Tanya Tucker Carolina Stampede

Photos by Wayne (NC) - Photos may not be copied without permission of the photographer.

This picture was taken at the now defunct Carolina Stampede in Winston Salem, NC on 07-13-01. Due to the show being general admission, my friends and I camped out the day of the show to ensure a place in front of the stage when the doors opened at 7:00 pm.

Finally after an approximate 4 1/2 hour wait, countless beers and thunderous chants of "Tanya, Tanya", the lights went down and the band began the intro to "Some Kind of Trouble". Tanya came onstage to what may have been the most deafening applause I have ever heard at one of her concerts.

The audience surged towards the stage and we were packed in like sardines when out of no-where a group of very intoxicated and unruly guys started to push and shove their way to try to make it to the front of the stage. I saw them coming but was determined to stand my ground. They finally pushed and shoved their way to right behind where I was standing and then began pushing me into the stage. I pushed back, then I started to fight back and one of the guys got me in a headlock. (Tanya was in the middle of "I'll Come Back...) She looked down and saw me in a headlock, walked over to the edge of the stage and reached out her hand. I grabbed her hand, she stopped singing for a second and said "come on up here". I got up onstage and Tanya kept singing and her and I both looked down and by this time, they had one of my buddy's in a headlock. She walked back over to the edge of the stage, reached out her hand and pulled my buddy up onstage.

She finished "I'll Come Back..." and then turned to my buddy and I and then went over to the edge of the stage and looked at the audience and said in classic Tanya fashion, "If there is going to be any fighting going on in here tonight, you know I'm going to be in the middle of it".

She then requested that club personnel bring her 2 chairs to the stage. They bought the chairs onstage and Tanya then announced that my buddy and I would be enjoying the rest of the show from stage left.

She took my buddy by the hand and led him over to his seat and then took my hand and led me back to center stage. She asked me if I wanted to sing. I said absolutely. She turned around to her band and nodded and they began, "It Won't Be Me".

I'm proud to say I didn't miss a beat and every time she would put the microphone up to my mouth, I knew every word. She even let me sing the "It won't be T" part at the end of the song. She seemed to get a kick out of the whole thing because I was enjoying every second of it. We ended the song, she thanked me and led me over to my seat on stage left.

When the concert ended, she signed a few autographs from the front of stage and posed for some pictures. She then came over to my buddy and I and security escorted the 3 of us offstage to the backstage area.

Again, Classic Tanya. She laughed about the whole incident, stated that everybody thought it and our "duet" was planned and thanked me for always being so much fun at her concerts and she autographed some stuff and we took some pics.

Disclaimer - I'm a lifelong Tanya fan. I've been very fortunate to see her countless times over the years and meet and greet with her after the shows. LaCosta and Tanya both "know of me" and I assume the events that transpired that night came as a result of that.