Tanya Tucker: Country legend, Grammy nominee

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2020

⏱️ 34 minutes

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Summary

Tanya Tucker is an award-winning country star who has been making music since she was just a kid! She rose to fame in the 70s with hits like "Love's the Answer" and her debut single "Delta Dawn." Her latest album is titled "While I'm Livin" and it's her first collection of original music in over 15 years. It's a lot more personal than some of her previous records with songs written that reflect her life. Tanya Tucker talks to Bullseye about how she approaches songs she's been singing since she was a teen, traveling on the road with her family and turning down the romantic advances of one Mr. Elvis Presley! Yep, the one and only! Plus she tells us about the time her father won the money to pay for her demo tape in a fortunate game of keno. All that and more on the next Bullseye!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:13.3	I'm Jesse Thorn, it's Bullseye.
0:23.3	Tanya Tucker recorded her first single in 1972 when she was 13 years old.
0:29.6	It was called Delta Dawn. She cut it with Billy Sherrill, the veteran country music producer
0:35.6	who had collaborated with George Jones and Tammy Waimeh. Delta Dawn is a sad story song
0:42.0	about a woman who was abandoned decades ago by her lover. It's not really a song for kids.
0:48.8	And Tanya Tucker doesn't really sound like a kid on the record. We're going to play it in a bit.
0:54.2	You'll hear what I mean. It was a country smash. There are dozens of versions of the song
1:00.0	from a copycat recording by the Australian country singer Helen Reddy, which hit even bigger
1:04.9	than Tucker's version, to a cabaret rendition by Bat Middler. Whalen Jennings, Loretta Lin,
1:10.9	and Kitty Wells, I'll cut it too. The song launched Tucker's career, a girl who sang far
1:18.0	beyond her years. She's released about two dozen records since then. Her latest is While I'm
1:24.0	Living. It's her first record of original material in over 15 years. It's produced by Brandy Carlyle
1:30.5	and Shooter Jennings. It's a record informed by pain. Since her last album Tanya lost both her
1:36.5	parents and dealt with some health issues of her own. It's also beautiful. The lead single from
1:42.2	the record, Bring My Flowers Now, is nominated for Song of the Year at this year's Grammy Awards.
1:47.9	Let's take a listen.
2:17.9	All the miles, Cast a long shadow. I take a couple back if I could. I'd have learned
2:39.4	to play guitar. Tell my daddy more I loved him. I'd have a lead for the most part. I'd done good.
2:52.0	Tanya Tucker, welcome to Bullseye. I'm so happy to have you on the show.
2:54.7	Hey, thanks, Jesse. Good to talk to you. Can you tell me about where that song that we just heard
2:59.8	came from? Yeah, I mean, I've had it in my back pocket for quite a few years, but just couldn't
	...

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