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family houses were simply out of their price range . So they instead decamped to a more affordable farm in Rhode Island , from which Tooker could easily commute to the Cambridge parlor he owns , Riverside . “ I call him my Dragon because he ’ s done a bunch of dragons on me ,” explains ink enthusiast King , who met him when she visited his shop in 2018 just to check out its go-to designs . “ I wandered in , and he was like , ‘ Who . Are . You ?’ And we ’ ve been together ever since .” On September 1 of , 2021 , they welcomed their first child into the world , a boy named Lucky , who ' s already showing an unusual propensity for percussion . " I really think he ' s gonna be a drummer ," says mom proudly .
Elly May had simple standards for potential suitors . “ I sure don ’ t wanna marry up with any man I can whup ,” she once declared , which was saying a lot , given that she regularly beat the bejeezus out of her hulking dimwit cousin Jethro , played by Max Baer , Jr ., son of renowned boxer Max Baer . It takes a bit more for a beau to keep with King , and she ’ s been upfront about her faux-pas frailties from the start , as listed in the arena-chiming anthem “ America ’ s Sweetheart ”: “ I think I ’ m pretty with these old boots on / I think it ’ s funny when I drink too much / Hey , you try to change me ? You can go to hell ,” she snarled defiantly in the track ’ s verses , and shrugged her way through the singalong chorus of “ What do you want from me ?/ I ’ m not America ’ s sweetheart .” Tooker apparently can keep up , and the couple shares a love of critters , so their retreats in Rhode Island and now Nashville boasts a menagerie of goats , donkeys , and other assorted farm animals . And not only are they still together after several long-distance years , “ We made a human , and Dan is the most incredible father , and I feel proud just to give that to my son , like , ‘ Mama ’ s done good ! I picked me a good ’ un !,’” chortles King in the same down-home vernacular in which she ’ s always sung . It ’ s just that now the fiddle , pedal steel , and banjo backdrops for her words are more complementary and age-andexperience-appropriate .
In one pedal-steel-powered “ Wife ” stomper , “ Before You Met Me ,” King breathes a long sigh of lyrical relief for her future hubby . “ I was a train wreck , hot mess / Too many cigarettes … I was a weeknight drinker / Karaoke singer … the way I used to be / I can guarantee / Two weeks in , you would ’ ve left me .” The cut wasn ’ t penned by King specifically , and nor was her Dierks Bentley duet “ Worth a Shot ,” originally an outtake from his last solo album , which blithely takes country ’ s traditional tear-in-your-beer-isms to a whole new level . But even when a song wasn ’ t composed
by her , they are still covered with her improvisational fingerprints and fit perfectly with her new roots-honoring mentality . “ And you know what ’ s great about Nashville ?” She asks rhetorically . “ All the great songwriters live there , and they ’ re always up for it , and saying , ‘ You guys need a song ? Hey – let me pitch !”
For instance , the bluesy submission “ Out Yonder ,” about Gladys Kravitz gossip in a toosmall town , so impressed King she tracked down its prodigious composer and wound up writing a good portion of the album with her and her own go-to team of Bobby Hamrick and Matt McKinney . “ She ’ s a 22-year-old girl named Ella Langley , and she is a fucking superstar ,” declares King , no slouch herself . “ And I feel honored that she gave me all this because she gave me some badass ideas . But those three helped me write these songs that I am just so , so proud of . I mean , they helped me write a song about my son ! They helped me write a song about where I ’ m from in Ohio ! And with this whole album , whether I wrote the song or not , I changed things ( lyrically ) to make everything me – it had to be genuine to me . And also , country music has really helped me to let down my guard – I no longer have to prove anything , I can get out of my own way , and I don ’ t have to be in control . Because a good song is a good song .” It ’ s the old Prayer of Serenity in a Nashville nutshell . All she has artistic power over is the album artwork , the storyboarding of her music videos , how good the song sounds once it ’ s recorded , then how accurately it can be replicated live . She now has the wisdom to know the difference , she allows . “ And I just feel so … so excited ! Country music is a beautiful , beautiful thing .” Her and the genre , you might say , utilizing a classic Jed Clampetism , are closer than two burrs in a mule ’ s tail .” And whereas back in Hollywood , where she also pursued acting for a spell , she often felt “ Lower than a hog ’ s chin on market day ,” now King is “ Happy as a gopher in soft dirt .” And that , indeed , is pretty damned happy .
First and foremost , there was always that Voice . An instrument fairly unparalleled on today ’ s charts , and a hurricane-velocity mashup of Loretta Lynn twang , Edith Piaf sharpness , Eartha Kitt exotica , Wanda Jackson ’ s hiccup / snarl , and Sister Rosetta Tharpe earthiness .” I ’ ve never allowed a genre to define me , and I ’ ve always made a joke about it , like ; You couldn ’ t fit my ass in a box if you tried ,’” says the singer , self-deprecating to a fault . “ But now I feel happy saying that country is my home because , as a genre , it is where I feel the best , you know ?” She still remembers the day back in Ohio when her stepfather first played AC / DC ’ s stunning “ Back in Black ” comeback for her . Her jaw hit the floor , the musical gears inside her shifted into a new powerchord overdrive , and she wound up getting the Australian outfit ’ s “ Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap ” title tattooed across her bicep . But he didn ’ t stop there – he continued her musi- january 2023 illinoisentertainer . com 23