Song:Texas (When I Die)
Album:20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best Of Tanya Tucker
Tanya Tucker became a star as a teen with hits like Delta Dawn and What's Your Mama's Name for legendary producer Billy Sherrill at Columbia Records. She suffered from what I call The Jackson 5 syndrome. Motown owner Berry Gordy didn't want them to grow up so they had to leave Motown. Sherrill probably had the same feelings about Tanya. So in 1975 Tanya left Columbia for MCA Records. Lizzie and the Rainman and San Antonio Stroll were #1 country hits from her 1975 album Tanya Tucker produced by Snuff Garrett. Her next three albums were produced by another veteran producer Jerry Crutchfield. Here's Some Love topped the country charts in 1976. But at 19 years old Tanya wants a more adult image and she doesn't want to be typecast as a country singer. So for the 1978 album TNT she brought in producer Jerry Goldstein best known for producing the group War. So the album was more rock then country. She had also moved to Los Angeles. And Tanya started wearing sexy clothes. She wanted to show she was an adult. The album did well. It was her first Gold album for MCA. The single Texas (When I Die) reached #5 on the Country Singles chart. The song was called When I Die I Want To Go To Texas when Ed Bruce wrote it with his wife Patsy and Bobby Borchers and Bruce recorded it on his 1978 album The Tennessean. Texas was supposed to to be the B side of a cover of Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away. I guess radio stations preferred the country sound of Texas. And that was the problem with TNT. It didn't cross over to pop despite using a rock producer. So for her next album, Tanya returned to Crutchfield. Things went south at MCA when Tanya began her relationship with Glen Campbell. And she also had drug and alcohol problems. Tanya left MCA in 1982. She recorded one album for Arista and then she revived her career in the late 80s on Capitol again working with Jerry Crutchfield. You can get Texas on this budget comp. This is the original recording. She did re-record the song for Capitol. There have been career spanning Tanya Tucker comps but all are out of print. She might be ripe for a Bear Family box set. Here's Tanya Tucker performing Texas (When I Die) on Church Street Station in the 80s.
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