The country singer-songwriter opens up to PEOPLE about doing the voiceover for the new PBS documentary ‘Made in the West’

NEED TO KNOW

• Tanya Tucker opens up to PEOPLE about her friendship with Dolly Parton and doing voiceover work for the new documentary Made in the West
• “It’s been a long time, I’ve been telling management, whoever was at the helm of my career, that I wanted to do voiceovers,” says the country singer-songwriter
• Made in the West is out now on PBS

For years, Tanya Tucker wanted to do voiceover work. So when the opportunity arose with a new PBS documentary, Made in the West, it felt like the perfect fit for the Texas-born country singer-songwriter.

Made in the West tells the compelling journey of American craftspeople whose craft reflects the spirit, history and beauty of the American West. But beneath their story is a more urgent tale, as many of these artisans are aging, and their talents could vanish with them.

“When an artist is an artist, no matter what they do, they have the same trials,” Tucker, 67, tells PEOPLE. She ultimately wants to help preserve the legacy of western functional art.

Below, Tucker also opens up to PEOPLE about collaborating with Shania Twain on a recent song, the prospect of a new record and her friendship with the late Dolly Parton.

PEOPLE: What made you decide you wanted to narrate Made in the West?

TANYA TUCKER: They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Oh, I said, ‘No, this is too good. This can’t be real.’ It’s been a long time, I’ve been telling management, whoever was at the helm of my career, that I wanted to do voiceovers. I always wanted to do Walt Disney movies, and I loved Rex Allen. I always copied him, and I loved the way he narrated movies. I wasn’t aware at the time when I was a kid, but as I got older, I said, “I really want to do that.” I can be walking down the street in Champs-Élysées talking, and someone will stop after they pass me and recognize my voice. People kept telling me that. I’m looking forward to doing a lot more. Make sure you tell Disney to call me. I’ll make myself available.

PEOPLE: As a country artist, what inspired you about seeing these artisans?

TUCKER: I’m delighted because it’s so familiar to me. I’ve spent many days in the past going on packed trips with my kids up in Cody, Wyo. and had some of the best memories. If I could have a dream home and put everything in it that I would love, it would be full of these kinds of art pieces. I see so many similarities [between us]. When an artist is an artist, no matter what they do, they have the same trials. I was just watching one of them say, “Well, the art’s not the problem. The art is easy. It comes natural for me.” But when you got to get on a business call or you got to get, God forbid you have any success, then you got to talk with the government with the taxes, and artists are famous for not being into that kind of stuff. I love all kinds of art, or I respect it, I should say. I love the Western artisans. I love Santa Fe and Wyoming.

PEOPLE: How does the documentary celebrate Indigenous artists who helped cultivate and define the Western aesthetic?

TUCKER: I think a lot about the Alamo and those kinds of pictures and paintings, and it comes full circle. We got this piece of art that represents what our country was built on and the kind of people that, God dang, they couldn’t be p—ies. They had to be great, strong, willing. Of course, it was survival for them. But I just don’t want to see it go away. It’s a dying art. The least I could do now is to support it, sponsor it and leave it for my generation to enjoy.

PEOPLE: Your most recent album came out in 2023. Have you been working on another album or musical project?

TUCKER: Before I did the albums with Brandi [Carlile] and Shooter [Jennings], I had been working on stuff. I’ve got three albums in the can, and I was working on another one at my home in Camelot, which is in Tennessee, and I recorded it right in the entryway. So it’s called Camelot Sessions, but I’ve got three albums ready to go. Then Brandi popped up, and then we went and did that. So you’d think it would just lay it open for these other albums to come out. The wheels are slow, and it hasn’t happened yet. I’m working on another one now, just myself producing. I’m always looking for a hit song.

PEOPLE: You collaborated with Shania Twain on the title track of her most recent album Little Miss Twain, which also name-checks you. What was it like collaborating with her?

TUCKER: That was a thrill. I’m standing in my kitchen at the condo in Nashville, and I don’t know, it was about 10 a.m., and Shania texts me, that was Oct. 6, and she said, “I’ve got something … Can you come to L.A.?” And I thought, next month. “Yeah, we can plan it. Sure.” And she goes, “I’ll tell you why. I’ve got something I’m doing. But it’s important that I show it to you, and I want to be there with you when I do show it to you, not just send it to you. I want you here. I don’t want to tell you what it is because it’ll ruin it. I just need you to fly to L.A.” She goes, “I’ll take care of your room, your flight, whatever, you and your boyfriend, and we’ll have a good time.” Oct. 10 is my birthday, so there’s always that to deal with. But I just said, “Sure, I’ll come” because I had some time off, and I said, “What day are you talking?” She said, “Oct. 8.” There’s some friends I got that I’d never do that with. I would never just fly all the way to L.A. to see what they had going. But I did with her, and I thought it was [amazing] that I would do a leap of faith. I think it was [Oct. 9] we listened to the song in the studio at Republic Records, and they’ve got a video of me and my boyfriend, Craig Dillingham; we had some tears in our eyes, and it was just so raw. I’d love to have a copy of it just like we did it, without anything else on it, because it was magic. I was so honored. I’d be honored if Joe Blow did something like that with me involved, but Shania was sort of over the top. I’ll never forget it. It was just a real bonding. 

PEOPLE: What do you recall about the first time you met Shania?

