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Story Time: Dear Tanya Tucker,

Posted on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at 4:10 pm

By Lorry Myers

You don’t know me, not yet anyway. I have been trying to see you for a while now but life has a way of keeping us apart. Your name, Tanya Tucker, is on my husband’s “concert bucket list”, and now, you are at the top of mine. I am writing to you to let you know that I am counting the days until your Roots ‘N Blues performance. I also want to encourage you to take care of yourself because my ticket has been purchased.

I didn’t buy ticket insurance.

Because “it’s just a matter of time”, Tanya Tucker, surely nothing will stop us now. That’s what I keep telling myself, as our date gets closer and closer. We have to do this; I can’t move on until I mark you off. So please, I have faith in you; in us.

“Faith that can move anything”.

My husband grew up on country radio, falling in love with Jerry Lee and Conway and Tammy long before I met him. When Willie and Waylon and the boys turned outlaw, my perspective of country music changed. Right in the middle of that country revolution was you, Tanya Tucker, young and sassy and ready for more. I liked the boots you wore and your swagger when you sang. I admired the way you went after what you wanted and seemed willing to take chances.

You know, a “bring my flowers now” kind of girl.

My husband and I were “like two sparrows in a hurricane”, “with a head full of dreams” and a love for loud music. Randy exposed me to the steel guitar and sequined cowboy shirts and I turned him on to everything else. Over the years, no matter what we listened to, Randy remained true to country music.

You, Tanya Tucker, are one of his people.

Early on, Randy and I were concert goers. We saw Paul, and Mick and Alice Cooper, (pretty sure I lost my hearing at that one). Of course, we also saw Willie and Waylon, Hank Jr. and Merle. Randy and I halted our concert tours when our kids were growing, then started again once our third child was out the door.

“We all think we got the time.”

Since then, I decided that the best way to insure we see all our favorite artists, was to make a list of who we wanted to see. Our concert bucket list was random and not checked off in any order because some years this person was touring and some years no one was touring.

Still, “there’s always sunrise”.

For the complete column, see this week’s edition of the Centralia Fireside Guard