Country/Review LaCosta Tucker - It Matters to Me

LaCosta Tucker rose to fame in the seventies, scoring fourteen chart hits, touring with country music’s biggest names, and appearing on beloved TV shows like Dolly, Nashville Now, The Jim Nabors Show, Pop Goes the Country, The Alan Hamel Show, The Dinah Shore Show, and Hee Haw. Early in her career, LaCosta met legendary publisher Al Galico and signed with Capitol Records, where she was teamed with producer Norro Wilson for five albums.

LaCosta Tucker’s “It Matters to Me” offers listeners the chance to rediscover a meaningful piece of country music history through a recording that has remained unheard until now. Written by Nashville songwriters Ed Hill and Mark D. Sanders, the song would later become closely associated with Faith Hill, but Tucker’s version reveals a different perspective on a composition that already carries a significant legacy.

What makes this release particularly compelling is the story surrounding its rediscovery. Tucker had recorded the song before Faith Hill’s version became a major country success, only to later hear it unexpectedly on the radio while driving through Nashville. Recognizing the introduction immediately, she experienced the complicated emotions of hearing another artist perform a song she had already made her own. Her reaction captures both the disappointment of seeing an opportunity pass by and the satisfaction of knowing she had recognized the quality of an exceptional composition.

Now, with Tucker’s original recording finally available, “It Matters to Me” becomes more than a previously unreleased song. It is a document of an earlier moment in her artistic journey and an opportunity to hear how she interpreted the material before it became widely known through another voice.

The appeal of the recording lies in this sense of discovery. Familiar songs can change considerably when heard through a different performer’s perspective, and Tucker’s version offers listeners the chance to reconsider a well-established piece of country songwriting without the expectations attached to its later success.

Ultimately, “It Matters to Me” is both a musical release and a recovered piece of history. LaCosta Tucker brings the story back to its own beginnings, allowing a recording from her past to finally receive the audience it was always meant to have.