'Looking For A Feeling' Review: Pam Tillis makes country sound lush and lovely with her warm, expressive voice
The Grammy & CMA award-winning country music artiste Pam Tillis has earned her plaudits as a singer-songwriter and actress of some renown over the past 35 years. As the daughter of country music legend Mel Tillis, music runs freely through her veins, and the talented artiste has even earned the distinction of being inducted into the Grande Ole Opry in the year 2000.
Pam Tillis is known for her signature rich, emotive alto voice, which has earned her multiple platinum-selling album honors over the years, and even a recurring starring role in the country music-themed TV drama 'Nashville', where she plays herself. April 24, marks the release date for her 11th solo studio album, 'Looking For A Feeling'. Pam Tillis remains as glorious and sprightly a performer as ever on this one, with her warm, quintessential twang making for a delightfully sun-kissed, open-country Americana vibe.
The title track opens with “Sisters on a sidewalk listening to the devil’s lies / Brothers on a mountaintop trying to get wise,” as Tillis turns her gaze on a host of characters who are all looking for that special joie de vivre to come calling. “Who can point a finger, who can say what’s wrong? We all get high or low, turning over every stone,” she continues. Talking about the lead single's origins, Tillis said that 'Looking for a Feeling' is "a song I excavated with Waylon Payne one dreary February day,” about people looking to make their lives click back into gear. “It’s a non-judgmental look at a cast of spiritually adrift characters just trying to get right. Those characters, that searching... I see parts of myself in all of them,” she revealed.
'Demolition Angel' contains some steely acoustic guitar strumming and a warbling Jew's harp that works wonderfully well with the tremolo-laden electric guitars that glide and slide into sweet bluesy licks. Pam's earnest voice pleads, "I've got walls around my soul / Walls around my heart / I've built a prison in the dark / Built with bricks of selfishness, ambition, fear and lies / Demolition angel / Turn it down, burn it down / Set me free," asking for sweet redemption from her self-inflicted troubles.
'Better Friends' is a tender ode to estranged friends - "I wish that we were better friends / Just like we were all over again / I wish that we could have one more chance," she sings amidst dulcet harmonies, softly gleaming guitars, and brush-stroked drums.
'Dolly 1969' is a funky throwback to yesteryears, as Pam does a spoken word intro of how she was inspired by a late '60s black & white photo of the country icon Dolly Parton. The vivacious 'Backwoods Barbie' singer was standing next to a Cadillac sedan that had all kinds of musical instruments in it, which prompted Tillis to sing, "I wish I could go back / To be a stowaway in that long black Cadillac / I want to go where she is going / I want to see what Dolly sees / Try on that coat of many colors / Slap that b***h Jolene."
Dolly Parton famously sang about the man-stealing Jolene in one of her immortal hits, and this upbeat song is chock-full of references to the everlasting appeal of this legendary country singer.
'Last Summer's Wine' winds down the pace a tad by reflecting on a long hard day's work in the sunny, rain-drenched farmlands, a nostalgic paean to the beauty of Mother Nature and close relationships between lovers. "Life was ripe for the picking / Something told us to hold on to that moment in time / So we set about making last summer's wine."
The ballad 'Lady Music' recounts the sweet story of star-crossed lovers as their story progresses over the years - "Sweet Lady Music, she's a jealous mistress, you know that it's true / You don't choose her, she chooses you". The sparkling 'My Kind of Medicine' talks about the perils of aging, and the healing properties of walks in the woods, spending time with God, close friends, vintage comedies, dogs and horses.
'Dark Turn Of Mind' is a bouncy, jazzy, honky-tonk song that talks about falling in love while being wary of the scars of past relationships. "Take me and love if you want me / But don't ever treat me unkind / 'Cause I've had that trouble already / Some girls are bright as the morning / Some girls have a dark turn of mind."
'The Scheme of Things' is a swinging, flowing guitar ballad that offers reassuring words of comfort when times get hard by looking at the grander design and trajectory of one's love life - "What's one more broken heart, darling, in the scheme of things?"
'Karma' is a spacey, melancholy look at learning lessons the hard way in life and love - "You're my karma / Aren't ya? / I used to be the heartbreaker / Now I'm the breakee / What goes around comes around / Nobody's free from karma," sings Pam with her lilting, wise voice.
Pam Tillis then closes things out with a haunting, stripped-down campfire melody that takes a look at the bigger picture, waxing eloquent on existential, philosophical and spiritual matters - "Hard to figure out why things are the way they are / All I know is we're living on a pebble by a burning star."
This is a gorgeous album, full of Americana staples like country ballads, timeless folk yarns, worldly wisdom, heartfelt love songs, and melancholy tearjerkers. The understated instruments never overpower Pam Tillis's superlative story-telling gifts - instead they provide stellar service by enhancing the expressiveness and beauty of her glorious voice. This album is a warm, lush, tender outpouring of Pam Tillis's graceful heart and soul.