Lorrie Morgan brings a lifetime of country experiences with her

Country star Lorrie Morgan scored most of her top 10 hits in the 1990s, with songs like “Watch Me,” “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength,” “What Part of No” and “Back in Your Arms Again” receiving significant play on country radio.

But Morgan, who performs at Northern Quest Resort & Casino this weekend, has been a presence in the country music scene since the ’70s, and it was an environment she’s been familiar with since childhood. Her father, George Morgan, was a celebrated country artist, and Morgan recalls growing up in and around the venerated Grand Ole Opry.

“We would go sit backstage when Tex Ritter was singing, and Barbara Mandrell and Dolly (Parton) and Porter (Wagoner),” Morgan said. “Did we take it for granted? Yeah, it’s all we ever knew. But it was exciting – every Friday and Saturday night at the Opry with my dad.”

After her father died in 1975, Morgan embarked on her own solo career, even touring with her dad’s former backing band for a few years. She eventually became a member of Grand Ole Opry in 1984, the youngest ever inductee at the time, which Morgan chocks up to being surrounded by talent her entire life.

“When you grow up around some of the best, it really rubs off on you,” Morgan said.

Morgan’s upcoming Inland Northwest show will be a co-headlining gig with Pam Tillis, who similarly came of age among country royalty: Her father is revered country artist Mel Tillis, and she, like Morgan, scored some major hits in the ’90s. (Her top 10 singles include “Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)” and “When You Walk in the Room”).

Tillis and Morgan released a collaborative album called “Dos Divas” in 2013, and they’ve toured off and on with a stage show they call “Grits and Glamour.”

“We worked together back in the ’90s,” Morgan said. “Of course, that was when we were all making big records, and we were on separate (tour) buses and we’d just pass each other coming on and off the stage. It was a very diva-ish feeling out there. But we have become extremely great friends. It’s been a blessing to get to know Pam. … Now we ride the same bus, and Pam calls it a rolling slumber party.”

And that sense of behind-the-scenes camaraderie follows Morgan and Tillis onto the stage: “I sing harmony on all her stuff and she does on mine. We’re onstage the whole time together,” Morgan said.

Morgan’s upcoming solo album, titled “Let It Go…Slow,” is slated for an early February release, and it’s her first studio LP since 2010’s “I Walk Alone.” Morgan says she has been working on the record for five years, and although none of the singles have been released yet, she may slip one or two new songs onto her current live set list.

“On this particular album, I really tried to step it up,” Morgan said. “I think it’s one of the best albums I’ve ever done. … This time the approach was more relaxed. It was more about the songs I wanted to record versus songs the label thought the radio would play. I had fun; we laughed. It was the way it should be.

“That’s where I’m at in my life. I want it to be fun, I want it to be real and I want everybody to feel it.”