‘The Return of Tanya Tucker’ Sees Brandi Carlile Help Country Star Relaunch Her Her Career  

Tanya Tucker hates the phrase “comeback.” “It’s been beaten to death…I like ‘relaunch’ better,” she tells fan turned producer Brandi Carlile outside the listening party for the album that would restart her career. “I’ve come back so much, they don’t believe it no more.” It’s one of many charming moments captured in The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile, the 2022 documentary which is currently streaming on Netflix. 

Brandi Carlile checks all the boxes for politically-correct, industry-approved, contemporary Americana artist. Her success is the result of not just talent but hard work, while her music bumps up against the boundaries of country, adult pop and rock. She’s thoughtful and politically active and has raised millions for a variety of causes through the non-profit group she runs with her wife, Catherine Shepherd. Tanya Tucker ain’t that.

Born in 1958, Tucker was raised in Texas and Arizona. She grew up broke, but not poor, she says, and was encouraged to sing by her parents who guided her career throughout her life. Her first hit was 1972’s “Delta Dawn,” a song about a middle aged woman chasing the phantoms of the past. Not the typical song a girl barely into her teens would pick to sing. The fact that she put the song over so convincingly should have been taken as an omen.

The ensuing years would see continued success, as Tucker became one of the biggest country artists of the 1970s and ‘80s. Literally growing up in public, she earned a reputation as a hell-raiser, partying as hard as the boys and dating famous entertainers, including Glen Campbell and Merle Haggard, both 20 years her senior. She battled addiction, depression, and career setbacks but nothing did as much damage as the loss of her parents in the early 2000s. “I lost both my parents and kind of lost my mojo,” she told The Columbus Dispatch newspaper in 2015.     

When we catch up with Tucker, it’s January 2019. She’s in Los Angeles recording her first album of new material in 17 years. Shooter Jennings and Brandi Carlile are producing and want to do for her what Rick Rubin did for Johnny Cash, make her relevant again. “I have loved Tanya Tucker since I was eight years old,” says Carlile, earnestly. “Tanya’s voice is in all of us that sing country music and it’s time for us to do an about-face and recognize that.”

Tucker looks a little rough. She’s got pink hair and bad skin. She lacks confidence and carries with her a malaise. Still, she could probably beat your ass. She breaks for tequila in between vocal takes and later will complain about having to quit smoking to go on tour. “I hate the idea of having to quit smoking because I like doing it so much,” she says like a bad girl in a b-movie. “I dread having to be disciplined about anything.”

Even as a teenager, Tucker sang like someone who had lived through all the joys and pain of the world. Age has cut a beautiful path through her vocal cords. Her voice is warm, leathery, broken in, like a saxophone or electric guitar at its most emotive.

Carlile asks Tucker about her female heroes growing up but she says her only heroes were Elvis Presley and Merle Haggard. Carlile responds by saying Tucker was her hero. The younger songwriter asks the older lots of questions, prying answers out of her and repurposing them as lyrics. “This is all from your stories,” she says while playing her “Bring My Flowers Now,” which was built around an impromptu verse Tucker sang to friend and mentor Loretta Lynn over the phone.  

At times, Carlile’s over-eager, standing with Tucker in the vocal booth or fretting about high publicity live performances. She calls Tucker a “wild card” and worries about her unpredictability. Miranda Lambert finally told her she had to accept that “Tanya Tucker’s fucking crazy and you can’t control what she says and that’s what we all love about her.“ She reminds one of Keith Richards in Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll attempting to bring his own hero, Chuck Berry, to heel without quelling the rebellious spirit which informed his genius. 

After securing a new recording contract and several well-received performances, Tucker’s comeback or relaunch or whatever she wants to call it seems under way. The resulting album, While I’m Living, was released in August 2019 and was a critical and commercial success. After 14 previous unsuccessful nominations, Tucker would win three Grammy Awards in 2020, including Best Country Album and Best Country Song, for “Bring My Flowers Now.” 

Watching The Return of Tanya Tucker in 2023, after the successful relaunch of her career, it’s as predictable as any other modern bio-doc produced to accompany a new record, from the faux-candid footage to the anticipatory Grammy announcement. However, success was far from guaranteed when Tucker, Carlile and Jennings began the project in 2019. There’s a sweetness to the film which is rewarding, as the devoted Carlile patiently brings out the best in Tucker and casts the spotlight on her she so richly deserves. Tucker, Carlile and Jennings would collaborate again on Sweet Western Music, which was released this past summer.   

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician.