There’s something about Suzy

We skipped Games 6 and 7 of the World Series to see Suzy Bogguss performing with Craig Smith (lead guitar) and Elio Giordano (bass) at the Dakota in downtown Minneapolis Tuesday and Wednesday evenings this week. Several Power Line readers were in the house. I snapped the photo on the right from Table 152 as she was performing “Letting Go,” a song written by Doug Crider (her husband). She mentioned they have been married for nearly 33 years.

There’s something about Suzy and her gifts that strikes a deep emotional connection with me. Recordings fail to capture the rich purity of her voice. She entertains with abandon. She knows a good song when she hears one and she makes it better when she performs it. She has also written good ones with her husband. On both Tuesday and Wednesday she performed one such (extremely hot) song — “It’s Too Late To Worry About That Now” — that she has yet to record.

Suzy’s onstage personality is delightful. She is at ease with an audience and naturally funny. Here is a terrific 2018 profile of her. If you see her live, you are unlikely to leave disappointed.

Suzy mentioned that she is continuing her current tour this week in Evanston tonight and in Stoughton, Hayward, and Menominie, Wisconsin, the following nights. Her site lists her tour dates here.

Suzy always performs hits early in her act, several from the 1991 album Aces among them. She recorded a twenty-fifth anniversary version of Aces in an acoustic setting (she calls the new recording Aces Redux). It is, she says, the album that put her on the map. In addition to “Aces,” Suzy plucked “Someday Soon” and “Part of Me” (below, by Tony Arata) from that album on both nights this week.

Suzy played “Shenandoah” (Tuesday) and “Wayfaring Stranger” (Wednesday, below) from her American Folk Songbook collection. She can make the most familiar songs new again.

Last night she performed “Night Rider’s Lament,” a favorite that shows off another side of her talent. She can yodel too.

Suzy devoted a recent disc to songs written by Merle Haggard. “Today I Started Loving You Again” is one of them. She played it on both Tuesday and Wednesday. As I say, she knows a good song when she hears one.

Same with “Drive South,” by John Hiatt. The song is Hiatt’s entry in the “let’s get out of here together” genre. It is engaging, witty, upbeat, and fun — a song to love and freedom.

You can hear America singing.

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