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Susie Dobbs
December 6 - 9
Free Admission
There is one very important thing to know about Susie Dobbs – she doesn’t take being told “no you can’t” lightly. On first glance it would be easy to assume that the blond haired, blue eyed beauty from Nebraska is just your typical “girl-next-door,” but anything could be farther from the truth. In her short, yet storied life she has been a ski resort photographer, disc jockey, gymnastics studio owner, radiation therapist, booking agent, horse breeder, and last but not least, one of Country Music’s fastest rising stars. With a nation-wide touring schedule including the prestigious National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, a sponsorship with Double H Boots, and a feature spot in Wrangler’s national ad campaign, Susie Dobbs is making those who told her “no you can’t” regret that they ever uttered those words.
“I have never let anyone tell me that I couldn’t do something because I didn’t have the right schooling, the talent or know-how. I truly believe that if there is a will there is a way. You can always learn, you just have to set your mind to it.”
From being told that singing wasn’t a real job, or that she couldn’t successfully book herself, to not being taken seriously as a business person because she is a woman, Susie has proved the nay sayers wrong by committing to being a doer and a go-getter. Her vivacious spirit is evident in her first major self-tilted release that bares the advisory “This album contains Real County Music.”
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From the beginning it seemed that Susie had dreams that were bigger than the two main streets that run through the mostly farming and ranching community of North Platte. At age four the precocious Susie was already an entertainer of sorts, making the rounds to the neighbor’s houses singing in exchange for cookies or candy. Her next door neighbor was so impressed with her little singing entertainer that she hired a company to come in and record her singing “Delta Dawn.”
In high school the rebellious teen not only stopped singing, she refused to after a run in with choir teacher in junior high who threw her out of the show choir. But at age 15 she worked overnights as a disc jockey at the local country station where she would be exposed to the inspiring sounds of singers like Loretta Lynn and Reba McEntire.
“When I started to do competitions I always sang a Reba song. I looked up to her, and still do, for being a strong female who also exemplifies grace and class.”
After high school Susie auditioned for the prestigious AMDA, the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. The intense two year performing arts program has turned out some of America’s best actors and performers including Paul Sorvino and Tyne Daily. Out of the hundreds of thousands that audition each year, Susie not only got in, she got into the combined program on her fist try. “No one ever gets in on their first try, so I was super excited. I worked my butt off to raise the money to go, but was short about $1,000. I asked my parents to sign a loan for the amount, but they refused. Their famous last words were, “That’s great, but singing and acting is not a real career.”
With that, Susie would have to pass up a once in a life opportunity, but she wasn’t going to let her parents “no” stop her. She enrolled in the local community college having lost her gymnastics scholarship due to a hamstring injury and started the Omega Gymnastics Club in her hometown. The studio was hugely successful and helped fund her college tuition at the University of Chicago’s Radiation Therapy Program.
“Besides music I have a real passion for the sciences, so radiation therapy was a perfect fit and a wonderful way for me to help people.”
During college music was put on the back burner, but after graduation she put an ad in the Illinois Entertainer and hired her first band. Before long Susie Dobbs and the Way Out West Band were playing big clubs like Chicago’s Cadillac Ranch and the Sundance Saloon. One of the biggest obstacles though was getting booked.
“I decided that if no one was going to take me seriously, I would call and pretend to be a booking agent. I’d call and make up a name saying something like “Hi this is Kim from Way Out West Entertainment,” Susie says, as she goes into one of her many different voices. “They never knew it was me calling. When I would advance a show I would make sure that I sounded different than the person who called them. No one ever caught on and my bookings began to increase.”
While most girl singers stand in front of the microphone and belt out country tales of love and life, Susie is a take the bull by the horns kind of performer, often singing on top of bars and traveling through the crowd. She has takes entertaining seriously.
“People pay good money to see a show and damn it, I am going to give them a great show!”
Before she knew it she was traveling the country performing at the NFR and picking up awards like the Chicago Tribune’s prestigious Entertainer of the Year award.
Susie began making monthly trips to Nashville in between her hellish touring schedule that had her singing at fairs, festivals, clubs, and rodeos all over the greater Midwest. Soon, she landed a management deal, but like many, she learned that she had instead landed herself in the artist protection program. Basically she was signed and then put on a shelf. “I thought the deal would be great. I was excited because I had been booking myself along with other bands for my booking agency and doing radiation therapy. I thought that they would help me get booked, but that never happened.”
She may have had business men with big promises take her for a ride and had a few disappointments, but she hasn’t let those setbacks scare her, set her back, or stop her. In the spring of 2005 Susie teamed up with Oklahoma songwriter and historic D Records label artist Jamie Richards to produce an album she could be proud of.
While this may be her third album she has recorded, it might as well be her first as she feels that it finally represents who she is. On her previous albums there was always some business man pushing the buttons and pulling the strings. “With my other albums I was pushed into doing overproduced bubble gum pop country. It wasn’t me at all. If there is one thing I have learned from being in this town is that I am not going to fall for that crap. I know what kind of music I do and I won’t take the time to apologize for it,” she says matter-of-factly.
Susie also isn’t apologetic about the fact that her album has a true country shuffle “I’d Break Your Heart If I Had One”, fiddles that cry where they should (“Walk Away”), edgy songs like “Damn That Radio,” and heartbreaking waltz’s like Richards’ “Lonely Alone.”
“I started the project the summer before, but it didn’t turn out how I had envisioned. Jamie said “well let me do it.” I could have hired some big dog producer who would help me get a deal, but wouldn’t let me do what I wanted to do or I could hire someone that I work with a lot. Jamie writes great songs, I had heard the sessions he produced, we work well together, most importantly, he wouldn’t try to make something I am not, he knows what I do, and the direction that I am headed. “
Songs like the tale of the egotistical male in “I Didn’t” and a sure fire classic about losers with “Different Truck (Same Loser)” may lead one to believe that Susie set out to produce a male bashing album. “When we had assembled the songs together Jamie pointed that funny fact out to me,” says Susie with a laugh. “I don’t pick the woman sappy song. I can’t sell that- I’d never be like “oh wow is me, oh come back to me.” I like songs with attitude.”
In all seriousness Susie says, “If you are going to sing country you have to live it; I do. I can team rope. I can send you running around the parking lot, grab you by the heels and knock ya down. I’m not just playing country dress up. Country music isn’t a genre for me, it’s my real life.”
And one heck of a life it is for the girl that was told that she couldn’t reach her dreams.
For more information visit http://www.susiedobbs.com/
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