Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 23, 1993 TAG: 9310230075
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That's the best way to describe country singer Tanya Tucker.
She's bouncy. Her music is bouncy and her concert Friday night at the Salem Civic Center was - you guessed it - bouncy. Tucker seems to have a knack for bouncy. She's made a career of it.
She's at her best when she's at her most bouncy.
It's when she tries a change-up that she trips. Fortunately, she kept those tries to a minimum.
The worst misstep was a new ballad, "Soon," which didn't match Tucker's rough-edged voice. Tucker doesn't have a real big set of knock-it-out-of-the-ballpark pipes.
She handled another ballad, "(Without You) What Do I Do With Me?" much better, but she clearly hit her bouncy stride when she got sassy and up-tempo. That's where she stayed most of her 75-minute set.
Bouncy highlights were: "Some Kind of Trouble," "If Your Heart Ain't Busy Tonight," "It Won't Be Me" and "Down to My Last Teardrop." The show's best number was an in-your-face "It's a Little Too Late."
A hometown-boy-makes-good note: Tucker's keyboard player was Vince Taylor of Shawsville.
The last time Tucker came to Salem, March 1992, she drew 3,661 fans. Attendance Friday night was only 2,654.
Collin Raye was second on the bill Friday.
Raye displayed a strong enough voice - although he apologized that it was a little hoarse - and he appeared relaxed during his 45 minutes.
However, he didn't create any real onstage fireworks and his voice was more or less nondescript.
He was definitely better on his more rock-driven material, such as "I Want Your Bad (And That Ain't Good)," a cover of Johnny Cash's "Big River" and a new song, "That's My Story (And I'm Sticking To It)."
On the ballads, "Love, Me" and "In This Life," Raye leaned toward middle-of-the-road and mediocre. They also showed his vocal shortcomings more.
The warmup was Skip Ewing, who performed a solo acoustic set that was handicapped by the cavernous arena setting.
His singing and playing were more than adequate during his 30 minutes, but they lost something in the acoustic translation. There was just too much echo and he was cranked up just a little too loud.
Ewing explained that normally he plays with a backing band, but when the Tucker tour came up, his band wasn't available. He said he didn't want to pass the tour up, so he came out alone.
by CNB