Facts & More

Facts

• BIRTHDATE: December 30, 1956

• BIRTHPLACE: Aledo, Illinois

• MARITAL STATUS/CHILDREN: Married to songwriter Doug Crider. The couple have one child, Ben.

• EDUCATION: Graduated from Illinois State University in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in  metalsmithery

• OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.bogguss.com/

Album Discography

• 1989 - Somewhere Between
• 1990 - Moment of Truth
• 1991 - Aces
• 1992 - Voices in the Wind
• 1993 - Something Up My Sleeve
• 1994 - Greatest Hits
• 1994 - Simpatico
• 1996 - Give Me Some Wheels
• 1998 - Nobody Loves, Nobody Gets Hurt

Awards

• Academy of Country Music, 1989 Best New Female Vocalist
  
• Country Music Association, 1992 -  Horizon Award
  
• Country Music Television/Europe, 1993 - Top Ten Video of the Year - Drive South
  
• Country Music People International, 1993 - Rising Star Award

• Country Music Association, 1994 - Album of the Year  for Common Thread
  
• Country Music Television/Europe, 1994 - Top Ten Video of the Year - Hey Cinderella

were all moved by the moment. Our voices were quivering with the emotion of it all. Afterward we agreed - we absolutely have to do something together. And I was the first one to be recording."

Three days before going into the studio, Suzy still didn't have a song that was right for the three of them. That's when she heard "Train of Thought." Once again, their voices merged perfectly.

Wanna play?

"While Alison was there she played some viola, for 'Moonlight and Roses.' You know, she just sits there and makes up the part. She didn't even own a viola, she had to borrow one. Her husband, Pat Bergeson, is a good friend of mine. He was there with her because it was the week before their wedding. I saw him standing around and said, 'how about playing some harmonica on 'Train of Thought?' He did. It sounds great."

Well, what do you wanna play?

Suzy Bogguss
On the making of
Nobody Love, Nobody Gets Hurt

The basics

Nobody Love, Nobody Gets Hurt is Suzy Bogguss' eighth album. It has no gimmicks. No scheme. No grand philosophical underpinning. It just has great songs delivered by someone with an extraordinary voice.

"If there's anything I want to get across it's just that music is a wonderful thing and I feel so fortunate to work with these amazing people and these talented writers and to be the vehicle that gets the music out to the people."

Songwriters represented on this record include Tony Arata, Julie Miller, Cheryl Wheeler, Skip Ewing, Kim Richey and more. Musicians include Matt Rollings, Brent Rowan, Darrell Scott, Pat Bergeson and others.

Buddy, can you spare some time?

"I once tried to trace the beginnings of all my friendships -- the trails that led from one person to another and how my affinity for somebody's music drew me to another person. For instance Trisha Yearwood and I love Emmylou Harris and Linda Rondstadt. Kathy Mattea played in the same folky clubs that I did when we first started our careers. Vince Gill sang on one of my records because of a fiddle player we both knew. I've been lucky to form strong friendships since I came to Nashville.

I didn't set out to have a showcase for all my buddies on this album -- it was really about what a particular song called for, and bringing in the right person for that song. Now Trisha is about as hot as she can be right now and she could have said, 'maybe next time.' She said, 'when do you want me? I'll work it in.' That's one of the things that's so groovy about this town.

Guest vocalists on Nobody Love, Nobody Gets Hurt include Trisha Yearwood, Kathy Mattea, Alison Krauss, Garth Brooks and Patty Loveless.

The family that plays together ...

"When we first got married, Doug and I wouldn't even write together. I have a habit of starting a song and then getting busy with something else. My husband is a disciplined songwriter, so if we start a song and don't finish it in a week or two it drives him up a wall. He wants to finish it, but knows that if he does it without me, I'll just come in and tell him what he did was all wrong."

Suzy and Doug have learned how to write together. They penned "I Surrender" and "Somebody to Love" (with Matraca Berg) for this album. And while they worked together on a number of small projects, this is the first time they have produced an album together.

