Forty nine years ago, Tanya Tucker released “Delta Dawn” and landed her first Grammy Award nomination.
Tanya Tucker was only 13-years old when she recorded “Delta Dawn.” But her throaty, soulful rendition of the song could convince anyone that she had years of wisdom under her belt. The song is about a former Southern belle whose reputation was tarnished when she fell in love with a man of ill-repute. Now 41-years-old, she wanders the streets of Brownsville, Tennessee, with a suitcase in her hand in search of her lost lover. During the song, Tucker sings, “Delta Dawn, what’s that flower you have on? Could it be a faded rose from days gone by? And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today, to take you to his mansion in the sky?”
The song spent 17 weeks on the Hot Country Songs chart and peaked in the number six spot. Additionally, “Delta Dawn” landed Tanya Tucker her first Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1973.
What’s The Story Behind Tanya Tucker’s ‘Delta Dawn’?
Songwriters-performers Alexander Harvey and Larry Collins wrote Tanya Tucker’s “Delta Dawn” after a party with a group of country musicians. Everyone had fallen asleep except for Harvey. He sat up and strummed his guitar until he felt an overwhelming feeling that his mother was in the room with him. His mother passed when he was a teenager. She always struggled with alcoholism and he had asked her not to attend a TV gig he had with his band because he was afraid that she would drink too much and make a scene. While he was gone, she got drunk and drove into a tree. Upon his return, he learned that she had passed away. For years he felt guilty and responsible for her death.
A decade later he was playing his guitar after a party when he felt and saw his mother. In the book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Country Music, Harvey described his experience that night.
“I looked up and I felt as if my mother was in the room. I saw her very clearly. She was in a rocking chair and she was laughing,” said Harvey. “My mother had come from the Mississippi Delta and she always lived her life as if she had a suitcase in her hand but nowhere to put it down. She was a hairdresser in Brownsville. And she was very free-spirited, and folks in a small town don’t always understand people like that. She never really grew up.”
Little did he know, “Delta Dawn” would become a legendary song recorded by Tanya Tucker.
Harvey and Collins Wrote ‘Delta Dawn’ In 20 Minutes
Alex Harvey first wrote the line “She’s 41 and her daddy still calls her ‘baby.’ All the folks ’round Brownsville say she’s crazy.” Then he woke up Collins and the two finished the song within 20 minutes.
Harvey said that the song was a cathartic experience. He said he was finally able to let go of the guilt he carried for so many years.
“I really believe that my mother didn’t come into the room that night to scare me, but to tell me, ‘It’s okay,’ and that she had made her choices in life and it had nothing to do with me,” said Harvey. “I always felt like that song was a gift to my mother and an apology to her. It was also a way to say ‘thank you’ to my mother for all she did.”
Within the year, Tanya Tucker recorded and released the hit song.
