Off her first album in 17 years, which explains why we haven’t covered her…
[Video]
[5.33]
Thomas Inskeep: Tough, hard-bitten country from a woman who knows plenty about it — with two incredibly sympathetic producers (Brandi Carlisle and Shooter Jennings) in her corner.
[8]
Edward Okulicz: I have nothing but respect for Tanya Tucker, but this is the most shockingly bland moon-rhymes-with-June stuff. Its one good idea — pairing Tucker’s whiskey and sandpaper lament with a gospel-ish “ooh” — is so overused that by about the third time, I’m even bored by that. I guess you also know what whiskey tastes like before you drink it, and people still do that, but I’ll pass.
[3]
Alex Clifton: Tucker is 60 years old and has light-pink hair, which cements her status as the cool gran who has loads of stories of what it’s like to come from not much at all. Her voice sounds it too–it’s raspy, not smooth like Dolly’s but more like Bruce’s. It’s lovely to hear that she’s teamed up with Brandi Carlile and Shooter Jennings, and the song sounds fine, but the production should have been a bit rougher to match the theme–it’s better suited for Carlile’s belting vocals.
[6]
Alfred Soto: Thanks to Brandi Carlisle and Shooter Jennings’ sympathetic production, Tanya Tucker’s wonderful vocal crags project an earned wisdom that the rote song can’t do on its own. Why is it so slow? Why is the chorus so limp?
[5]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: Tucker exudes an ample amount of personality for a song that feels unwisely sparse. By the time the final chorus hits, I’m left wishing there was more to make her lyrics feel believable, because this feels more like Tucker talking to you than an actual song.
[3]
Jessica Doyle: The video, between Tucker’s [10] hair and Brandi Carlile as The Mom, improves the song immensely; without it the background ooohs start getting a little repetitive. Knowing some of the backstory also improves the song–that the part about opening her mouth to sing as a baby is only barely exaggeration, and less country cliché than Carlile’s doing some mythmaking for one of her heroes. And having had no knowledge of Tucker prior to hearing this song, I now think Carlile and Scooter Jennings have done a public service. Tucker is currently touring, which on the one hand has to be demanding to someone who would probably rather be in a financial position to relax at home, but on the other hand, all evidence points to her being amazing live, and I’m already looking at rejiggering my calendar.
[7]