The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile

This film was playing at our art house cinema and while I can appreciate most forms of music, I was aware of Tanya Tucker but knew little else about her life and career.

For the most part, the film focusses on Brandi Carlile's adoration of Tanya Tucker's work and her efforts to bring Tanya back to into the limelight for the appreciate of her original fans and to gain the recognition she feels is warranted for a true country music icon. Brandi Carlile, a gifted musician in her own right, opens the film with her initial efforts to contact Tanya and convince her to produce a new country album. Most of the film focusses on her working with a somewhat hesitant Tanya on the new album with occasional glimpses back into Tanya's budding career when she started singing at venues like country fairs in her early teens.

While the bulk of the film focusses on the production of a new country album, it does go on to include the effort required to bring Tanya back for a live performance and without giving away any spoilers, the national recognition achieved for Brandi and Tanya's effort.

While the film does hint at the reasons for Tanya's 15 year hiatus from the country music scene, I feel the one criticism would be that it didn't explore that aspect of her life very much leaving viewers to possibly question the circumstances that led to her dropping out of the music scene.

Overall, I think it is a worthwhile & interesting watch to learn more about another music legend who came from such a poor background and became wildly successful at such an early age.