Suzy Bogguss

Before I talk a little bit about another of my favorite singers, let me add an explanation of the kind of singer I find interesting. I claimed earlier that I look for those who are obscure and maybe haven't found the light of day yet. I guess I'm just not much for listening to what the main stream music industry promotes. But in addition to liking singers that haven't surfaced yet, I like to follow singers who may have had a time in the lime light but have fallen off the radar. I think Nashville is particularly hard on female singers, turning over a new crop on a regular basis. Those who've managed to survive for decades are few and far between and deserve a tip of the hat. People like Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton spring to mind. One of my favorites who had a nice radio career but is no longer played on contemporary country stations is Suzy Bogguss  She has one of the purest, sweetest voices you've ever heard and has continued to chug away at a wonderful career with little fanfare. I guess the nice thing about having a day in the sun is that it's possible to develop a fan base that will continue to sustain a career long after the radio has forgotten you. Such is the case with Suzy. I've seen her and met her on several occasions and she always plays to an appreciative crowd and has a long line waiting to meet and greet after the show, which she does on a regular basis. The album pictured above is simply called "Suzy Bogguss" and came out in 1999. It's a lovely album that fell on hard times when the label folded right after release. Apparently a goodly number of cds were printed as it's still available and is a real bargain. I found new ones listed at $1.29 on Amazon. The songs are all originals as far as I know, but they're all great and a number of them were written by Suzy and/or her husband Doug Crider. The musicians are all top flight Nashville folks too, with Alison Krauss making an appearance on a couple of the tracks. Favorites for me are: "Taking That Red Eye Home", duet with T. Graham Brown, "Love Is Blind", "Love Every Time", "Hold Me to It", "20 Million Things" and everything that follows. I've practically listed every track! That's how much I love it.  Another Suzy cd that's turning into a rarity, with new ones listed at over $40.00 at Amazon, is 1994s "Simpatico" with Chet Akins. Suzy and Chet were best friends and made this album late in his career. It's a pretty special album. The friendship seeps through and again all tracks are great, but 2 of my favorites are: "When She Smiled at Him" and "You Bring Out the Best in Me". If you can find a used one at a reasonable price, snap it up! Of course there are many, many Suzy albums out there and not a bad one in the lot. Check out her Christmas stuff and her album called "Swing" that lives up to its title.. She's got a new one in the works built around American Folk music that sounds pretty interesting. I may just have to report on it later!

 

Aliison Krauss

I have to thank a couple of my kids for exposing me to Alison Krauss. When I first heard her, it hit me like a ton of bricks. What a beautiful, unique voice! She's been a tremendously prolific musician with 14 albums to her credit from a career that started with "Too Late to Cry" recorded in 1987 when she was only 16 up to her latest "Paper Airplane" released this week. The purchase of "Paper Airplane" this past Wednesday brings my total to 12 so I guess you could say I'm a fan! The albums I passed on were "Raising Sand" with Robert Plant and "A Hundred Miles Or More: A Collection", the former because it was a little too weird for me and the latter because it duplicated most of its stuff from albums I already owned. I did purchase the song "Gone, Gone, Gone" from the former album, so it wasn't a total bust. I chose to buy the Target version of "Paper Airplane" because it has 6 more tracks than the standard version. I was somewhat disappointed to learn 3 of the tracks were duplicates from the "Live" album I already own. Buyer beware! I'd been planning to get it after learning of its imminent release by the Alison Krauss and Union Station mailing list. What really pushed me over the edge was being informed by Lori McKenna on Facebook that she'd co-written one of the tracks on the album. That really got my attention. Hard to imagine Alison singing one of Lori's songs. After hearing it (track #5 "My Love Follows You Where You Go"), I'm still finding it hard to imagine! It sounds nothing like anything I've heard from Lori. Probably due to the Bluegrass sound. Also it's a co-write with 2 other people, so maybe Lori's contribution gets diluted. Anyway, it's a great song and delivered impeccably. It sonically reminds me a bit of "Let Me Touch You For Awhile". "Paper Airplane" reminds me a lot of Alison's last AKUS album "Lonely Runs Both Ways", except it's a more relaxed, languid collection. Maybe you'd think of it as the lazy brother of the other. "Lonely Runs Both Ways" had tracks like "Restless" and "A Living Prayer" that really made you sit up and take notice. I just read an article about "Paper Airplane" in our local newspaper and was surprised to learn its been a long work in progress largely due to getting all the band members to agree to the included songs. Maybe the committee approach diluted the set list, because in my opinion its not as compelling a work as "Lonely Runs Both Ways". This is starting to sound like I don't like it. That's not true. I really do like it a lot, but if it were a choice between "Paper Airplane" and "Lonely Runs Both Ways", I'd say buy "Lonely Runs Both Ways" first. Favorite tracks from "Paper Airplane" besides the aforementioned "My Love Follows You Where You Go" are: the title track, "Lay My Burden Down", "Sinking Stone", "My Opening Farewell" and "These Days". The Aoife O'Donovan penned "Lay My Burden Down" deserves special mention as a darkly beautiful song, my favorite of the whole album. In my world, there's not a better band in any genre than AKUS. Their musicianship is truly as good as it gets, so this album is a worthy addition to my collection. Alison and company are a multi-platinum, Grammy winning combo, more popular than you'd expect to see reviewed on a blog dedicated to the obscure, but the thing is, they're not typical of pop music by any stretch and they've earned their popularity the old fashioned way - hard work with minimal media support. So call Alison Krauss and Union Station popular, but they're still unique enough for this old boy!

Ping

I've set up a Ping play list for this blog. So if you want to sample songs from the artists I feature, go to I-Tunes and set up a ping user.You can then find my play list by searching under my name, Dennis Carter. Give it a whirl. I'd like to know what you think of it. Does it work well or is it a pain?