One morning in early August, Cashion native Mark Beutler received a surprise text message from Nashville recording artist Pam Tillis.

“Hey, what are you doing August 26?” the message read.

“Recovering from dental surgery on the 25th,” Beutler responded. “Why?”

“Oh, I thought you might want to come to Nashville,” Tillis said. “You could help me celebrate my 25th anniversary at the Grand Ole Opry.”

Dental surgery aside, Beutler booked a direct flight to Nashville.

“When I was a young disc jockey at KXY, our music director, Wade Carter, added Pam’s first single to the playlist,” Beutler said.

“She was an up-andcoming artist and with that first spin, I liked her music. Her songwriting was, and still is, like fine poetry.

“Pam and I met at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville early in 1991 and just clicked. Now, we’re working on a 35-year friendship.”

Fellow Oklahoman and legendary recording artist Vince Gill was also on hand to help celebrate Tillis’ anniversary.

“Vince came over one morning back in 1995 and sang background for me on a new song I was recording,” Tillis recalls. “We worked hard on it all morning, then at lunch I took him to lunch and bought him a barbecue sandwich!”

The 25th Opry anniversary was a star-studded event, with artists like Lorrie Morgan, Suzy Bogguss and Carlene Carter, all who had toured with Tillis at some point in the last 30 years.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Beutler said. “I have done a lot in my career – TV news, marketing, public relations. But my first love was radio and to revisit those days with Pam was so much fun.

“I saw people from the road I knew years ago and I got to watch the show backstage.”

Beutler also stood in the revered “Grand Ole Opry Circle.” It’s a 6-foot section of flooring taken from the stage at the old Ryman Auditorium.

“When my mom was little, growing up on a farm on Highway 33 east of Kingfisher, she remembers her parents listening to the Opry on Saturday nights,” Beutler said. “She would ask her dad to move the radio so she could look behind and see Roy Acuff and Gene Autry!

“Standing in that circle, the magnitude hit me of all the artists who had stood in that very spot – Loretta Lynn, Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline and so many others,” he continued.

“And today, my friend Pam is carrying on the legacy of great country music. It may take a while for me to fully comprehend everything that happened on this trip!”