‘So Much Love’: Tanya Tucker and Dennis Quaid Share Untold Story of Recording Kris Kristofferson’s Last Song (Exclusive)

There’s a song by country superstar Brad Paisley, “Last Time for Everything,” that reminds us we never know when something good is going to end. It’s a sentiment that hits home for Tanya Tucker and Dennis Quaid, who had no idea when they were creating her new single, “On My Way to Heaven,” that it would be the last recording of the legendary Kris Kristofferson. 

“He was having a hard time and I could see that, but you never know. I always don’t want to think about it,” Tanya says when asked if she thought it might be the ailing icon’s last recording session. “The whole goal for me was to have it out when he could be here. That’s the only God thing that didn’t happen. Also, right after that, I wanted to go in and do a six-song EP tribute to Kris because there’s really been none, but I just couldn’t get the wheels going. And I wanted him to be there when I was recording so he’d be the executive producer. There’s a lot of things I want to do and when it don’t happen, it really frustrates me.”

Unfortunately, it was the icon’s last recording. And though it wasn’t released during Kris’s lifetime, Tanya is so happy to be able to share “On My Way to Heaven,” which debuts today (June 19) via Gaither Music Group, with the video premiering Saturday night (June 20) at the world-famous Grand Ole Opry (see below for an exclusive clip!). Dennis and Tanya will perform on the Opry show and introduce the video, which was directed by Johnny Cash’s son, John Carter Cash. The song also features background vocals by Tanya’s friend Brandi Carlile, who co-produced (with Shooter Jennings) Tanya’s Grammy-winning 2019 album While I’m Livin.’

“This has been a passion project for me,” the Country Music Hall of Famer says of “On My Way to Heaven.”  “Quaid has been so generous helping me to get this done.”  

Inside the emotional final recording session with Kris Kristofferson

“On My Way to Heaven” first appeared on the soundtrack of the 2018 film I Can Only Imagine, as well as 2018’s Out of the Box, an album Dennis recorded with his longtime band the Sharks. He also included it on his acclaimed 2023 album Fallen: A Gospel record for Sinners. “I wrote it with my mom in mind,” Dennis tells WW of his mother, Juanita, who passed away in August 2019 at 92 years old. “I wrote this in the 90’s, right after I got out of what I call ‘cocaine school’ and rehab. I started re-reading the Bible again.  It was a song really to let my mother know that I was okay, and it was a reconnection with Jesus as my personal savior. I was really hit by the red words of Jesus in the Bible, what he said, and from out of that came the song.”

Tanya heard “On My Way to Heaven” on the Sharks album and wanted to record it. Needless to say, Dennis was thrilled. “I went, Wow! It’s  Tanya Tucker! I’m not going to say no,” Dennis recalls as he flashes that famous grin. “It was great! It was like walking on air and then she calls back 10 minutes later and says, Kris Kristofferson wants to do it as well. Now she’s blowing my mind and I said, ‘Well whatever you want. Go ahead!”

After Tanya heard the song, she called Willie Nelson’s ex-wife Connie to ask if Kris still sang. “She said, ‘Yeah, he does,’ and I said, ‘Well, call him and see if he’ll sing on this song with me.’ That’s what we did and then we went to see Kris. I could just hear Kris on it. I don’t know how I hear these things, but I just do.”

The truth behind Kris Kristofferson’s heartbreaking health battle

 In his later years, Kris was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, but it turned out to be a misdiagnosis. “People think he had Alzheimer’s, but they found out too late that he had Lyme disease,” Dennis shares.

Because of his illness, Tanya took extra care to help him while they were recording. “I stood there with him and with a pencil. I’d point to the word when he’d sing it and he listened to me,” she recalls of the studio session. “Quaid has a story about that when he was walking in and he saw, he said, ‘I’ve never seen so much love in the room.’ Because it was with love. I was trying to show him where to come in and he did it. I’m just so happy he did.”

The three-time Grammy winner died in 2024 at 88 years old. A legendary songwriter, Kris penned such timeless classics as “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” “Lovin’ Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again),” “Why Me Lord,” “For the Good Times” and “Help Me Make it Through the Night.” A member of the Songwriters Hall of fame, Kris also had an extremely successful career as an actor, starring in such films as A Star is Born, opposite Barbra Streisand, Lone Star, Fire Down Below,  the Blade film trilogy alongside Wesley Snipes.

