Mel Tillis

While channelling a childhood stutter into one of the warmest and entertaining personas in country music, Floridian Mel Tillis became a major songwriter and, in the '70s, a successful performer in his own right. After signing with Columbia, Tillis scored his first country hit, "The Violet And The Rose," in 1958, but penning classics such as "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town" for the likes of Webb Pierce, Ray Price, Bobby Bare, and Kenny Rogers remained his bread and butter for the next decade. His performing career exploded in the '70s with chart toppers such as "I Ain't Never" and "Good Woman Blues."