“Tanya Tucker” is Brandi Carlile’s musical idol and inspiration, and she has made it a particular goal of hers to raise the profile of the country music classic. Carlile and Tucker have teamed up for the forthcoming documentary The Return of Tanya Tucker, which follows not just Tucker’s rise to the top of the charts, but the two music mavens’ cherished friendship. In the trailer, Sony Pictures Classics shows a historical video of Tucker’s wild past, as well as her lively present and brightly-lit future, all of which are recorded in the film’s teaser.
“I’ve admired Tanya Tucker since I was eight years old,” Carlile says in the preview for The Return of Tanya Tucker.
“She’s had such an impact on country music since the 1970s.” Carlile felt compelled to help Tucker reclaim her place in the spotlight after a decade of slipping in and out of it. Tucker’s incredible existence inspired Carlile to compose a complete comeback album, adding, “I want this record to reflect a Renaissance time in her life.” Carlile pushes Tucker to push the bounds of genre and create something totally unique to her own wonderful and weird style in the video, which chronicles their journey and the arduous labour of bringing this record to life.
The Return of Tanya Tucker explores the life and career of country music icon Tanya Tucker through archive videos and images from her youth. The film also shows how hard Tucker worked to create an album for the modern-day. Tucker, who grew up in a one-room apartment in Seminole, Texas, a tiny town on the New Mexico border, didn’t know she wanted to be a country music trailblazer until she was eight years old. When Tucker was 13, she was found by Dolores Fuller, a composer who introduced her to Columbia Records, her first record company, following in her elder sister’s footsteps. Debut hit “Delta Dawn” in 1972 catapulted Tucker into a difficult career like that of Waylon Jennings or Willie Nelson in terms of adversity.
Throughout her career, she bucked the norms of her period for women in country music and in all other venues of any renown. Merle Haggard and Don Johnson (Miami Vice) were two of Tucker’s most famous lovers, but she has also had a tumultuous but passionate relationship with Glen Campbell and Don Johnson. Tucker was just fifteen years old when she first appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Carlile remarked in a Rolling Stone interview:
Due to her status as a child celebrity, many people have failed to treat her with deference. It’s hard for me to believe that she was given the same grace as artists like Waylon and Willie and Cash for the times they didn’t live up to their own ideals of healthfulness when she matured and fell on hard times. If she’s anything like these incredible outlaws, she should be celebrated in the same way.
Kathlyn Horan, an award-winning independent filmmaker, wrote, filmed, and produced The Return of Tanya Tucker, which follows the Grammy-winning duo the Indigo Girls as they create their fourteenth album in the style of Tanya Tucker. Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, and Carolyn Hepburn are among the other producers. A release date hasn’t been established, but The Return of Tanya Tucker is expected to premiere this autumn in cinemas.