Link: Mel Tillis
Mel wrote the liner notes for one of Jim's LPs, and told how when they met, and Reeves realized Mel had a bad stutter, he offered to send him to speech therapy at his own expense to help him. Mel declined Jim's generous offer, but never forgot his kindness.
Tillis also told me how he and a buddy of his went to see Jim at a fair in Florida years ago, and went backstage. When Jim met them, he remembered that Mel had sent him a song, whereupon Reeves began singing it, to Mel's astonishment! Mel ran out to his car, where he had a tape recorder, and Jim then re-sang the song.
Mel had a very successful theater in Branson, Missouri and was known as a fishing enthusiast as well as a very good cook!
Mel even offered to write a testimonial for my book and gave me some rare Jim Reeves items which I have not talked about publicly yet.
My condolences to Mel's family. It is a sad loss for country music of one of the greatest guys around.
Here is a story that appears in Rolling Stone magazine on him. Click link below.
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