's glass wall was already adding an effect. From the stage, every snare drum hit had an echo. Sometimes two. Near the end of the set, the band's percussionist (George Kennedy?) was featured. He stepped up to do the Hank Williams song, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" on the harmonica, a country classic. Rulebreaking was in order. Looking back, it was probably kind of foolish to risk throwing the band off for my personal satisfaction, but the song was screaming out for it. So I threw in an even longer echo and made it sound like this guy was in a canyon somewhere, playing this sad song that's echoing through the mountains. Took the idea to the edge and milked it hard. At the end of the set, the percussionist made a beeline to the sound booth, much to the entertainment of the rest of the crew. They were pretty sure I had broken some sort of law or music protocol by creatively interacting with the band. I was in big trouble. When he got there, the percussionist said, "Whatever you did, do it again next time." Ironically, the last time I worked for Mel Tillis (in a better room), he was considering having his daughter, Pam Tillis, make her stage debut. He came and told me that, if she came out (she never did), I should use an Elvis-style slapback echo, with just one repeat. He was very specific. And he didn't stutter. "There ain't no effects in country music." 20 years later, I still laugh about that.

I've got a couple pictures of Mel around here somewhere...