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When Carrie Tillis steps on stage playing the lead role in a tribute show to country music legend Tammy Wynette, she'll have a little bit of experience from which to draw.

Tillis is the daughter of country music star Mel Tillis, and sister of Pam Tillis, who has also had many hits on the country charts,

"For me, this show is like me returning to my country roots. My family is in country music, and that is where the parallel is drawn," Tillis says. "I understand what it's like to be in the business. It's this back story that allows me to understand what it takes to be in the business."

Tillis will take the stage along with Larry Tobias, who will play Wynette's third husband, George Jones, in "Stand By Your Man: The Tammy Wynette Story" beginning Tuesday at the Mountain Playhouse in Jennerstown.

The musical biography will feature more than 30 Wynette songs as it chronicles her career and personal life.

Carrie Tillis has taken to the stage while pursuing her love of acting, but never let go of the talent she has as a singer.

"In high school, I knew I wanted to pursue acting as a career. I went off to college to study theater, and then I took a strange detour into opera," Tillis says. "That was a wild ride. It took me away from my country background, but it added so much to my career. It added to everything I was doing or have been doing. All the experience adds up, and you refer to it all often. "

Tillis sees the Wynette show at the Playhouse as something that provides the best of both worlds for her.

"Now I get to put everything together," she says. " I am taking my country background and blending that into the theater, and it is a joy to do it."

As Tillis travels around the country for her roles on stage, she has been busy working on a new CD, "Round Trip," which features country music mixed with some bluegrass and old school sounds to create an "alternative rootsy country" blend.

Back on stage in Jennerstown, Guy Stroman will direct the show. He says that after having worked with Tobias and Tillis at a previous performance at the Playhouse, he was certain that the two would make a dynamite pair for the Wynette show.

"I knew if I could get this cast together, I could make this something very special for this theater," Stroman says. "We have real authentic musicians who understand this music. We are going to take the roof off with the music in this show.

"And the story itself is so engaging. It's a story that a lot of people around this area may not know a lot about," Stroman says. "We find out about these people as humans, not just recording artists."

Acting and music aside, the venue itself will add a great deal to the show, Tillis says.

"I think it's a perfect setting for some of these country shows. The location of the theater lends itself wonderfully to that kind of show," she says. "It just makes it that much more special."

'Round Trip' release

During the past two years, Carrie Tillis has spent a lot of time traveling between her family's farm in Nashville and her home in New York City. As a result, a new CD was born, featuring the songs she had written during that down time.

"Round Trip" is a collection of alternative country music songs and is set to debut in early June.

"I started hearing all these songs in my head," Tillis says. "Depending on where I was, it flavored the songs that I wrote. If I was on my way back to New York City, I would write about missing home."

The opening night party for "Stand By Your Man" will double as a CD release event for Tillis, who will be signing copies of the CD following the performance on June 3.

"I thought it would be fantastic doing this country show, and then have the album to release," Tillis says. "I am really proud of it. It's my first big official CD that features the songs that I wrote."

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