It's who you know

"Doug, being my husband, knows a lot more about me that just the singer side. I feel as if he captured some of the fullness of the life that we have together on this record. And working together was just so easy. If there were times that I was freaking out about something, feeling as though I couldn't pull it off, he moved away from the producer role and became my husband, who knows how to calm me down. He also knows the other buttons to push, but he didn't really abuse that during the recording process."

Harmonic convergence

" I knew from the beginning that I wanted Kathy Mattea on the record. I have loved singing with her ever since we did "Teach Your Children on Red, Hot and Country. It was like we had been singing together forever. We got in the studio and locked in. We were singing and looking at each other through the glass in the studio and just laughing our butts off because it fell together so perfectly."

Kathy Mattea sings backing vocals on "When I Run."

Jolly good show

"I did a show for one night in Manchester, England with Trisha and Alison. They were calling us the Yee Haw Girls, as opposed to the Spice Girls {much rolling of eyes}. We kept talking about doing something together when we got there, but never came up with anything. The night of the show, we decided to sing "Farther Along" from the Trio album. It was fairly close to show time, and we only knew two of the three verses, so Doug got on the Internet and sure enough, he finds the lyrics. In between our individual shows, we worked up the song real quick, and at the end we went on-stage together. It was so scary up there, because English audiences listen in total silence and then go ape when a song is done. We had one guitar and the three of us singing. It was so beautiful, that we

We added a kind of curveball with Darrell Scott. He plays guitar, dobro, mandolin, slide guitar . . . He adds a real unpredictability to the session because we never knew which instrument he would pick up. And he never plays anything the same way twice so we got that real band-y spontaneity on the record."

He said yes

"During a meeting at the record label, Garth talked about Capitol being a family. So I called him up the next day. 'Hello brother.'

And then what?

"I had heard the song 'Take Me Back' sung by Julie and Buddy Miller, and was so moved by their voices pleading together. I knew I wanted a real country sounding voice, one with real character. I had just recorded my part of the song and in my mind I heard Garth singing the background vocals. But I really had no clue how it would be. We had never sung together before. And then I thought, would it be weird to produce my buddy in the studio? Especially the guy who sold more records than anyone in the universe. Fact is, he was so gracious and easy to work with.

"He came in and said, 'I don't know if you'll want me today. I have a cold.' I told him to go ahead and give it a shot anyway. Well, he just wailed away. I was so impressed. It was all done in a matter of minutes."

Another real country voice joins the party

"I sang on the demo record that got Patty her record deal and she thanked me in the credits of her first record. I was nobody. I was singing at Tony Roma's and I remember seeing that "thank you" on her record and thinking it was the coolest thing in the world."

Patty Loveless sings background vocals on "I Surrender."

So about that song with Patty ...

"My old college roommate has three little boys. She told me that I should get this book, Surrender to Motherhood and I wrote the title down on a piece of paper. It's all about the transition from feeling like a freewheeling person to having this tie that is unquestionable. And it's a wonderful thing. Giving in to it is a sweet release, like if you reach the top of some height and you think how great it would be to just fall.

"It was definitely like that for me after I decided to have a child. I said okay, I'll fall into this. Here goes. And then I started kicking and screaming and yelling that I wasn't ready to give up all this stuff. You come to learn that you don't have to give up all you were, but there are a lot of changes. It's the most beautiful thing that you can experience."

The scrap of paper with the book title on it served as inspiration when Doug and Suzy wrote "I Surrender" about their son, Ben.

Where the heck does that album title come from, anyway?

"Bobbie Cryner wrote the song, 'Nobody Love, Nobody Gets Hurt.' When we heard it, Doug and I loved it. We knew that it was unusual, but considered it a work of art that had to be on the album."

This slice-of-life song details a convenience store robbery. Forget descriptions. This is one you have to listen to for yourself.

I don't need perfection. But a little tile is nice

"Everything in this record is laid out as honestly as it can be. This is what I would sound like if I were singing in the room with you. Unless we were in a bathroom. Bathrooms sound great -- it's the tile."