Solid Country Gold: Bogguss, Tillis, Clark Bring Tour to McMinnville

Naturally, after a fair share of delays and schedule-shuffling, stone-cold-country heavy hitters and natural women Suzy Bogguss, Pam Tillis and Terri Clark are beyond ready to bring their musical A-games to Middle Tennessee and knock it out of the park.

“I had been thinking about putting together an all-female package like this for a few years,” Terri Clark notes. “There is a short list of women who can play and sing and have the hits to back it up. Pam and Suzy were a great fit.”

Yes. You’ll be in fine company as the stonewalled trio’s “Chicks With Hits” tour is now scheduled for McMinnville’s Cumberland Caverns this month and it’s a rare right-up-the-road (and 333 feet below) opportunity to take in some iconic tunes and scenic views all in one fell swoop. With over 30 Top 10 singles between the three, the ground to cover is abundant. Of course, in such a setting, the cave-dwelling divas will draw upon each other’s energy.

Says Bogguss, “All three of us have kept sight of the things that made us love making music in the first place—the love of singing, and the desire to make people feel something with the songs. And we’re hams! Anybody could tell that we love what we do! We are going to have big fun, and those we have the opportunity to share it with will too!”

In 2020 Tillis released the critically-acclaimed Looking For a Feeling, which she released on her own Stellar Cat Records.

“Our music blends beautifully, we all have an appreciation for traditional [country], folk and country-rock and share many of the same influences,” Tillis states of the Chicks With Hits experience. “Between the harmonies and the humor it’s gonna be pretty darn fun.”

Just last year, Clark released the Christmas album It’s Christmas . . . Cheers! which includes guest appearances from both Tillis and Bogguss on “Away In a Manger” as well as collaborations with Ricky Skaggs, Dierks Bentley and The Oak Ridge Boys.

Clark continues to be impressively busy otherwise as well, hosting the nationally-syndicated weekly radio show Country Gold With Terri Clark, playing regularly, releasing the album Raising the Bar in 2018 (of which almost half the tracks are co-written by MTSU grad Erin Enderlin) and even visiting recently with Lightning 100’s Music Business Radio. Despite joking that her last name is “Bogus” (it’s not), Bogguss can boast some honest-to-goodness music business hosting of her own thanks to her popular “Wine Down Wednesdays” Facebook livestreams, where she’s recently sat down for a good time with artists including Kathy Mattea and Carlene Carter.

“I love hosting Country Gold,” said Clark. “It gives me the chance to not only catch up with my peers, but to let fans be a ‘fly on the wall,’ and that’s what makes this show so special. I’m such a fan of country music from the ’80s and ’90s and I’m passionate about keeping that era alive and in the forefront, as well as letting listeners know what all of their favorite artists are up to today.”

Country Gold airs locally on 95.5 NASH-ICON FM.

There’s sure to be plenty of country gold and more mineral-enriched musical content to go around among the Chicks With Hits. This show was originally rescheduled for March, however Cumberland Caverns announced that the concert would be rescheduled again, now set for Saturday, Nov. 20, at Cumberland Caverns, 1437 Cumberland Caverns Rd., McMinnville, find tickets here. Tickets start at $75. An additional $15 gets you a pre-show cave tour too.