Tanya Tucker: Dolly Parton’s Death, Dating Merle Haggard, & Partying At Studio 54

Adam Carolla (0:00)

Well, this episode, Country Music Legend, Tanya Tucker joins me, also Rudy's got the news, and we'll do that right after this. Thanks for tuning in to The Adam Carolla Show. You can watch the full show on YouTube. Just search Adam Carolla Show and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also get the podcast wherever you like to listen. And for extra content, ad-free episodes, and more, you can head over to our sub stack and sign up today.

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Dawson (1:10)

From Carolla One Studios in Glendale, California, this is the Adam Carolla Show.

Adam's guest today, country music's finest, the legendary Tanya Tucker. Plus the news with Rudy Pavich and now, Adam Carolla.

Adam Carolla (1:24)

Yeah, get it on. Got to get on the choice, we got to get on the mandate. Get it on. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for telling the friends. We love that about you. Tanya Tucker is joining me, I think from Nashville.

Are you in Nashville? No. Where are you?

Tanya Tucker (1:37)

We're in Austin right now.

We're doing a show for Save the Muny with Ben Crenshaw, the great golfer. And so excited about it. And they're trying to save this golf course from development. And I'm glad to be a part of it.

Adam Carolla (1:55)

Austin, that's right.

Tanya Tucker (1:56)

So that's what we're doing with the Sleep at the Wheel and Jack Ingram. There's a bunch of us on the show tonight.

Adam Carolla (2:03)

I did not know. I mean, you know, it's kind of weird because you've been around my entire life, except for we're almost the same age. So I don't know how that work. And then someone explained to me at 13, you did Delta Dawn, had a hit with Delta Dawn, which was, well, it was written, Delta Dawn, what's the flower you have on?

And did I hear you say, you were meeting me here today, to take you to a mansion in the sky? Yeah, I remember.

Tanya Tucker (2:45)

I love the way you say it, Delta Dawn.

Adam Carolla (2:47)

Delta Dawn. I remember, obviously, Helen Reddy had a big hit with it. You had a hit with it.

I don't know who else had a hit with it.

Tanya Tucker (2:58)

No, that was it.

Adam Carolla (3:00)

But how was it, so young, how did you figure that one out? How did that even begin? Was it parents? Was it you?

Tanya Tucker (3:08)

Well, yeah, my dad, he was the sole warrior there. He recognized my voice, my talent, I guess you could say, when I was about nine and I lived in Wilcox, Arizona. So he asked me what I wanted to do and I said, now I want to be a big country star. And so he moved me and my mother that day and started working for me and I never quit and is still working for me this day. I hear him now more than ever. But he wouldn't take no for an answer and he's really the reason.

He just made it happen.

Adam Carolla (3:46)

Wait, he moved you that day?

Tanya Tucker (3:49)

Yeah.

Adam Carolla (3:51)

What was your dad up to? You were nine.

Tanya Tucker (3:54)

Well, my dad could do everything. He was there because he was building the chairlifts at Telluride. And I was about three years old then. And then he moved us to Arizona because he could get water well. He was a water well driller. And then he started drilling for copper.

And I remember many times going out with him, me and my mother, and going out with him. And he'd wake me up and say, look, I think we struck copper. And it was just a lot of wonderful times. But he had a sixth sense. He was a different kind of guy from Oklahoma. Married my mother at 15 What? And yeah, they were married for, I guess, when my dad passed in 6 for about 67 years. So come from a long line of love. And my dad had a, he had some kind of magic.

And when he moved us to Henderson, Nevada, right outside of Las Vegas, when I was 11, then we met some, he met some people and he met a lady there that managed Johnny Rivers. And so she said, I know who you need to talk to. You need to talk to Billy Sherrill. And he's a gambler. So he'll be in town and when he is, I'll call ya. And that's what, that's what she did. And so when he heard me, he heard the demo tapes, which were awful.