Tanya Tucker

Tanya Tucker

Obsession Level: Still There, But Latent

Today I wasn't sure what obsession to go with.  So many are raging right now, but I just wasn't in the mood to talk about any of them.  Why not go back to one of my old obsessions, then?  That's just what I decided to do.  Therefore, I've decided to talk about Tanya Tucker.

My obsession with Tanya started when I was in early high school.  I had always known who she was, saw her on CMT and knew a few of her songs, but it wasn't until then that I really paid attention.  I started listening more to her, collecting a few CDs here and there, and I got hooked.  I loved her vibrato voice and I also loved her "rough and strong" personality.  She was the kind of person I would have wanted to be friends with.  

Of course, as with every good obsession, I had to do a lot of back tracking to find out all I wanted to know about her.  She had been popular long before I had put her on my radar.  I collected the music and I watched the videos, even hunting down the movie and television appearances that she made, and I read her autobiography, Nickel Dreams, which was actually one of the most interesting autobiographies that I have read.  

I got to see her in concert once as well.  The venue was a small one, and there weren't very many people there.  We were, therefore, able to get very good seats for a small  price.  She was a half hour late because of weather complications, and though some people were ticked off about it, I didn't mind.  We can't control the weather.  What was important to me was that when she got there she put on one of the best concerts I've ever been to, played an extra half hour to make up for the tardiness, and agreed to stay and sign autographs for anyone who wanted one.  I wanted one desperately, but I lost out to the other members of my party who were wet rags about the tardiness and just had to leave immediately to go and do absolutely nothing.  Yeah...I still have sour grapes about that.

In the past few years Tanya has fallen off the radar.  I haven't heard anything new or seen her on anything new.  I'm not entirely sure if it's because she has pretty much quit putting things out there, or if it's just that I have been distracted by new, shiny obsessions.  I do continue to enjoy the collection I have of her, and I do still love her.  Her music just has something so irresistibly unique about it that you have to appreciate.

Maybe it's time to look this diamond in the rough up again and rekindle completely the obsession that I enjoyed for so many years.

If you're a country music fan, even if you don't know anything about Tanya, you should make an effort to listen to her.  You'll probably find a nice new obsession for yourself as well!