'The Return of Tanya Tucker' explores musical chemistry between Tanya Tucker, Brandi Carlile

Tanya Tucker's cackling laughter pauses. At the same time, she sips a potent blend of tequila and ruby red grapefruit juice (a signature "Tanyatini") while seated in a crowded upstairs lounge at Nashville's Belcourt Theater.

The multi-award-winning Kathlyn Horan-directed documentary, "The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile," has just premiered to a standing ovation at the Nashville Film Festival. Tucker's smile shines as brightly as her gold-studded, black jean jacket and gold Betsey Johnson boots.

"Just like I said in the documentary, you can't be successful without many failures," the 64-year-old music icon tells The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY network. "I'm running out of time to get things done that I want to (accomplish). Every day, it feels like I'm getting closer to losing the things I love the most."

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She's three years into the fourth "relaunch" (not a comeback, "because that's overdone," she notes) of her roller-coaster, half-century career. The documentary, scheduled to be released Oct. 21, chronicles her two 2020 Grammy wins for "While I'm Livin'," her 25th studio album – co-produced by Carlile and Shooter Jennings – and its single, the instantly iconic "Bring My Flowers Now."

The documentary is 100-plus minutes of stream-of-consciousness entertainment that mainly centers on 41-year-old Americana icon Carlile reaching unparalleled heights in her career and being placed in the predicament of having to pull, once again, career-redefining work out of an artist 23 years her senior.

Though Tucker thoroughly inspired Carlile's peerless career body of work, the "Delta Dawn" vocalist is, according to Miranda Lambert, "crazy in the best way."

Carlile saw the task as similar to Rick Rubin's work to revitalize Johnny Cash's career via the "American Recordings" series from 1994-2010.

Carlile notes in the documentary that only five years separate Dolly Parton's Nashville career, beginning in 1967, and Tucker's 1972 arrival in Music City. In her words, "more people than (just) hip people need to know" that mainstream pop culture icon Parton is as significant to the totality of music history as Tucker.

Upon winning the Grammy for Best Country Song, Tucker didn't want to record new music because, after the death of her parents (her father managed her throughout his life) and contemplating her own life, she felt she had "more love behind her than in front of her," Carlile said.

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Tucker was a generational country-pop star who once signed a recording contract in 1974 at age 16 for today's equivalent of $9.7 million. At 21, expanding into both a rock 'n' roll sound and lifestyle in Los Angeles, dating Glen Campbell, and rumored to be – like Campbell – addicted to cocaine. However, she rebounded from those allegations to have Top 10 singles on country radio throughout the late '80s and early '90s, including 1988's "Strong Enough to Bend" and 1992's "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane."

In the film, Tucker's success is attributed not to her still stunning contralto. Instead, it's a testament to her blend of audacious tenacity buffered by a soft-hearted demeanor. That tenacity comes from her not being of a generation of female country stars with significant female heroines. Instead, Tucker's fanatical support of two male inspirations she later met and befriended – Elvis Presley and Merle Haggard – still defines a life where, as she notes before a critical performance at Loretta Lynn's 87th birthday celebration in April 2019, she "dreads having to be disciplined about anything."

In conversation with The Tennessean, Tucker's sense of who she is and what she wants out of life and work becomes far more clear and pronounced in light of the documentary.

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Question: Your thoughts about this "relaunch" of your career and with the award acclaim, film opportunities and appreciation for your work being at an unparalleled high, that this relaunch is the best one yet?

Tucker: Well, I don't believe it's the best relaunch yet. I was still washing my dishes and taking out my garbage three hours ago; then, I almost ruined the pants I'm wearing tonight. The trouble with habitual adoration is that hearing how great you are is tiring. And, if you believe in all that adoration – though I appreciate it – you lose perspective on life outside of the fame. The hardest – but most important – part of having a gift is receiving it. Of the many things I'm still learning how to do better, that's on top of the list. I guess, in general, I find it crazy to believe that after all these years, people still care about my career.

Question: So, your 2020 Grammy win is one of the documentary's highlights. I wanted to ask about the moments when you see it now and what feelings it conjures as related to the journey toward achieving that success. What are those and how do they feel?

Tucker: Honestly? I don't know where in the hell those Grammys even are. I have been living between my boyfriend's ranch in Texas and my house in Los Angeles since I won it, so I haven't seen it in a while.

Question: Also, let's talk about Loretta Lynn and the genesis of "Bring My Flowers Now." Your relationship with Loretta is powerful, and I feel like it's one of the less-discussed joys of the documentary.

Tucker: Once she got done asking me if I needed some money – Loretta always tries to look out for me, and I try to stay in touch with her – she told me over the phone that she wanted me to come to visit her at her house to write ("Bring My Flowers Now"). I sang the song's chorus to her while in Austin, taking the bus to Los Angeles for the first recording sessions you see in the documentary. To me, that song stayed with me and continued onto Brandi as its eventual songwriter because it's like having a great friend. If you meet a great friend, you never quite remember when you met them, so it feels like they've been around forever.

Question: What's the one thing about working with Brandi Carlile that you feel will continue to inspire any album work you have forthcoming?

Tucker: Brandi's the first person who ever sat in the booth with me while I was recording. Of course, at first, I had no idea that she was even there. But I know I want her – or someone like her – there from now on because I depend on it. Her support and understanding she knows how to get the best work out of me at this point in my career matters.

Question: If someone wanted to find, overall, a lesson you took from your own documentary, what would it be, and why?

Tucker: I realize that I still work too much, but I do that because one of these days I'm going to get it all together, just right – the career I want, with the man I have, and the horse I need. But, of course, once that happens, I'll probably die the next day.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tanya Tucker, Brandi Carlile are magic duo in 'Return of Tanya Tucker'