The girl becomes a legend: The early recordings of Tanya Tucker

February 27, 2021 Vincent Stephens

In 2020, country legend Tanya Tucker won two Grammy Awards, her first after 14 nominations, for Best Country Album and Best Country Song for her album While I’m Livin’ (Fantasy) and the song “Bring my Flowers Now” co-written with Brandi Carlisle, Tim Hanseroth, and Phil Hanseroth. Listeners curious about her earliest recordings have a great opportunity to explore her roots more deeply than the myriad “Greatest Hits” compilations in circulation.

In 2020 the Grammy finally brought Tanya Tucker her “flowers” via two Grammys for her acclaimed 2019 album.

After years of uneven compilations and repackagings of Tanya Tucker’s hits from her stint at Columbia Records, circa 1972-77, Morello Records compiled her first four albums on a double disc collection with two albums apiece in 2018. Delta Dawn, What’s Your Mama’s Name, and Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone) were all recorded as LPs whereas You Are So Beautiful compiles various recordings Tucker recorded prior to her departure for MCA so it’s a compilation, technically.

Regardless, producer Billy Sherrill’s signature lush production style, with its choral backing and strings, and Tucker’s gusty yet nuanced interpretations link these songs together. Tucker began recording at age 14, and her ability to get to the heart of her material, ranging from the deranged figure in “Delta Dawn” to the dramatic scenario of “The Baptism of Jesse Taylor” would be impressive for any singer but is especially astonishing given her age at the time. As you listen her style is consistent even if she gains a bit more color and texture over time. Collectively, they plant the seed for what became a formidable interpretive approach rooted in a Southern flavored approach rather than a strict, generically “country” sound. Nothing here qualifies as honky-tonk or bluegrass, or “outlaw” and that is their strength. Tucker is conversant with different styles—rock, R&B, gospel—and fuses them seamlessly with her country influences and Sherrill’s style. The result is a classic subgenre of 1970s country unique to Tucker.

Tucker’s first four LPs, which are not streamable, are available as a double-CD released in 2018 on Morello Records. They are classics of what’s sometimes referred to as “Southern Gothic.”

Tucker recorded successfully for MCA from 1976-82. Though 1978’s TNT and 1979’s Tear Me Apart found her veering into a promising rock-oriented sound her audience was alienated and she turned to country pop on 1983’s Changes at Arista. Her return to form came on 1986’s Girls Like Me, recorded on Capitol, which placed her voice in sleek but agreeably country settings and generated a streak of radio hits. She maintained this winning approach through 1997’s Complicated, which coincide with the release of her autobiography Nickel Dreams: My Life. In the 2000s she only recorded two albums, 2002’s Tanya and the album 2009’s My Turn, and branched into reality TV on TLC’s Tuckerville in 2005. The acclaimed While I’m Livin’ produced by Shooter Jennings and Brandi Carlile returns her to her rightful place, as an enduring vital talent.

The triumphant second phase of Tucker’s career began with 1986’s hit album Girls Like Me which began spawned over a decade of hits and well-earned critical respect. She has never looked back.