Bogguss to project jazz, pop blends to Opry audiences

Intriguing musical collaborations have served vocalist Suzy Bogguss well over the years, along with being a gifted and versatile performer in many idioms.

Bogguss, who’ll appear Saturday night at the Grand Ole Opry and has a new CD Sweet Danger coming out Sept. 4, admits that her latest recording date posed a bit of a challenge due to a change of environment.

“It was a little different in terms of the whole attitude that you encounter when recording in New York,” Bogguss said. “Jason (producer/keyboardist Jason Miles) was wonderful, but there’s not quite that same feeling in terms of approach and interaction that you have in Nashville. For one thing it’s a bit looser in terms of the time that’s spent getting everyone there and getting ready to go. Then you have a natural nervousness from the fact that we’re working in New York and doing these songs that are varied, and some of them pretty extensive in terms of testing your range. But I think everything came together very well.”

Sweet Danger blends jazz and pop elements, with Bogguss doing some searing, taut and emotionally wrenching numbers such as “No Good Way To Go,” which describes the demise of a relationship in a stirring, powerful fashion.

Another number “In Heaven” talks about the impact of loss and the toll it takes, as well as the difficulty in adjusting and moving on with one’s life.

But not everything is intense or lyrically charged. There’s also lighter material, most notably the cover of Chicago’s “If You Leave Me Now” that displays Bogguss’ ability to rework recent pop as effectively as she’s done Tin Pan Alley or western swing classics.

Bogguss’ acumen with jazz and pop might surprise some who’d deemed her a country vocalist. Indeed when she first arrived in Nashville Bogguss did enjoy major success in that genre. She was the Country Music Association’s Horizon winner in 1992, and two years later recorded a masterpiece in Sympatico, a set that paired her with the great Chet Atkins.

Bogguss also earned ASCAP pop and country awards for songwriting during that decade, with such singles as “Aces,” “Drive South,” “Someday Soon,” “Outbound Plane” and “Letting Go” keeping her name on the charts.

However Bogguss’ vocal background includes folk, pop and jazz singing. Before arriving in Nashville Bogguss spent several years on the road operating like a contemporary version of the old-time traveling troubadours. She’d do show tunes, swing, jazz and folk as well as country numbers, performing sometimes in front of tiny audiences.

During one of those encounters she met Asleep at the Wheel and Ray Benson, one of the most knowledgeable contemporary performers in terms of western swing. The meeting, which took place in 1984, resulted in a lasting friendship and eventually Bogguss and Benson worked together on the CD Swing, which she feels is the natural predecessor to Sweet Danger.

“In many ways the things that we’re doing on Sweet Danger were already established on Swing,” Bogguss said. “As far as the tempos and the arrangements and the pace, there were times when we doing so very different things, but on other songs it wasn’t that much of a stretch. Plus, as always, Doug (her husband and songwriter Doug Crider) was very encouraging and kept telling me that this session would work, that the music made sense and that I could easily do it.”

“I’ve always felt that there were more things musical styles had in common than things that made them different, and I think audiences are also more open than they’re often given credit for being,” Bogguss said. “For me it’s always been a question of whether something was a great song, and was it something that I could sing effectively. If it was, then my next concern is how do we adapt it. I’ve never really looked at it as a question of whether I should do it or not because it might be a jazz or pop or country tune. I love all those styles, and find they all have things in common.”

Besides her appearance Saturday night on the Grand Ole Opry, Suzy Bogguss will also sign copies of Sweet Danger from 5-6 p.m. Saturday at the Opry shop.