People of a certain age packed the west half of the black-square village park in Bishop Hill Saturday to hear singer/songwriter Suzy Bogguss and Nashville up-and-comer Morgan Myles on stage. Most of the lawn-chair-seated audience were there to hear Suzy, whose crystal clear voice entertained them in local bars and pizza parlors from 1980-85 while she lived in and booked work in and outside of Kewanee.
The event was the last of three in the first “Concerts in the Colony” series sponsored this summer by the Bishop Hill Heritage Association with American Rescue Plan money allocated to the historic community by the Henry County Board to revive tourism following COVID-19. Concert organizer John Taylor said they had tried to get Suzy there before but this time “the stars aligned and here she is.”
Bogguss opened the 90-minute performance with her driving hit, “Outbound Plane,” then looked out over the audience and said.”It’s weird to see so many people I know out there.” Intermingling memories with back stories on her songs and news about what she’s up to these days, Suzy said Bishop Hill has a special place in her heart. She said that when she lived in Kewanee she and her mother, Barbara, would meet in Bishop Hill for lunch because it was a convenient spot between Kewanee and her hometown of Aledo. Her mother passed away in February at the age of 100 prompting Suzy to say “She might be here today…I’m feeling it,”
Bogguss pleased the crowd with two Jerry Jeff Walker songs she remembered singing at The Gold Post (now Mary’s Family Dining) in Galva, “Night Rider’s Lament,” and “Cadillac Cowboy,” which were among the songs she and her singing partner at the time, Norm Brown, honed on their trips to the western states each summer. She also performed songs released in the 90s while at Capitol Records, including “Letting Go,” “Someday Soon,” “Hey, Cinderella,” and “Drive South,” her highest charting single at No. 2. Before the appreciative audience gave her a standing ovation.
Bogguss closed with another fan favorite from her western songbook, “I Want to be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart,” written and recorded by Patsy Montana in 1935. Bogguss met and became friends with Montana who called Suzy her adopted daughter and said she did the best job of rolling out the yodeling part the song requires.
Bogguss has now reached the point in her career where she picks her own projects and decides her own schedule, which lately includes joining up with other “Chicks with Hits” from the 90s, like Pam Tillis and Kathy Mattea who she will join for her next engagement Aug. 10 in Steamboat Springs, Colo. She will perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on Sept. 25.
The concert was opened by Morgan Myles, who has performed in Bishop Hill before, but in front of a much smaller audience. Taylor said Myles sang at Bishop Hill’s Creative Commons in 2020, during the pandemic, when they were restricted to an audience of only 20 people.
Since then, Myles placed third in 2022 on NBC’s “The Voice,” after spinning all four judge’s chairs in the blind auditions with her soulful rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” which she also sang on stage Saturday. Myles announced that she has just signed her first record deal and will release her first album in a few weeks including several of the songs in her one-hour set in Bishop Hill.
