Tanya Tucker Reveals What She Regrets About Her Friendship With the Late Dolly Parton

Tanya Tucker is opening up about her friendship with the late, great Dolly Parton. In an interview with People, Tucker got candid about what she regrets now that the country music legend is gone.

“I can’t get my head wrapped around it. I just can’t imagine her lying in the ground. It’s overwhelming, really,” she admitted. “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,” Tucker continued. “I did that song ‘Romeo’ with her years ago and the video, but I didn’t spend a lot of time with her there.”

Now, Tucker said she regrets “that I didn’t take some opportunities that I could have taken to get to know her better—having dinner together, sleepovers.”

When the women teamed up to record their 1993 song, “Romeo,” Tucker had an experience with Parton that she’ll never forget.

“My daughter was with me, Presley, and she was about 6,” Tucker recalled. “… I went in with Presley. She met Presley. 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.”

After Tucker recorded her part of the song, Parton came into the booth to get some joint vocals down.

“We had so much fun, the two mics facing each other, and she goes, ‘You’re going to get me in trouble,’” Tucker said. “I’d love to hear all those that they didn’t use; that would be something I’d love to hear.”

Tanya Tucker Reflects on Dolly Parton’s Legacy

Years later, at the 53rd CMA Awards in 2019, Tucker and Parton worked together once again.

“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,’” Tucker said. “So that was the last thing I think she said to me.”

Looking back, Tucker said she is in awe of the life Parton lived.

“She’s the kind of gal that could do it with the rhinestones on and the big hair, because she was a real outlaw,” Tucker said. “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.”

“Dolly is the kind of person, the kind of artist [I wanted to be],” she added. “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.”

Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum