The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Justin Dekker January 14, 2025

Documenting the creation of her 2019 album "While I'm Livin'", 'The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile' arrives on Blu-ray disc courtesy of Sony Pictures. Including backstage and in-studio footage liberally interspersed with personal footage from Tanya Tucker's youth, early career, talk show appearances, and various live performances, the film serves not only as the documentation of the creation of one piece of work but also as a biography of the recording artist's life up to that point. Neither a DVD or a Digital Code are included.

Excitement is in the air. Fans are buzzing and the crowd is restless as Tanya Tucker, her trademark golden mane replaced by tresses now dyed pink, prepares to take the stage to support her new album, "While I'm Livin'". But the scene quickly shifts from the present to the past, as Tucker, being interviewed for a radio station, discusses the earliest vestiges of her career performing at talent shows as grainy footage from an early television appearance and home movies unspools. Radio hits landed on the charts by her mid-teens, and before she was twenty years old she was, for all intents and purposes, a country music superstar.

Grounding the viewer back some time before the now 60-year-old Tucker was taking the stage, the scene shifts again, this time to Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, Ca, in 2019. Inside, recording artists Brandi Carliile and Shooter Jennings, both of whom are obviously fans, especially Carlile, nervously await Tucker's arrival as the pair are on deck to produce her first album of original material in nearly two decades. A self- professed fan since she was young, as Tucker walks through the gates, entourage in tow, on the first day of recording, the "That Wasn't Me" singer is more than a little star-struck. Tucker is consistently gracious as she meets the others in attendance to help craft her new album, and while it's clear that it has been quite some time since she was in the studio, as soon as she begins to sing the opening verse of "High Ridin' Heroes" she's right at home.

Throughout the course of the film, the camera lens provides views of Tucker in a variety of environments, and as anyone would be, she's a complicated mix of conflicting emotions. Backstage prior to performances, Tucker can often seem uneasy, nervously smoking cigarettes or having a cocktail to calm her jangled nerves. Amplifying these feelings, Tucker goes so far as to state that she's rarely derived satisfaction or enjoyment from live performances. At home, once the album is finished and surrounded by staff and loved ones, she's excited, and simultaneously focused and distracted, unable to quite comprehend what she's hearing as her latest songs are recognized by the industry. Sitting opposite interviewers for radio shows she can sound relaxed and easy-going, though her body language usually tells a different tale. The recording studio, though, is clearly where she is happiest. Seated or standing behind a mic, she appears at ease. Jokes and self-deprecating comments roll off her tongue as easily and effortlessly as the notes she sings, though her voice has unmistakably been impacted by both age and the everpresent cigarettes she loves and knows she must give up but just can't seem to put down. This sort of willpower or determination, she says, has never been her strong suit.

If The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile has a shortcoming it lies in the fact that the film routinely elects to play things safe and remain on the surface of things. While Tucker's own voice and presence exude evidence of a hard life (though, not without its rewards) and hard work the film provides precious little evidence of either. For those who are not dyed-in-the-wool fans, able to enumerate her catalog of radio hits as easily as they might rattle off their favorite fast food or coffee order, some of the biographical details often eluded to are never properly fleshed out. Only a very few high-level minutes are spent recounting her relationship with a significantly older Glen Campbell when she was in her early twenties, but the film never addresses how it started, how long it lasted, and what ultimately led to its end. It's also implied she, at one point, had a reputation for being rebellious or partying, but the viewer is never offered any specifics, however anecdotal or polished and sanitized by the passage of time as they may be. While the quote from a People magazine, as judgemental and misogynist as it is, "Tanya Tucker has had more boyfriends than some people have had hot meals.", indicates that Tucker had, at one point, an active social life, again, the viewer is forced to take the film at its word as no further information is provided. It is both interesting and disappointing that the stars of her day that she cites, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, should see their behavior only enhance their image; a double standard that still exists inside the entertainment industry and out.

