Shonna Tucker is an American bassist and songwriter from

Killen, Alabama Killen is a town in Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Florence - Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Statistical Area known as " The Shoals". It was incorporated in 1957. As of the 2020 census, the population of the town is ...

, near

Muscle Shoals Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located on the left bank of the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 census, its population was 13,146. The estimated popula ...

Background

Tucker grew up in

, receiving her first bass at age 12, a gift from her father. She describes her musical education as "mostly playing along with

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American Rock music, rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, h ...

tapes".

With the Drive-by Truckers

Tucker joined the

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

-based

Drive-By Truckers Drive-By Truckers are an American rock music, rock band based in Athens, Georgia. Two of five current members (Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley (American musician), Mike Cooley) are originally from The Shoals region of northern Alabama and met as ...

in 2003, replacing original bassist Earl Hicks. Tucker had previously played upright bass on the Truckers' album ''

Decoration Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States for National day of mourning, mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States ...

''. She played bass on their next two records, '' The Dirty South'' and '' A Blessing and a Curse'', before contributing her first songs on 2008's ''

Brighter Than Creation's Dark ''Brighter Than Creation's Dark'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Drive-By Truckers. It was released on January 22, 2008 in the United States. Background Recorded during and after the acoustic Dirt Underneath Tour, the album ...

''. She wrote three songs on that record: "I'm Sorry, Huston", "Home Field Advantage", and "The Purgatory Line". She also joined the band backing up

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on his record '' Potato Hole'' and

Bettye LaVette Bettye LaVette (born Betty Jo Haskins, January 29, 1946) is an American soul singer who made her first record at sixteen, but achieved only intermittent fame until 2005, when her album '' I've Got My Own Hell to Raise'' was released to widespre ...

on her record ''

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''. For most of her career in the band, she was married to guitarist

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, though the two eventually divorced. She also performed on Isbell's first solo album ''Sirens of the Ditch''.

Solo career

Patterson Hood Patterson David Hood (born March 24, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter and co-founder of the band Drive-By Truckers. Early life Hood was born in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the son of Jan Patterson Adams and David Hood, the longtime bassist ...

announced Tucker's departure from the band in December 2011 via a post on the band's Facebook page. Hood stated that "Her charm and spark will be irreplaceable and her part in our last decade of this band's history is indisputable." Tucker released a series of instructional cooking videos on YouTube, entitled "Sweet Soul Cookin' with Shonna Tucker". Tucker's next musical project started taking shape when she,

John Neff John B. Neff (September 19, 1931 – June 4, 2019) was an American investor, mutual fund manager, and philanthropist. He was notable for his contrarian and value investing styles as well as for heading Vanguard's Windsor Fund. Windsor becam ...

, and Bo Bedingfield worked up a version of

Deana Carter Deana Kay Carter (born January 4, 1966) is an American country music singer-songwriter who broke through in 1996 with the release of her debut album '' Did I Shave My Legs for This?'', which was certified 5× Multi-Platinum in the United States f ...

's " Strawberry Wine", thus forming the band Shonna Tucker and Eye Candy. The band released their first album ''A Tell All'' in October 2013, a record that features songs "about love and jealousy, nights spent on the road and nights spent in the kitchen, the things men do to women and women do for men." Tucker contributed a cover of "Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)" to the

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

tribute record ''High Cotton''.

Eye Candy

Tucker's current band, Eye Candy, is made up of primarily

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

-based musicians. The lineup is currently: *

(ex-guitarist for the

). * Bo Bedingfield (guitar). * Clay Leverett (drums, formerly of Bright Eyes). * Neil Golden (keyboards, formerly of The Glands,

Japancakes Japancakes is an American indie rock group, based in Athens, Georgia, United States. History Rhythm guitarist Eric Berg formed the band with the idea of putting ten musicians in a band without any rehearsal, and performing a D chord for 45 minu ...

and

Elf Power Elf Power is an American indie rock band that originated in Athens, Georgia, United States. The line-up consists of guitarist/vocalist Andrew Rieger, keyboardist Laura Carter, guitarist Dave Wrathgabar, bassist Bryan Poole, and drummer Peter ...

Discography

Studio albums

*''A Tell All'' (2013) *''Dreams of Mine - EP'' (2019)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, Shonna American rock bass guitarists People from Killen, Alabama American rock songwriters American rock singers American women singers American women bass guitarists Living people Drive-By Truckers members Year of birth missing (living people) Guitarists from Alabama 21st-century American women Singer-songwriters from Alabama Eye Candy members