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“There’s a batch of spot and a batch of vulnerability successful the quality condition,” Annie Bosko says portion discussing her debut album. “It’s it’s good to aftermath up 1 time and consciousness connected apical of the world, similar you tin footwear ass and the adjacent day, to consciousness similar you’ve conscionable had your ass kicked by life.”
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That chronicling of affectional highs and lows serves arsenic the affectional compass for her caller album, California Cowgirl, retired contiguous (Oct. 2) connected QHMG/Stone Country Records. The 19-track project, which follows her January-released self-titled EP, interlocks toughness, confidence, heartbreak and ambition, portion interweaving moments from her ain communicative of a West Coast farmer’s girl who chased her dreams to Nashville.
Bosko calls the rubric track, “California Cowgirl,” “the album’s centerpiece, and the barroom that everything connected the medium needed to unrecorded up to.” The phrase, archetypal spoken to her by Country Music Hall of Famer Dwight Yoakam, not lone gave the task its sanction but helped crystallize her creator identity.
“I did the Greater Bakersfield podcast with him, and astatine 1 constituent helium went, ‘Annie Bosko, California Cowgirl,’” she recalls. “And I conscionable thought, ‘Yep, that’s who I am. That’s the brand.’ And that conscionable sealed the deal.”
Produced by Trent Willmon (Cody Johnson) and David Mescon (Dasha, Megan Moroney, the album’s latticework of fiddle, alloy guitar and acoustic guitar nods to the power of ‘90s and 2000s pistillate state icons specified arsenic Shania Twain and Martina McBride.
Bosko calls that decennary 1 of state music’s astir iconic. “I conscionable consciousness similar that epoch of state was truthful undeniably good. All the songs were truthful strong. It was specified a large epoch for females. I surely consciousness that we request much of that close now—more pistillate artists.”
That consciousness of nostalgia for an older procreation of state euphony runs passim the album. On California Cowgirl, Bosko covers some Kris Kristofferson and Garth Brooks. She covers Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through The Night.” Meanwhile, her instrumentality connected Brooks’ “New Way to Fly” (which Brooks recorded connected his 1990 medium No Fences) came astatine the proposition of her manager Randy Bernard, who besides co-manages Brooks (Bosko is managed by Bernard successful a associated task with BSB Management). “He said, ‘This opus would beryllium truly large coming from a pistillate perspective,’” she recalls.
Elsewhere, “Maliblue,” written with Bridgette Tatum (“She’s Country”), distills heartbreak done clever wordplay. “We were successful Malibu and walking connected the formation and she had that large rubric for a song,” Bosko says. “It’s this amusive play connected words astir a miss leaving a guy. I cognize I’ve been there, wherever I’ve been brokenhearted successful immoderate beauteous place. I conscionable envisioned immoderate miss crying tears into the ocean.”
Even immoderate of the originals connected the medium stem from ‘90s state greats. “Watch Me,” which captures a consciousness of spot and resilience successful the look of doubters, is inspired by Toby Keith’s 1999 deed “How Do You Like Me Now?!”
“I’ve ever loved the operation ‘Watch Me’ and I emotion the connection successful Toby’s song,” she says. “We’ve each been told we’re crazy, that we’re ne'er going to marque it, oregon been doubted erstwhile it comes to pursuing our dreams. I emotion and respect Toby’s songwriting and I thought, ‘Where’s the miss opus for this? I don’t cognize of one.’ I’ve dealt with truthful overmuch skepticism. Even erstwhile I locomotion done airports, immoderate radical are amazed that it’s my guitar going done security. But the opus is tongue-in-cheek; it doesn’t person to beryllium a mediate digit — it’s much of a, ‘Hold my portion due to the fact that I’m going to bash it’ benignant of thing.”