Album: Sweet Danger / Artist: Suzy Bogguss / 12 tracks / On The Street Now / Loyal Dutchess
In recent years, Suzy Bogguss has been shattering listener paradigms concerning what award winning country music artists are all about. Bogguss whose career includes a platinum record and numerous hits, first pushed out the boundaries in 2003 when she teamed up with Asleep At The Wheel’s Ray Benson to create Swing. The album was warmly embraced by the jazz community, something which surprised Bogguss considering many considered it to be a country swing album. She is at it again, only 
this time she has put together a spectacular CD, Sweet Danger that leans mostly towards soft pop and R&B.
The album opens with the smooth melodic “The Bus Ride,” a ballad that draws word pictures in the fashion we have become accustomed to hearing from such legendary writers as Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Gordon Lightfoot and Shawn Colvin. The song was co-written with Matt Rollings.
The number two and three slots on this CD are filled with the R&B “Everything,” and the bluesy “No Good Way To Go.” In a recent interview with Riveting Riffs (appearing soon), Bogguss responded to the interviewer’s question about whether or not she could have sung this deeply emotional song earlier in her career, by saying, “Probably not.” I kept listening to this song and thinking I have heard echoes of this mood somewhere before, and then it hit me, Bogguss introduces this song in a fashion reminiscent of Barry White (obviously without the deep voice), before she transitions into more R&B vocals. It takes a true artist to apply brush strokes of vulnerability to her music and Suzy Bogguss proves she knows how to create masterpieces. Carson Whittsett delivers equally emotive chops on the Hammond organ. Let’s hope radio program directors hear this song for what it is, one that possesses luxurious charts with a lot of depth, and awesome vocals, delivered by a lady who has given us a beautiful book of poems set to music.
Bogguss presents a stripped down interpretation of Chicago’s, “If You Leave Me Now,” that was inspired by listening to her twelve year old son Ben sing the tune. You need no better endorsement for Bogguss’ rendition than to know that just two days prior to my speaking to her, Peter Cetera had phoned her to compliment her on a song well sung.
There are so many good songs on Sweet Danger, and I keep waffling as to which one is my personal favorite. I still have not made a decision on that front. Although there are many moods to this CD, they are all presented with sensitivity and quietly.
“Baby July,” is sweet and tender, drawing warm pictures across the canvass of our imaginations, and the ballad is one of the few times on the album that we get a hint of Bogguss’ country roots.
The song “In Heaven,” is poignant and may be emotionally jarring for those who have ever lost someone that they love. The lyrics are a two-way dialogue between a man who is living and his love that had passed away, in what we presume to be not recently. It is now time to move on, close the door on that chapter of his life, for he has met and fallen in love again, although he experiences an inward struggle as he realizes he is saying goodbye for perhaps the last time. Your heart may break, you may wipe away tears, as you listen to the words that are saturated with love, in a song that was inspired by a friendship that Bogguss and her husband shared with another couple.
Throughout Sweet Danger, Bogguss explores the many emotions of love, and in some songs confronts those who misapply the term love, as is the case of the serial lover presented in the song, “Chain Lover,” set to the backdrop of Pat Bergeson’s harmonica.
At the other end of the emotional chart we have, “Right Back Into The Feeling,” a song that blurs the line between blues and R&B. Bogguss delivers the kind of performance that we have come to expect from artists such as Bonnie Raitt, and Carson Whittsett brings great organ chops. Bogguss co-wrote the song with Wittsett and Jon Vezner.
On many occasions as we listen to the twelve tracks of Sweet Danger, beautiful textures and colors are created by Don Hart’s strings arrangements. The string section consisting of Pamela Sixfin (violin), the always-amazing David Angel (violin), the equally talented David Davidson (violin), and one of my personal favorites, cellist, Anthony LaMarchina, are all deserving of our deep appreciation.
Co-producer Jason Miles’ fingerprints are on this album and his experience working with Miles Davis, Luther Vandross and Sting is evident. Bogguss’ instincts for creating and delivering evocative, heartfelt vocals shine through. Together they make a dynamic team, and this is a CD that should find its way under many a Christmas tree.
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Reviewed November 2007
