POCATELLO — Some of the things Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan have in common are obvious. They are both daughters of country music stars , they have each had their share of top ten hits on the country music charts, they have bother performed at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, and they are both performing in Pocatello on Thursday, Oct. 18 on the Grits and Glamour Tour.

    Beyond all the top ten hits, awards, fame, appearances, etc. Pam Tills and Lorrie Morgan are two very real people.

    “We’re both worrywarts,” said Tillis in a recent phone interview with the Journal, “ We both struggled with being a mom on the road for many years. We talk about the stress of being a woman on the road and how it takes a toll on our face and our bodies.”

    This is not the first tour the two have done together, they toured with Carlene Carter in the 90s, but this time, the two friends say wanted to try something different.

    “We wanted to hook back up again and wanted to do something different with just me and Pam, and we decided to go acoustic and do this really cool little Grits and Glamour thing. Nobody else in can do the in this industry except me and Pam because we are the second generation,” said Morgan.

    The ladies say that the acoustic performances  on the Grits and Glamour tour give audiences a more up close and personal look to their songs. They perform together during the entire show, Morgan plays guitar and sings on Tillis’ songs, and Tills does the same for Morgan. Two members from each band will accompany the ladies on stage.

    “The songs really play off each other, it’s kind of like a musical dialogue, we just try to keep it unscripted so its in the moment and so the audience is really hearing us visit and just try to, at the risk of sounding cliché, keep it real,” said Tillis.

    And, says Morgan, the audience will see the personalities of the two ladies come through as well.

    “We tell a lot of stories, we try to put in a few jokes depending on how long of a show we’ve got. Most of the jokes happen just totally accident, because Pam is so, she’s like the straight guy and I am the one that really either makes her blush. I like messing with her a lot on stage.”

    The personalities of the two women have played a part in the creative process of the album they have been working on together as well. They started with about 400 songs and had the task of narrow them down for the album.

    “Pam is so — ADD, she’s so OCD, she’s every kind of “D” there is,” she laughed,  “We narrowed it down to like 12 songs, and Pam would call me and say, ‘I’m sending you this song I really want you to hear,’ and I was like, ‘Pam, I can’t listen to any more songs!’ Oh my gosh, she was so funny,” said Tillis.

    The new album, which should be released in the last part of this year, will feature four duets and four singles from each performer.

    Tillis is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis. She has sold more than seven millions albums and has had several top ten hits, including “Maybe It Was Memphis,” “Shake the Sugar Tree,” “Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life), and “All the Good Ones Are Gone.” Her awards include Country Music Association’s Female Vocalist of the Year” in 1994 and Country Music Television’s Top Female Artist in 1995. She was one of the first women in Nashville to produce her own album, and was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2000.

    Morgan is the daughter of George Morgan, and was the youngest singer to join the Grand Ole Opry in 1984 at the age of 24. She has had more than 25 singles on the Billboard charts, three of these, “Five Minutes,” “What Part of No,” and “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength,” were number one hits.  

    She was named the Academy of Country Music’s Top Female Vocalist and Country Music Television’s Female Vocalist of the Year” in 1992. She has been named Female Artist of the Year three times by TNN/Music City News Awards.

    Morgan says she that while she loves to perform, but also says that being a wife, mother and grandmother, friend and regular person when she is off the stage helps her stay grounded.

    “I have a wonderful husband and family that when I come home I’m not the star. I don’t want to be the star at home, I don’t, and we just do the normal things when I’m at home. We grill out, we go out on the boat, you know, we clean, we vacuum, we clean bird cages. It keeps you pretty grounded when you put your hand in bird poop a lot.”

    The concert will be held in the Jensen Grand Concert Hall of the Stephens Performing Arts Center in Pocatello. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $40 for the upper level and $36 for the main level and can be purchased at the SPAC box office, open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, over the phone at (208) 282-3595 or online at www.isu.edu/tickets, and at Vickers Western Stores in Pocatello or Idaho Falls. The box office is open one hour prior to show times.