Tanya Tucker: Up Close and Personal

Tanya Tucker: Up Close and Personal: So what are we doing interviewing the country music superstar Tanya Tucker? Well, a couple of rockin’ Chappaqua moms asked us if we’d like to interview her for our site. Tanya will be playing the Tarrytown Music Hall on Friday, February 19 and Jocelyn Lyss and Vicki Birdoff, both from Chappaqua, are promoting the show. It’s what they do. So, what the hell? We had a nice chat with Ms. Tucker and here’s how it went:

You had your first hit with Delta Dawn in 1972 at the age of 13. Can you even remember what that was like?

I remember everything, like it was yesterday. I can remember the first time I heard the song and I recorded it the next day. Back then we did all recordings live in studio. Not like today. We used to do it under the gun. Two-hour sessions. Recorded it at noon in March of ‘72 and it went out a week later. Then we hit the shopping center tour. Played a lot of shopping centers and parking lots. That’s how it started.

I still record live. No overdubs. Some of the best songs just come out magically with a few good musicians in the studio. I didn’t even know what an overdub was until I was signed with MCA Records. We did the basic track of the song and I said, “That’s too slow.” They said, “don’t worry we can always speed it up.” That’s when I learned about studio tricks but it seemed dishonest to me. I was 16 and I told my daddy I didn’t want to work that way anymore so we left LA and went back to Nashville.

Even at 13, it took you four years to become an overnight sensation did you ever get discouraged?

Never! I don’t know how. But me and my daddy had a goal and my daddy said it doesn’t matter how you get there you just keep plugging. The hardest times always are the best times when you’re looking back. I remember, driving down the road in a station wagon with my daddy. Changing clothes under a blanket in the back seat getting ready for the next gig.

What does it mean when they call you and Waylon and Willie “outlaws”?

Who knows? Outlaw Country they called it. I guess it just means you don’t run by the same rules. I was working for Clive Davis and he liked to get involved in picking songs. But I didn’t like the songs he was picking. They said, “but Mr. Davis likes these songs …” So I didn’t last very long with Mr. Davis. That’ll get you called all kind of names.

You like picking your own songs…

I like picking my own songs. And I like picking songs for other people too. I picked “Bartender Blues” for George Jones. And he had a #1 hit with it. His first #1 in seven years. So, yeah. I pick my own songs.

What singers did you listen to when you were growing up?

Loretta Lynn. Elvis. I can remember every second of an Elvis concert I went to. In fact, I could do the whole concert today. Merle Haggard. Conway Twitty. George Jones. First song I can remember singing was “Hang down your head Tom Dooley, hang down your head and cry …”

How about now?
The new country music? Some of it I like, some, not so much. But I’m pretty easy to please. I love Miranda and Shania Twain and Faith Hill’s older stuff. I’d love to do a song with Taylor Swift if we could write it together. Lucinda Williams. She’s way out of the box – a very ballsy girl. I’m very big on Chuck Cannon and David Lynn Jones. I bought his album, Hard Times On Easy Street for $450 – cause they don’t make them anymore. Still I tend to go with the older stuff. Last time I heard George Jones sing “The Grand Tour” I had to pull over and sit for a while. Merle Haggard is the best. He’s still my all-time favorite.

Do your musical tastes go beyond country?

They do. I like James Taylor and Cat Stevens, Don Henley and The Eagles. I was down and out when we lost Glenn. And I like Eric Clapton and Fleetwood Mac. Nick Fleetwood is the coolest guy. I went to see Steve Tyler recently and he blew me away.

You didn’t mention Patsy Cline?

Patsy was Loretta Lynn’s hero but she never got to see her on stage. Harlan Howard said if I had ever been friends with Patsy Cline it would have been all over. My daddy told me, “Don’t ever go loitering around no Patsy Cline songs ‘cause it won’t do you no good.“ Only once did I sing one. Willie Nelson wanted me to sing “Crazy” with him and I said I’d do it just for him just this once. I sang the hell out of it but you know she’s a tall tree and you don’t want to get caught in the shadows.

What are some of your other favorite collaborations?

I sang “Angel from Montgomery” with John Prine. And I worked with Little Richard and my favorite was a song I did with Frank Sinatra. It’s sittin’ up on a shelf somewhere collecting dust. Loretta Lynn did a number with Jack White of The White Stripes. I’d love to work with him. I know where he lives so maybe I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.

Did you ever work with Elvis?

I never worked with Elvis. Got invited to Graceland a lot but I never went. Didn’t want to be one of the girls. Yes it’s tough being a girl in the music
business. It’s a man’s world and we’re living in it. And being successful too.

Are there any surprises on your set list for The Tarrytown Music Hall?

If I told you they wouldn’t be surprises. But we’re doing “Desperado” (in South Carolina) tonight.

Are you still the same person you were when you were 15 and on the cover of The Rolling Stone?

No. Back then it was, “Hi, I’m Tanya Tucker and you’re gonna hear from me.” Now, 35 years later it’s “Hi, I’m Tanya Tucker. I’m 57 and you’re still hearing from me.“

Tanya Tucker has been nominated for ten Grammy Awards, has won nine country music awards including CMT’s 40 GreatestWomen of Country Music, has performed on the Superbowl Halftime Show and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2014.   Her top Tanya Tucker hits include, “Delta Dawn”, “Texas (When I Die)”, “Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone”), “(Without You) What Do I Do With Me”, “Two Sparrows in a Hurricane”, “Lizzie and the Rain Man”, and “What’s Your Mama’s Name Child”.  On her Grammy-nominated Gold selling 1978 album, TNT, she covered rock songs from Buddy Holly (“Not Fade Away”), Elvis Presley (“Heartbreak Hotel”), Chuck Berry (“Brown Eye Handsome Man”) and John Prine (“Angel From Montgomery”)