American Legend: Tanya Tucker

Tanya Tucker was to the 1970s what Brenda Lee was to the early '60s and LeAnn Rimes was to the 1990s — the country-pop teenager who could sing with a maturity that belied her youth. When Donny Osmond and Michael Jackson were being marketed as teen idols, Tucker avoided having a cutesy, teeny bopper image and came across as an artist who was insightful beyond her years. Tucker was only 16 when she recorded this self-titled LP, which was her first album for MCA and boasted the major hits "Lizzie and the Rainman" and "San Antonio Stroll." The rest of the album is also decent and occasionally excellent. Even though Tucker, who turned 40 in 1998, wasn't old enough to vote in 1975, she's convincing when she tackles Jessi Colter's "I'm Not Lisa" as well as Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man" and the Linda Ronstadt smash "When Will I Be Loved." And on "The King of Country Music," Tucker provides a moving, bittersweet description of an aging, world-weary country star who has spent a long time in life's trenches. Tucker, of course, was never a hardcore honky tonker, but if you like your country laced with a lot of pop, this album is certainly enjoyable.