My wife and I have listened to Tanya Tucker’s songs since we were teenagers, and were interested to learn that she’s released a new album. This morning we listened to a few tracks. One of the songs, a cover version of a Miranda Lambert tune, immediately made an impression, mostly because it reminded us of an incident several years ago. We were out in west Texas, visiting some of my wife’s childhood haunts. On impulse, she decided to try and find her uncle Gordon’s old ranch, which was out in the literal middle of nowhere. Uncle Gordon had been a real Texas cowboy, a lean, leathery wizard in the saddle,…