This consternation is also generated by the footage in the studios of Sunset Sound. Though crafting an album is not easy work, Tucker never seems to have to try particularly hard during the recording sessions. Those accompanying her and turning the knobs are obviously as big of fans as they are supportive. The viewer is rarely provided with moments where Tucker (or others) are frustrated with a song's progress, nor are they often seen working to get a note, phrase, or lick just right. Instead, even on the first day, every take appears to be painless and error-free, with any missteps being brief and quickly addressed. Further, Carlile, speaking from her own experience and the hearsay evidence from others that she relays while on camera, Tanya Tucker is described as being "crazy" or in some way difficult. Outside of her smoking and having cocktails in the studio and prior to performances, again, the viewer is shown nothing that would make them arrive at this conclusion. Instead, other than being visibly nervous at the album release listening party, for instance, Tucker is never shown as being anything other than polite, good-natured, and pleasant.

The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As one would expect, the video presentation of The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile is a tale of two eras. Older footage sourced from home videos or television broadcasts often displays heavy amounts of grain, faded colors, softness, and a number of other issues that one would expect, but it looks as good as it could here. The modern footage, however, is a very different story. Detail levels are pleasingly high, with viewers able to see every line and wrinkle in Tucker's face and hands, specific details of the make-up she routinely applies, and track every flyaway pink hair. Tucker's modern concert attire presents with excellent tactile realism. Denim is wonderfully fibrous, individual sequins and rhinestones are discernable, and every strand of fringe is distinct. When stylized or harsh ambient lighting is not employed, skin tones are healthy and natural. Whites can be pleasingly bright and primaries are afforded some opportunities to pop. The color palette is quite natural with hues pleasantly and realistically saturated. The most impressive visual elements, however, are the all-too-short establishing shots of cityscapes that start broadly and gradually bring the viewer into individual streets, such as when the action of the film moves from the L.A. studio to Nashville for the album listening party. Here, depth and dimensionality are excellent and detail is precise as the viewer is treated to the skyline at sunset, with streets, buildings, and bridges illuminated, and lights reflecting in the water. At street level, particulars of brick building facades and eye-catching neon signs are easily observed and enjoyed.

The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile is outfitted with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track that is more than up to the task of handling what this film throws at it. Most immediately, viewers will notice the emotional ambient music emanating from the surrounds. This recurs throughout the film and is the primary way in which the sound field is expanded and the viewer is immersed. The clarity here is precise and the bass is as powerful as it needs to be. Transitioning to older performance audio elements, Tucker's voice and the accompanying instruments and background singers are reproduced by the front channels. Even with audio elements that in some cases are decades old, the music sounds clean and defect-free. In the studio, the track retains this front-and-center focus, whether it's focused exclusively on Tucker's voice or it's supported by the backing track. Most of what the track needs to deal with though, is dialog and either Carlile or Tucker directly addressing the camera. Here, appropriately, it's also positioned front and center, it does not struggle to keep the voices prioritized over ambient music or vintage performance clips. An English Audio Descriptive track is also available.

The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Rather than outtakes from the studio sessions, soundcheck recordings for any of the modern performances highlighted in the film, or any other footage or that fans might find captivating or entertaining, the only on-disc extras for The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile consist exclusively of trailers for the following documentaries:

• Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams

• Julia

• Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story

• Halleljah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song

These trailers are not individually selectable and instead play out in sequence, one after the other. There are, however, chapter stops allowing viewers to skip through them if they wish.

The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

To the casual viewer, which is to say someone who isn't a lifelong fan as Brandi Carlile and many others in the film so very obviously are, The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile provides an enjoyable tale of an artist returning after a long absence who is finally able to receive some of the accolades and recognition she's deserved. Tucker's fans will, no doubt, find much here to enjoy and won't be left scratching their heads as I was over the many biographical and personal elements hinted at but not substantively explored or witnessed. Tucker's talents are captured well here, showcased both in the studio and on stage, and fans of every degree will no doubt enjoy the footage from her youth and early performances. Technical merits are strong, but sadly the release is lacking any supplemental material that would further illuminate the film's subject. Still, for Tanya Tucker's fans, The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile comes recommended.