Suzy Bogguss' major label debut in 1989 made her one of the big artists that defined the golden days of 90s country with several Top 10 singles. At the top of Eddie's guest wish list for The Bobby Bones Show was Bogguss, and she stopped by today (February 14) to share all of her stories.
Bogguss worked at Dollywood for one season, where she was discovered by a major player in the game. Shortly after she was signed to Capitol Records. During her time at Dollywood, Bogguss got to meet Dolly Parton many times and even opened up for her. She said Parton has always been an awesome human and she loved that Parton wanted the artists to always thrive as themselves. That's not Bogguss only story of her time with big country music stars. In the artist group that came up at the same time as Bogguss was Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Pam Tillis. Brooks got signed after Bogguss and she remembered his career taking off was explosive to watch. Shew as up close for a lot of it as the two of them toured together. It was Patty Loveless though who gave Bogguss hope for becoming an artist. Loveless was the first one Bogguss saw breakthrough. Bogguss was a small part of it too as she sang the background vocals on Loveless' demo that got her her record deal. Loveless even thanked her publicly on her first album.
The love of music was strong in Bogguss' family. Her family wasn't a family band as fans hear from some artists, though lots of her family members played instruments during her childhood. Bogguss' family was supportive of her dream to become an artist, and it wasn't that far of a stretch since she got her degree in art. The first 5 years of her career, Bogguss was out on her own touring the country. She would sing at biker bars, supper clubs, and anywhere she could get it a gig. This was back before cellphones existed so Bogguss remembers sending her parents post cards from wherever she was at the time. Her parents did worry about her traveling alone despite having a Shepherd mix dog with her. So she finally decided to pursue being an artist full time and move to Nashville.
Still pursuing music, Bogguss is living it up touring with Pam Tillis and Terri Clark on the Chicks With Hits tour this year. She's also working on a cookbook and doing a livestream every Wednesday called Wine Down Wednesday where she drinks wine and plays songs. She's also working on new music, but admits she's trying to get used to the new idea of just putting out singles. She currently has "Sunday Birmingham" out off of her new project, and she has another new one coming out in May.
Suzy Bogguss performed her hit song "Drive South," which is actually a John Hiatt original. Bogguss recalled getting to sing the song with him and added that she thinks he's one of the best poets in the whole world.