Tanya Tucker Starts 2016 Tour in Shipshewana: Live Review

Tanya Tucker has started her 2016 tour off well. Last Friday she kicked off in Shipshewana, Indiana at the the Shipshewana Event Center to a nearly sold out crowd. The crowd itself was a mixture of young and old, a testament to Tucker's longevity and status as a respected country music legend without country radio airplay in recent years.

Tucker sauntered onto the stage to open her show with "Some Kind of Trouble," a single from 1992 that hit #3 on the country singles chart.  Tucker noted early on that she was nursing a sore throat, joking that she sounded like Johnny Cash when she talked, yet her voice sounded clear and recognizable when she sang. I have to say that seeing Tucker in concert a few times, I am always surprised by how unchanged her voice seems from when she started her career 42 years ago. She is one of the few performers whose voice hasn't deepened as she's aged, nor does she sound very different singing live versus an album recording.

Tucker performed for 80 minutes, keeping the crowd engaged in between songs with banter, jokes, and anecdotes of growing up in the music industry.  She featured such hits as "If Your Heart Ain't Busy," "Walking Shoes," "San Antonio Stroll," and "Texas When I Die." A true highlight was the 1975 #1 "Lizzie And The Rainman," a personal favorite of mine.

Tucker slowed things down, performing one of her biggest hits "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane." The song is very personal to Tucker, as she relates the characters in the song to her parents. She stated in lead up to the song that she gets very emotional whilst performing the song since she has lost both parents. The vulnerability Tucker displays while performing "Sparrows" is the type of quality that has kept the former wild child relatable to her fans and critics. Tucker followed up with a moving rendition of "Amazing Grace" that lead into her biggest hit "Delta Dawn." Closing her shows with the song that launched her career is the perfect way in coming full circle in what can be seen as a retrospective of her career; a Greatest Hits tour if you will.

*If there were any draw back of last week's show, it would be the slight confusion as to location due to the event promotion. All online promotion listed the concert at the Blue Gate Theater, when in reality the show was at the Shipshewana Event Center and presented by the Blue Gate Theater. This caused a slight delay in start time to allow audience members a few extra minutes to arrive after being redirected to the event center.

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Tour Dates:

Feb. 12 Newberry Opera House - Newberry, S.C.
Feb. 15 The Birchmere - Alexandria, Va.
Feb. 18 Hard Rock Rocksino - Cleveland, Ohio
Feb. 19 Tarrytown Music Hall - Tarrytown, N.Y.
Feb. 20 Sanctuary Concerts - Chatham, N.J.
March 11 Florida Strawberry Festival - Plant City, Fla.
March 18 Greenville Municipal Auditorium - Greenville, Texas
March 19 Margaritaville Resort & Casino - Bossier City, La.
May 28 Cape May Convention Hall - Cape May, N.J.
June 4 Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center Santa Clarita, Calif.
July 15 Branson Theatre - Branson, Mo.
August 12 Chinook Winds Casino - Lincoln City, Ore.
August 13 Chinook Winds Casino - Lincoln City, Ore.

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Brooklyn Brown-Sater is the Style & Entertainment Editor for UpToTempo. Follow her on Twitter: @bbrownsater

Brooklyn & UpToTempo would like to thank: Tanya Tucker, Scott Adkins at Webster Public Relations, & James Garner at CTK Management