TUCKER: [The] first time I met her was at the [2020] Grammys, when I won the Grammys, and met her real briefly. But the second time was in a stinky alley behind the Ryman, and we were going over to Miranda [Lambert]’s party for her new bar on Broadway. My shoes were hurting, and it was just about a block walk, so I see this golf cart, and I asked the guy, “Hey, what’s the chance of me getting that golf cart to take me over to Miranda’s?” And he said, “Oh, I’m waiting for Ms. Shania.” I said, “Oh, you are?” So I said, “Well, I think I’ll wait here, too.” She had accepted an award for the ACM, and she was all in her gown, and she seemed like she was 10 feet tall to me. We stood there in the stinky alley while her people were all looking at their watches: “We got to go, we got to go.” She goes, “No, we don’t. I have to stay here until I’m with my idol, my hero.” We were just ignoring them and bonded there, and that was pretty much it. 

PEOPLE: You had a long friendship with Dolly Parton, and I’m so sorry for your loss.

TUCKER: I can’t get my head wrapped around it. I just can’t imagine her lying in the ground. It’s overwhelming, really. Only thing it made me feel, and I guess people would feel this way, is I didn’t take the chances that I could have had to really be around her more. I got to looking for pictures of me and her, and I could hardly find any of us together. I did that song “Romeo” with her years ago and the video, but I didn’t spend a lot of time with her there. I regret that I didn’t take some opportunities that I could have taken to get to know her better — having dinner together, sleepovers.

PEOPLE: What did you admire most about Dolly?

TUCKER: She’s the kind of gal that could do it. With the rhinestones on and the big hair, because she was a real outlaw. She just did what she wanted to do, and going pop and all that was a big deal for Taylor [Swift], [it] was a big deal for me back in 1978. But for her, it’s nothing. She would just do it, and she’d do anything she wanted. 

When I was a kid growing up in music, my heroes were mostly men, Elvis [Presley] and Merle [Haggard], and I patterned myself more after them than I did for the women. I mean, I loved Loretta [Lynn]. I sang all her songs, and we were best friends. Tammy [Wynette] and I were very close, but I was always programmed more toward the men. And now I’ve changed my mind. Dolly is the kind of person, the kind of artist [I wanted to be]. And the way she handled herself. I mean, she could cuss you out and make you like it. She had a way that was amazing, and I want to be more like her because she’s done so much.

PEOPLE: Do you have a favorite memory of her?

PEOPLE: The favorite memory would be when I went to the studio to do “Romeo.” I hadn’t heard the song, so obviously there was a little faith there, too. But that faith dwindled when I got to the studio. My daughter was with me, Presley, and she was about 6, and I drove around it about 12 times. I finally called Dolly. I was feeling a little insecure, and I said, “I don’t know about my voice. I don’t think I’m going to be able to sing tonight.” She said, “Well, just come on by.” She goes, “We’ll do it, and if you don’t like it, we won’t use it.” So, I went in with Presley. She met Presley, and I didn’t see them ‘til I was done. She babysat; I don’t know where they went. She had a way with children, for sure. I went in the studio, and I told Steve, her producer, “Just play it for me three times, back to back.” I listened three times, and then I walked into the vocal booth, and I recorded one take, and he was shaking his head, and I thought … I could see him shaking his head through the control room window. I said, “Something wrong?” He said, “No,” he said, “Nothing’s wrong.” He said, “It’s just I’ve never ever had a person listen to a song three times and go in and do it in one take.” 

So then Dolly came in, and we did those little things on the end. We had so much fun, the two mics facing each other, and she goes, “You’re going to get me in trouble.” I’d love to hear all those that they didn’t use; that would be something I’d love to hear. But that was a great memory, and we did take a couple pictures, and that’s pretty much the only pictures I have of me and Dolly, except when we opened the CMA show, the 53rd anniversary. But we weren’t together; we were apart from each other because we opened the show, all the girls. I think the last thing I said to her, I walked over to her in between the takes or the rehearsals … I wasn’t feeling well or something. And she goes, “You got to make hay while the sun shines.” I said, “I know that’s right.” So that was the last thing I think she said to me.

PEOPLE: Other than your own version, do you have a favorite cover of “Delta Dawn” that an artist has done?

TUCKER: Sunny Sweeney just did it recently [and] did a pretty good job. But Waylon [Jennings] cut it, and I listened to that, and I liked it. I just recut it, and I wanted to put it out on the 50th anniversary, but management couldn’t get it together. So I didn’t want it to be the 54th anniversary. So maybe we can get it on the 55th one. This time I did it with three of the original players. My daughters are singing background vocals, and my boyfriend Craig, he’s singing the low part that Hurshel Wiginton did in The Jordanaires. It’s pretty special, but it was very difficult to do. That record was an anomaly. It’s hard to recreate that. And I wanted to do it just like it, but not just like it. So, it’s hard to do.

But that song is having a revival in college and high school football. Now, the softball team, the Nebraska Huskers, they play it before their game, every game. So, it’s having a revival. I’m sticking with what I’ve always said — a great song that’s great would be a hit any year. If that song was never out, it’d be a hit when it came out this year. I feel very blessed that I was able to get the song, first of all, and to recognize at 13 years old that it was a great song.

Made in the West is out now on PBS.

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