Sweet Western Sound

Tanya Tucker

Released on 6/2/23 by Fantasy
Main artists: Tanya Tucker
Genre: Country

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God bless Brandi Carlile and Shooter Jennings who, unlike other artists bewitched by the legacy of classic country stars, haven't forced Tanya Tucker into retro drag. In producing their second collaboration with the leather-and-lace legend, the two instead have helped her come up with a collection of songs that sounds like 2023. Which isn't to say the "Delta Dawn" singer isn't willing to look back on her storied (and rollercoaster) life and career. She sounds bright and shiny as a new penny on "The List" and like she's having the time of her life—even letting out a happy growl—as she sings about her bad old ways. "Y'all heard stories about my past/ And they're probably true," she sings alongside John Schreffler's wailing steel guitar. And yet: "That list of things you don't like about me/ Is gonna be shorter than mine." Heck, the album opens with "Tanya" and the creaky warblings of her old pal Billie Joe Shaver, who passed away in 2020, accompanied only by the blowing wind: "The glow from the light all around her/ Show off her beauty so well/ She looks like a heavenly angel/ But Tanya is meaner than hell." Yes, she is very in on the joke, if you want to call it that, of having been a headline-grabbing hell-raiser in her youth. But, as someone who's going to finally be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame this fall—more than 50 years after her first hit, at age 13—she's also completely in awe of the genre's history. "All you outlaws/ and the Opry queens/ They wrapped those golden arms around the baby of the family," she sings on "Ready As I'll Never Be," a tribute to the lost stars of the past, inspired in part by Shaver's death. It's a real tearjerker and you can hear the pained emotion in her voice (which, by the way, sounds great). She also honors Linda Ronstadt, on the sweeping "Letter to Linda." "You always were my favorite/ The greatest ... I know you've been struggling/ Being in the shadows for so long/ I just had to reach out to you/ And say you shaped me with your songs," she sings to Ronstadt, whose singing career was cruelly sidelined more than a decade ago by Parkinson's disease. Meanwhile, Carlile pays personal homage to Tucker by duetting with her on "Breakfast in Birmingham," a banjo-led number with real C&W twang and cinematic lyrics by Bernie Taupin. Carlile, who brings along her own bandmates Phil & Tim Hanseroth to harmonize on the album like angels, also gifts Tucker the excellent album-closing ballad, "When the Rodeo is Over (Where Does the Cowboy Go?)." "Your heart can't take the losing/ And your knees can't take the blows," Tucker sings, aware of the ravages of time but not yet ready to step out of her own boots. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

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Sweet Western Sound

Tanya Tucker

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Tanya