SHIPSHEWANA – Shipshewana’s Blue Gate Theater will welcome Country Music Hall of Fame member Mel Tillis. Tillis will perform his hits on Saturday at 7 p.m. Tillis is also known as one of the stars who helped get Branson on the map during the “boom” years, and even though he hasn’t had his own theater in many years, he still returns to perform there every year. Tillis is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry, thanks in large part to his more than 60 hit songs throughout his career. He scored his first No. 1 with a song he had written for, and that was previously recorded by, Webb Pierce, “I Ain’t Never,” and went on to have several more No. 1 hits as a singer including “Coca Cola Cowboy,” “Send Me Down to Tucson” and “Southern Rains.” Tillis also wrote an autobiography, “Stutterin’ Boy,” and has served as a spokesman and honorary chairman for the Stuttering Foundation of America. Most recently, he received the 2010 Academy of Country Music Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award, and in 2012 President Barack Obama awarded him the National Medal of Arts. Tickets for the show are available by contacting The Blue Gate Theater at 888-447-4725 or on the web at www.BlueGateTheatre.com Tickets only are $69, $49, $39 and $19. Dinner and theater are $85, $65, $55 and $35. This concert will be held at the Shipshewana Event Center, 800 S. Van Buren, Shipshewana.
