Terri Lynn Weaver

Weaver was born in Mansfield, Ohio, United States.

It was in the mid-1970s that, at the invitation of her aunt, she moved to Dallas, Texas.

"Disco was the happening thing at the time, the Saturday Night Fever stuff of which I was never a fan," says Weaver. Weaver asked the manager if he would be interested in letting her play guitar and sing during one of the "Happy Hour" slots. The manager agreed and it was enough for her Dallas debut. She added players until it formed a trio. Then they started a band.

The band was called "Terri Lynn and Texas Tea". They played drums, bass guitar, electric guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, mandolin and she played rhythm guitar. They played a number of clubs and other gigs over the next few years, but it wasn't until a friend at a radio station introduced her to the music of EmmyLou Harris that she adopted a style long used in the industry, "a girl and her guitar."[2]

It was while she was waitressing at a club called Barny Ol'fields, that she would meet her husband, Mike. She invited him to see her play in Grapevine, Texas that Friday and Saturday night. Mike Weaver has since been an inspiration in her career, even encouraging her to sing to him while on trips in the car. They married on June 23, 1979.

Weaver ran a campaign against incumbent Rep. Frank Buck (D) in 2006.[3] Though Rep. Buck retained his seat in the house he later announced he would not run again.[4] Weaver was able to run another campaign the following election.

Weaver was elected to the 40th district of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 2008 to present filling the vacant seat of Rep. Frank Buck (D)[5] She serves in the 106th General Assembly as a member of the House Agriculture Committee, the House Children & Family Affairs Committee, the House Education Committee, the House K-12 Subcommittee, and the House Domestic Relations Subcommittee.[1]

Weaver was indirectly responsible for the surprise 2009 Tennessee House of Representatives election of TNGA House Speaker Kent Williams, R-Elizabethton (and concurrently, the defeat of Rep. Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol) as Weaver's first vote within the House of Representatives sided with the Tennessee House Democrats on the recess motion prior to the January 14, 2009 vote for the Speaker of the House.[6] The Tennessee House Republicans tried to block the recess, but lost on a 50–49 vote.

Weaver supported a Tennessee law that allows prosecutors to charge women with criminal assault if they use narcotics during pregnancy and the fetus or newborn is found "addicted to or harmed by the drug".[7] The bill, if it became law would be dangerous to the fetus by removing medical treatment while in the womb and the doctors in the Salon article (cited above) also stated that, in spite of the supporters' state, babies are not born "addicted". The bill passed and Governor Haslam signed it into law. In 2016, the Legislature refused to renew it.[8]

On September 13, 2016, Weaver was one of just two House Representatives who voted "opposed" to the expulsion of fellow troubled lawmaker Jeremy Durham over allegations of sexual harassment, campaign finance violations, and tax evasion. Sixteen House members abstained – largely over was they felt was a lack of due process in the matter. Courtroom "due process" was not necessary, the House legislative's due process was followed.

In February 2017, Weaver introduced a bill that would classify children born through artificial insemination as illegitimate, even if both parents are married and consent to the insemination.[9] Weaver defended the bill in a subsequent Facebook post, claiming it was intended only to repeal a statute that the state Attorney General had deemed unconstitutional. However, in reviewing Weaver's argument, Snopes concluded that it rests on a "fairly significant misreading" of the Attorney General's views and existing Tennessee law.[10] The bill did not pass. (Legislative history, Tn General Assembly)

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