Mel Tillis brings decades of stories, songs to Georgia

3 and 7 p.m. July 26. Free with Georgia Mountain Fair admission, $12. Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds, 1311 Music Hall Road, Hiawassee. 706-896-4191, www.georgiamountainfairgrounds.com.

As he nears his 82nd birthday (on Aug. 8), Mel Tillis retains every bit of the cheeky charm and yarn-spinning humor that endeared him to the public, whether they were country music lovers or not, back in the 1960s and ’70s. And he still has that famous stutter, too.

In a recent phone interview, he tells the tale of going to Nashville, Tenn., from his home in Florida while working as a railroad fireman in the 1950s. “I wanted to sing. They said, ‘Well, you can’t talk.’”

But, the powers that be told him, what you really need are songs. That’s what he gave them.

After crafting hits for others (Kenny Rogers and the First Edition’s “Ruby Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” Bobby Bare’s “Detroit City”) and for himself (“I Ain’ Never,” “Good Woman Blues”), Tillis hit Hollywood. He appeared in Clint Eastwood’s “Every Which Way You Can” and several Burt Reynolds movies. He had his own television show, too, headlining “Mel and Susan Together” with model Susan Anton.

He’s been the Country Music Association’s entertainer of the year, joined the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame in the same year (2007), received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2012 and had his own variety show on network television. But ask Mel Tillis which was the greatest honor, and he’d rather tell you a story about dancing.

Sometime around the mid-’70s, the singer Vic Damone asked Tillis to play at a party near Washington, D.C. The money was good so Tillis said yes.

All you can do is 25 minutes, Damone told him.

“I can’t say hello in 25 minutes,” Tillis says with a chuckle some four decades later.

Well, don’t talk, just play music, Damone suggested.

“We were packing up and a teeny little lady came up and asked, ‘Could you play the “Tennessee Waltz,” please?’ Ma’am, I’d love to, but they asked us to only do 25 minutes.

“Then a guy stepped up and said, ‘Mel, this is Mrs. General MacArthur.’ Well, I said, not only can we play it, but may I have this dance? The band tipped it off and I went out there with her and she might have come up to my bellybutton. She looked up at me and said, ‘Young man, you’re the first man I’ve danced with since my General died.’ Man, that was something. That is the highlight of my career.”

Once Tillis starts talking, he seems unstoppable, but that’s what makes him one of the greats. He’s as entertaining when he’s talking as he is when he’s singing.

Despite heart surgery in early March, Tillis sounds as eager to get out on stage as a man just making his start in the business.

“I’m doing my rehab and everything’s just fine,” he says in mid-July. “I’ve been doing shows for over a month now. I’m in good shape. I’m up and at ‘em. My band’s happy to be back on the road, and we’re looking forward to coming to Georgia.”

That’s where he’ll be this weekend, playing one show west of Atlanta in Bremen and two in North Georgia in Hiawassee with his loyal band.

Many of those players have been with him for more than 30 years. “And it’s the best band in country music,” he says. “And I’m talking about the real country music.”