Charles Davis Tillman
Charles Davis Tillman (March 20, 1861, Tallassee, Alabama – September 2, 1943, Atlanta, Georgia) —also known as Charlie D. Tillman, Charles Tillman, Charlie Tillman, and C. D. Tillman—was a popularizer of the gospel song. He had a knack for adopting material from eclectic sources and flowing it into the mix now known as southern gospel, becoming one of the formative influences on that genre.[1]
This article is about the pioneer of southern gospel music. For American football player Charles Tillman, see Charles Tillman.
Charles Davis Tillman
20 March 1861 
1943 (aged 81–82)
The youngest son of Baptist preacher James Lafayette Tillman and Mary (Davis) Tillman, for 14 years prior to 1887 he painted houses, sold sheet music for a company in Raleigh, North Carolina, and peddled Wizard Oil.[2] In 1887 he focused his career more on his church and musical talents, singing first tenor in a church male quartet and establishing his own church-related music publishing company in Atlanta.[3]
"Life’s Railway to Heaven"[edit]
In 1890, Tillman set to music a hymn by Baptist preacher M.E. Abbey, "Life's Railway to Heaven."[10] (Abbey had drawn from an earlier poem, "The Faithful Engineer," by William Shakespeare Hays.[11][12])
Also known by its first line "Life is like a mountain railroad", the song has been recorded by Boxcar Willie, Carter Family, Bill Monroe, Chuck Wagon Gang, The Oak Ridge Boys, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Brad Paisley, Russ Taff, Amazing Rhythm Aces, and many others. Tillman's tune is in 3/4 time, but a 4/4 version became also widespread after Patsy Cline recorded it that way in 1959 as a solo; Willie Nelson later dubbed his voice into that version to form a duet.[13] On January 14, 2012, Brad Paisley performed a 4/4 rendition as guest on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion.[14]
Members of the Western Writers of America chose the song as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[15]
The song features prominently in the 1979 TV movie Mr. Horn, sung first by David Carradine, and by Richard Widmark and Karen Black towards its ending.
The melody and some elements of the lyrics were adapted for the union song, "Miner's Lifeguard," with a refrain about mine operators who cheated workers out of honest weight, "Union miners, work together; Heed no operator's tale; Keep your hand upon the dollar, and your eye upon the scale."[16]
Recognized significance[edit]
Tillman was so recognized in his own time that, at the 1893 World Convention of Christian Workers in Boston, he served as songleader in place of Dwight L. Moody's associate Ira D. Sankey. Tillman's Assembly Book (1927) was selected by both Georgia and South Carolina for the musical scores used in public school programs. Tillman broke into radio early and performed regularly on Atlanta's radio station WSB 750 AM. Once in 1930 the NBC radio network put him on the air for an hour featuring his singing while his daughter accompanied on the piano. He also recorded on Columbia Records.[33]
Tillman, who spent most of his life in Georgia and Texas, published 22 songbooks.[34] He is memorialized in the Southern Gospel Museum and Hall of Fame and was among the first individuals to be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.[35]
Charlie D. Tillman is buried in Atlanta's Westview Cemetery.[36] The monument at his grave bears selected "Life's Railway to Heaven" lyrics.[37]