"I didn't know what I was supposed to do," she explained. "I was depressed — probably major depressed, actually. I'd lost my dad. I felt like I didn't know who I was. I didn't know if I really mattered anymore."

Fortunately, the executives at Saguaro Road Records, Time Life's fledgling imprint, weren't in a hurry. Since they were the ones who had come up with the album concept, they were willing to wait as long as it took for Tucker to come onboard.

"One of the fun things we get to do is sit around and decide who we would like to record with and who we would ideally want to put them with," said Mike Jason, Senior VP of Audio & Video Retail, Time Life and Saguaro Road Records. "And two names we came up with were Tanya Tucker and Pete Anderson. We thought, 'Wow, Tanya doing classic Country songs, Pete adding that edgy, guitar-driven aspect to it.' It took us six months to a year to catch up with both of them, get them on the phone to talk about songs and start the groundwork. But once it came together, it was fantastic."

Anderson and Tucker clicked from the start. They spent hours sifting happily through their favorite Country standards, discussing arrangements and choosing keys. It was Anderson's idea to recruit guest vocalists and musicians that included Flaco Jimenez, Jim Lauderdale, Jo-El Sonnier, Rhonda Vincent and her brother Darrin from Dailey and Vincent and members of The Grascals. But it wasn't easy to narrow their choices down to the dozen tracks that ultimately made the album.

Initially, Anderson had about 20 songs and Tucker had 15 to consider. His proposals included Ray Price's "Crazy Arms" and Buck Owens' "Love's Gonna Live Here," while she contributed several tunes that were among her father's favorites, including Charley Pride's "Is Anybody Going to San Antone?," Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues," Merle Haggard's "Ramblin' Fever" and Eddy Arnold's "You Don't Know Me."

"There were a couple of songs I wasn't keen on in the beginning, like 'Big, Big Love,'" Tucker said. "It's a Wynn Stewart song. I love Wynn Stewart but he died young so I didn't get a chance to hear a lot of his music growing up. If you mention Wynn Stewart to me, I think of 'It's Such a Pretty World Today.' That was the song I wanted to do, but Pete was pretty adamant about doing 'Big, Big Love.' I honestly didn't know if I could pull it off, if I could sing it the way it needed to be sung, but he convinced me to try it." Good thing too, since Tucker now counts "Big, Big Love" among her favorites from the album.

My Turn became a labor of love for Tucker in an unexpected way. "It ended up being a tribute of sorts to my dad, a gift, because I don't think I'd have fallen in love with Country Music if it weren't for him," she said. "He introduced me to this music when I was a little girl. My dad would spend his last dollar on something to help me practice my songs. He was always trying to get me to put more feeling into the songs. He'd say, 'Sing it like Hank Williams would sing it!'"

He also gave her some sobering advice. "He said I had two strikes against me when I started my career. He said, 'You're young — and you're a girl. So now you're going to have to sing those songs with twice as much feeling as any guy," Tucker remembered, with a laugh. "Well, it turned out that's nothing unusual for me; that's what I've always done. Most of the songs I've recorded were written by men. I've always liked singing songs with a male attitude."

Did she feel any trepidation about reinterpreting some of Country Music's most beloved chestnuts? Tucker laughed broadly. "You know, I never even thought about it. If I had, I probably wouldn't have done it. No matter what you do, you just can't do it like the originals, though we tried to stay pretty close to the way they were done originally. Of course, no matter what I do, it's still going to sound like Tanya Tucker because I don't really know any other way to sound."

That's fine with Anderson. "The biggest thing about this album is the way Tanya makes every song her own. She wasn't intimidated at all by the fact that these are some of the biggest Country classics ever recorded or that they were made famous by men. Tanya takes over anything she sings. Let me tell you, I've worked with some of the greatest singers in the business," said the producer, whose credits include Rosie Flores, k.d. lang, Michelle Shocked, Lucinda Williams and Dwight Yoakam. "And she's as good as it gets. The whole concept for this album kind of evolved into 'Tanya takes on the boys.'"

"We're seeing a tremendous amount of online activity regarding Tanya," said Jason. "She's one of these artists who resonates well with every age group and demographic, so we're finding our kind of marketing works really well for her. We did an iPhone application that allows people to track her tour dates, buy merchandise, link to the CD and do streaming and downloading. We'll make sure that every time she's anywhere in a market, our viral and online marketing efforts will let people know how they can buy tickets and CDs, and we'll coordinate with a key Country station in the area through its Web site."

Although Saguaro Road has released "Love's Gonna Live Here" as the album's first single and plans to follow with more, radio airplay isn't a determining factor in its strategy for My Turn. "Because we don't put out that many albums, we can afford to take our time and work each project," said Jason. "We may well work this album for 18 months to two years. Tanya's been fantastic about doing this."

That feeling is mutual. "I've been so damned impatient my whole career," said Tucker. "I've either been too late or too early, or ahead of my time or way behind it. What I really want now is to just be right on time. I'm really excited. This project feels like my stepping stone back into Country Music. Putting out this album of classic songs kind of lays the groundwork and introduces me to a whole new audience. It's just amazing that people still want to hear about me after so many years."

On the Web: www.TanyaTucker.com.

© 2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

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