Suzy Bogguss
Album: Lucky
Label: Proper
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.suzybogguss.com/

Grammy Award winning country singer Suzy Bogguss didn't intend for her newest release to be a tribute album to Merle Haggard, it just happened as songs were being suggested by Suzy and her husband, producer and songwriter Doug Crider. There were a selection that they kept coming back to, all of which just happened to be songs by Merle Haggard. I guess that makes is CD Lucky in more ways than one, perhaps even more so as it was funded entirely by fan donations through the Kickstarter programme. There is perhaps an element of full circle, in that her very first CD, Somewhere Between, released in 1989, was of course named after a song by Haggard.

What is refreshing is that in no way has Suzy attempted to imitate Merle Haggard. She has put her own sound and soul into these songs, making them familiar, yet fresh. Following the example of Haggard, she created an exceptional group of musicians and background vocalists, comprising Gretchen Peters, Matraca Berg, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Jessi Alexander and Jon Randall Stewart, all of whom add their own little piece of magic to the recording.

"He really is the poet of the common man," says Bogguss of Merle, perhaps explaining why she is so drawn to his music, along with her stories of his music playing in her Dad's car when she was a child and being a soundtrack to her formative years.

Whilst it is hard to choose, perhaps standout tracks on the CD for me, include The Bottle Let Me Down, Silver Wings, Someday When Things are Good and Today I Started Loving You Again, delivered from a female perspective.

Added to this new release, fans are very lucky that Suzy will be performing in the UK in April. Visit website to find a venue near you.

Helen Mitchell