“He was an amazing person. He’d been my hero since I was 17 years old,” Dennis says. “He was a Rhodes Scholar and a helicopter pilot. He wrote the most amazing songs that, I think, will live for 500 years.  He started out here in Nashville . . . and he was also, which people don’t seem to remember, he was the biggest box office movie star for three years in a row in the 70’s. This is when you had Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman and really power heavyweights. He did it all.”

Tanya recalls going to see Kris in concert with Dennis when he was still performing. “We went to see him at that show and we were sitting on the stage just behind the curtain and you could see Kris right there on stage,” she recalls.  “Dennis pulls me down on his lap and then he said, ‘I’ve always wanted to be like him.  He’s always been my hero.’ I had no idea, so I will just say this is a God thing and it was meant to be. You couldn’t have scheduled it or written it out and done it. It’s totally his direction and it started with a great song.”

They recorded the song in Malibu at Shangri-La recording studio, owned by legendary producer Rick Rubin and also did some recording at the late Johnny Cash’s cabin outside Nashville, as well as a studio in Austin. “Before I left for California, we went to a studio in Austin and then I laid a track down. I laid two of them down because I was trying to figure out what key that Kris sings in,” she explains. “So I would go back and listen to something he did recently or not too far away or not too long ago and see what key he did it in. And so we did two different versions and I had to drop the key. So we recorded the track and then I went out to LA and started working with Brandi and Shooter [Jennings] on the first album While I’m Living. And then I went out to Malibu and got Kris’s vocal. Then, not too long after that, we got John Carter Cash on board. We all met on the highest mountain in Malibu. It was a beautiful day and Kris was there. He’d flown 10 hours to be there. I mean, who does that?”

Tanya says the camaraderie continued into the evening. “We all went to a great restaurant and had dinner on the ocean, and we were singing songs,” she smiles. “Quaid and I were singing with Kris, singing ‘Help Me Make It Through the Night,’ all the songs. I just treasure all those times we’ve had together. And [Kris’s wife] Lisa Kristofferson, she’s just like an angel. I’m pretty sure she’s an angel. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have happened without her.”

Tanya also enjoyed working with John Carter Cash, Johnny Cash’s son. “We did a lot of it at the Cash cabin, just spending time with him,” she says. “You don’t see it if you’re far away how much he resembles his dad. He doesn’t look like his dad far away, but you sit close to him and watch his mannerisms, his eyes. Oh, it’s John all the way. John all the way. And he’s just a really wonderful person.”

How Tanya Tucker and Dennis Quaid reconnected after 40 years apart

Working together on the song isn’t the first time Dennis and Tanya had worked together. “Tanya was actually my very first leading lady way back in the late 70’s,” Dennis says. “We did a TV movie called Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill and she plays this girl who wants to be a singer and comes in saves this bar that my dad owns.”

“It was your second movie, my first movie,” Tanya adds, “and so after 40 years of not seeing each other, then you walked in.”

After decades of not seeing each other, the two reconnected at an event at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Soon, they had rekindled their friendship and laid the foundation for their collaboration. 

Both are excited about premiering the video on stage at The Grand Ole Opry. “It’s another God thing,” she says of getting to share it on the Opry stage before it becomes available on the Gaither Music YouTube channel and other platforms. “The only problem I’m having is the guest list, because I want everybody there. I’m thinking I’m over 150 guests and they may lose money on me, but it’s really wonderful that it’s there.”

Both Tanya and Dennis really enjoyed working together on “On My Way to Heaven” and say another collaboration is likely. “I’ve known a lot of songwriters all my life.  That’s all I’ve done is look at songs and he’s a good one,” she says. “He’s amongst one of the best!”

“It’s good to hang around her,” Dennis smiles, “because she doesn’t even know it, but everything she says sounds like a song title.”  

How to listen to ‘On My Way to Heaven’ and watch the music video

Ready to experience this once-in-a-lifetime country music moment for yourself? Woman’s World has you covered.

You can stream the beautiful new track right now on Spotify. Grab your tissues and listen to the historic collaboration here:

👉 Stream “On My Way to Heaven” on Spotify Now!

Watch a music video sneak peek below

Woman’s World got an exclusive sneak peek of the music video for “On My Way to Heaven,” which you can preview right here!