“A woman’s life ain’t just a list of worst things she has done,” Tanya Tucker sings on the opening track to her new album, “While I’m Livin’.
Seventeen years later, original female outlaw and ‘Delta Dawn’ country legend, Tanya Tucker is back making history with the release of her highly anticipated new album, “While I’m Livin,’”, comprised of songs written by Brandi Carlile, Shooter Jennings, and the twins, Tim and Phil Hanseroth.
“It’s a musical biography of sorts,” said Carlile, “about Tanya’s real life and the places she’s seen, and it’s narrated by the greatest country and western singer this side of Johnny Cash.”
According to The New Yorker, “While I’m Livin’ ” might be the best record of Tucker’s career; it is certainly one of the albums of the year.
“She hasn’t been given the respect she deserves because she was a child star,” Carlile explained in an interview with Rolling Stone.
“As she grew up and fell on hard times, I don’t think she was given the same grace an artist like Waylon and Willie and Cash were given for the times that they maybe didn’t live up to their own standards of healthfulness. She should be lauded in the same way that so many of these amazing outlaw men are.”
Tucker definitely lived the outlaw life, similar to her country idols such as Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Cash. She never married, but dated plenty, connecting with legends such as Merle Haggard, Don Johnson, and most famously, Glen Campbell when she was 22 years old and he was 44.
The record should help remind people why Tucker has, over the years, inspired so many rebellious country women—from the Dixie Chicks to Miranda Lambert and Gretchen Wilson, who, on her signature tune, “Redneck Woman,” sings, “I know all the words to every Tanya Tucker song.”
But Tucker doesn’t want listeners thinking this is her “comeback,” –it’s a ‘relaunch,’ which she shared with The Associated Press.
Her rejection of the term ‘comeback’ is not hard to understand. Why? She’s already been there and done that. Now, it’s about empowering other female artists in a time where many in the country feel shut out and stifled from freely expressing themselves.
In celebration of the release, Tucker is playing special select shows this fall. She kicked off the performances last night at Exit/In in Nashville and is at the Grand Ole Opry tonight.
Additional dates include September 17 at The Bowery Ballroom (presented by SiriusXM) in New York, and October 16 at The Troubadour in Los Angeles—with a second show added on October 17 (presented by 88.5FM).
Tucker will also join Brandi Carlile at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on December 6, tickets and VIP packages are available here.
