“An Evening with Suzy Bogguss" at the Orpheum Theatre -- April 18.
Saturday, April 18, 7:30 p.m.
Orpheum Theatre, 57 South Kellogg Street, Galesburg IL
Its headliner a native of Aledo, Illinois, who became one of the most acclaimed female country singers of the 1980s and '90s, An Evening with Suzy Bogguss enjoys an April 18 performance at Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre, the artist a living legend who earned eight Top 10 hits in the 20th century before exploring new influences – including jazz, Western swing, and the Bakersfield sound – during the current one.
As stated at AllMusic.com: "Bogguss was born in Aledo, Illinois, in 1956, and began singing in her church choir at age five. Encouraged by her parents, she learned piano and drums as a child, and took up guitar as a teenager. While studying art at Illinois State University, she performed in local coffee houses and clubs, and after graduating in 1980, she hit the road, playing wherever she could find a gig around the Midwest, Northeast, and even parts of Canada. She moved to Nashville in 1985 and worked as a demo singer while playing in clubs by night; she later took a job singing at the Dollywood theme park and sold tapes of her own music, one of which got her signed to Liberty/Capitol when a label executive heard it. Bogguss released her first singles in 1987, and her debut album, Somewhere Between, appeared the following year. It received hugely positive reviews for blending country's past and present, and featured covers of Patsy Montana's 'I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart' and Merle Haggard's 'Somewhere Between,' and also produced a decent-sized hit in 'Cross My Broken Heart.' The 1990 follow-up, Moment of Truth, took Bogguss in a more polished direction, but failed to break her to a wider audience.
"That all changed with 1991's gold-selling Aces, which spun off a total of four hit singles: 'Someday Soon,' 'Letting Go,' 'Outbound Plane,' and the title track (the latter three all made the country Top 10). Bogguss was now a star, and her 1992 follow-up, Voices in the Wind – a more pop-oriented effort – brought the highest-charting hit of her career in the number two cover of John Hiatt's 'Drive South'; it also became her second straight gold album. 1993's Somethin' Up My Sleeve gave her two additional Top Five hits in 'Just Like the Weather' and 'Hey Cinderella.' For her next outing, 1994's Simpatico, Bogguss took something of a left turn, cutting a charmingly low-key album of duets with guitar legend Chet Atkins; she also released a greatest-hits collection that year."
To date, Bogguss' discography consists of 16 studio albums, two compilation albums, one live album, and two demo albums. The artist has released 38 singles, with six of those reaching the Top 10 of the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart between 1992 and 1994. An additional six singles reached the Top 40 of the same chart between 1989 and 1998.
An Evening with Suzy Bogguss will be performed in the Orpheum Theatre on April 18, admission to the 7:30 p.m. concert event is $41.40-51.80, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)342-2299 and visiting GalesburgOrpheum.org.
