In the three years between the release of
Suzy Bogguss' fourth studio album of new material, Something Up My Sleeve, and her fifth, Give Me Some Wheels, she released a greatest-hits album and a duet album with
Chet Atkins (Simpatico); her record company, Liberty, was reconfigured into Capitol Nashville; and she took time out to start a family. None of those factors may be as important as the sheer passage of time for an artist who had achieved a moderate level of success in a New Traditionalist vein and now faces a tough post-
Garth country music environment defined by a new crop of female singers. Give Me Some Wheels is a sturdy album of well-performed, consistently written country songs. The title track, which
Bogguss co-wrote with
Matraca Berg and
Gary Harrison, is a satisfying statement of purpose, and the album's second single, "No Way Out," is a pleasing uptempo love song. But neither became hits ("She Said, He Heard" would have made a better single choice), and the album was a commercial disappointment. If it had been released two years earlier, it probably would have done better, but coming back to a new climate in Nashville,
Bogguss needed to make a bolder or more accomplished album than this to keep from losing ground. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
