Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Suzie Graham . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Suzie with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I’ve always made my own money since I was about 8 years old, I sold candy bars to neighbours and always had a paper round. My parents worked hard and I guess I just always loved to be independent and buy my own clothes and records. I remember I was also making more money at my paper rounds when I was supposed to go do a “youth training scheme” which you did in Glasgow in Scotland upon leaving school. For a full week of full time work, kids at 16 were paid £29.50, that taught me that I preferred to be in business for myself.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I work full time as a singer and I also do a tribute to Patsy Cline which led me to be able to tour the States several times in M.D, W.V, V.A and T.N I was first invited over in 2016 by Joltin Jim McCoy who discovered Patsy Cline at 14 years old and he remained friends with her until she passed. He was also a pall bearer at her funeral and was friends with her husband, Charlie Dick up until he passed in 2015. Jim asked me to play at his place, the Troubadour in West Virginia at the Patsy Cline event he hosted every year and I have been lucky enough to do that a few times now while also meeting with Patsy’s daughter Julie on these times. I think it’s amazing that through Patsy, I’m able to sing her songs and keep her music alive and I have met some truly wonderful people who knew Patsy and have shared their stories of her with me. I also sang my original country songs there, Jim passed away in 2016 and I wrote a song about him called “Joltin Jim” and made a video for the song around Loch Lomond in Scotland. In 2019, I was asked to come to Nashville as part of my tour to sing my own songs at “The Blue Bear Barn” and I’m presently working on finishing my album “My First Record” which is due for release very shortly.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The tribute act has definitely been the most impactful in how it has allowed me to meet with friends and family of Patsy’s and open me up to learning more about traditional country music. I also try to have a cheery disposition and have found a sense of humour and thick skin is helpful as there were also a lot of rejections from places I contacted with regards to playing in their venues. I learned not to ask outright and always be polite. I told the guys at the Blue Bear Barn, Mike Elkins and Buster Clinard, that I was going to be in the area and would pop in to say “Hi” after I had been streaming their live shows back in Scotland when I came in from my gigs on Saturday nights. I was so happy when Mike said three little words to me – “want a spot”?!
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I would love to collaborate on writing with other like minded songwriters. I love the “old” country music and basically base all my songs on the Harlan Howard advice of “Three Chords and the Truth” which is a title of another one of my songs. During lockdown, I wrote a song every week and have been so lucky to have amazing guy’s play on them. My auntie Gina who runs her “Nova Scotia Folk Club” kept it going online every week during lockdown and she introduced me to the wonderful musicians Jim Jack, John Graham, John Thomson and David Thomson who play on my songs along with the amazingly talented Willie Gamble on Steel guitar. My videos are on YouTube under Suzie Graham and anyone can check them out there and if there are similar style writer’s who’d like to collaborate with me, I’d love for them to get in touch. My email address is Patsyclinetribute@hotmail.com
Contact Info:
- Facebook: Www.facebook.com/glasgowcountrygirl
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@suziegraham2674
- Other: Www.facebook.com/Patsyclinetribute
Image Credits
Alan & Mark at Studio 10 photography, Glasgow Buster Clinard and Mike Elkins Julie Fudge and Bertha McCoy Jim McCoy
