Review: Outlaw country star gets the respect she deserves in ‘The Return of Tanya Tucker’
There might be another good reason to watch a country music film called “The Return of Tanya Tucker.”
On the one hand: Who hasn’t dreamed of winning the chance to work with a bona fide legend in music?
On the other, you want to see that legend get some respect, too. How you do that you might ask?
By finding out what makes Tanya Tucker tick — what makes her tick in particular.
Tanya Tucker has been one of the most influential artists in country music for nearly three decades. Her hits as a solo artist — the anthemic ballads “She’s Got the Deal,” “If You Ever Leave Me” and “If I Ever Leave You” — are some of the best-remembered and most timeless songs in mainstream country radio history.
Not only that, as a country music superstar, Tanya has been a beloved icon in her own right since her induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007. And as a woman, she has become an iconic, all-American hero in an era where female country music stars are either very rarely seen or seen negatively.
Tanya Tucker: The legend who refuses to die.
In the years since she won the CMA Award for “Songwriter of the Year” in 1998 for her song “Don’t You Want Me (No, Not at All!),” Tucker has not only stayed relevant as an artist, but she’s become even more revered by critics.
“I was really in awe. I don’t know how to describe how special to me the [New York] Times review was,” Tucker said in a recent interview. “All this woman on the cover, from the woman with the white hair like mine, like my mother’s… I love that. I see her as a good woman and she is a good woman, and I was just so honored to have that.”
Tanya Tucker’s song “Don’t You Want Me” has been covered by hundreds of artists since it was first recorded in 1993 for her debut solo