Michael Tillman was born in Conroe TX, his parents
moved to Dallas before he was two years old. After spending 12 years in Dallas
he moved to live with his father in a placed called Yorktown TX, but before
he left he took his newfound love, the guitar.
He began teaching himself by ear,
learning how to transcribe pieces to tablature from the recordings of Andres
Segovia, Narcisso Yepes, and Julian Bream. After years of learning how to do
this, he realized that reading sheet music had become second nature as well,
due to his many hours spent converting it.
He spent 3 years studying architecture
at Texas A&M in College Station, though his passion remained with music,
and more specifically with the nylon string guitar. He began learning about
the world of Spanish and Latin American music from a vocal perspective, learning
the songs of the Gipsy Kings of South France, Antonio Carlos Jobim of Brazil,
Trio Los Panchos of Mexico, Silvio Rodriguez of Cuba and Carlos Vives of Columbia.
This, taken in conjuction with his love of Flamenco, especially by Paco de
Lucia, led him to the realization that he didn't approach music from the style
of a certain period or region, he approached it from the world of a plucked
nylon stringed instrument (guitar and lute).
One day in 2000 he woke up not and made
a decision not to attend any more classes at A&M. He began playing 6 nights
a week in College Station, then playing every week in College Station, Victoria,
and Dallas. He moved to Dallas in 2002, and now in 2005 is established in the
Lakewood area. He has had engagements at several small universities, the Irving
Arts Center, the Gaylord Texan, and the Bass Hall of Fort Worth.
In August Michael will be coming
out with his first full length self-produced cd, 'Michael Tillman : A Renaissance'
which will be a collectin of pieces from the vihuela and lute litureature of
the European Renaissance. His upcoming projects include a Christmas album and
a French/Spanish album which will include both the pieces of Isaac Albeniz
and Gaspar Sanz of Spain, Debussy and Roland Dyens of France, and songs in
both languages.