Annie Bosko’s roots run deep. Her grandfather and father worked the fields from sunup to sundown as she and her siblings spent their days husking corn in the California sun to a steady soundtrack of George Strait and Patsy Cline, while her mother introduced her to the soaring harmonies of the Judds, Deana Carter, Patty Loveless, Martina McBride and Shania Twain.
All of this echoes across California Cowgirl, her debut album of 80s/90s country explosion of shuffles, sweeping ballads and girl-powered anthems. Available now via QHMG/Stone Country Records, listen to California Cowgirl Below.
Supplementing her own production work with Tommy Simms (Eric Clapton’s GRAMMY- winning “Change the World”) and Butch Walker (Taylor Swift, Green Day, P!nk), Trent Willmon and David ‘Messy’ Mescon brought California Cowgirlinto a solid country focus.
“Trent really helped build the foundation and recognized how traditional country I wanted to lean – he really supported that,” Bosko says of the man who produced Cody Johnson’s CMA Album of the Year Leather.
“With ‘Messy,’ it was taking that, but getting a little outside the box,” she adds. “He was experimental with the idea of mariachi horns and recognized why that was important to me. Because everyone knows ‘Ring of Fire,’ but ‘9 To 5’ wouldn’t be the song it was without the horns, either. So, he gave things a little twist to keep my old school country fresh.”
What emerges is a sound that’s so throwback, but so forward, it does feel fresh, as well as live and triumphant in the moment. Whether it’s her “Bright and Blue Sky,” a Haggard-esque love song wrapped in strings and steel guitar, or the plucky “Cowboy Up,” which spins the catchphrase into a good-natured get it together, these are ride-or-die songs for life’s unseen defining moments.
“The music doesn’t necessarily sound sad, but there’s vulnerability to some of the songs,” acknowledges Bosko. “I wanted to get back to real honesty, that tenderness and toughness that are the people listening to country. You can have the sass, the honky tonk, the fun stuff, but it’s also in the broken and the resilience, because those rings of emotion are all inside a woman.”
The project also features standout collaborations with Dwight Yoakam on “Heartburn” and Joe Nichols on their top 40 duet “Better Than You,” as well as “Old Friends” with Darius Rucker.
“That idea that you can’t make old friends is so true. I think about the people who knew me back when I’d show up at kids’ birthday parties singing ‘Part of Your World’ as the Little Mermaid,” Bosko confesses. “They know you better than anyone – and no matter how much time has passed, it's like you never missed a beat. That’s a rare friendship.
“And having Darius on this song makes it even more special; he’s been there for so many people through so many seasons, and he really sounds like what this song is about.”
From “Watch Me,” the back roads opening “hold my beer” anthem, and the stout Brooks & Dunn-evoking “Honky Tonk Heartbeat” to the playful, Mexican horn section and güiro punctuated “Tequila Time” and title track’s steel-drenched declaration of who she is, Bosko offers a 360 degree sense of what modern country can be, as well as defining a woman’s place in the notoriously macho genre.
Indeed, “Country Girls! (Who Runs The World)” is a stomping song written as much from need as celebration.
“I grew up going to rodeo events and I’ve sung at a lot of them,” explains Bosko. “There are girls out there with just as much grit, just as tough, and I asked myself, ‘Where’s the song for these girls?’ There wasn’t. So I wanted to write a girl hype song, something that calls out for them! This is one for the girls, by a girl.”
With a cover of Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through The Night,” which has garnered over 1 million streams on Pandora, she honors her roots.
“Every time I hear this, I’m in the passenger seat of my dad's truck, it transports me back to those fields,” she reveals “I can see it flying by, all that great classic country music he would play when I was a kid. Before I knew what any of it meant, I could hear the emotion.
“And it was like that with Shania, all the layers and truth – she got that from Dolly. They’re all country. They’re all real. That’s what I want.”
Bosko will hold her album release party tonight, October 3, at Desert 5 Spot in Los Angeles, followed by performances at Nashville’s Whiskey Jam on October 9 and Four Peaks Oktoberfest on October 10.
Annie Bosko Upcoming Shows
Oct. 3 Desert 5 Spot || Los Angeles, CA
Oct. 9 WhiskeyJam || Nashville, TN
Oct. 10 Four Peaks Oktoberfest Tempe Town Lake 2025 || Tempe, AZ
Jan. 31 REHAB Telethon & Auction || Abilene, TX
Feb. 20 Los Fresnos Rodeo || Los Fresnos, TX
About Annie Bosko
Raised in California’s Central Valley as a farmer’s daughter, Annie Bosko blends the grit of her roots with the firepower of her influences—including The Judds, Shania Twain, Deana Carter, and George Strait—on her debut album California Cowgirl, available now via QHMG/Stone Country Records. The 19-song collection, featuring collaborations with Darius Rucker, Dwight Yoakam and Joe Nichols, brings traditional country instrumentation into sharp focus while celebrating female strength, vulnerability and joy. Bosko first broke out with the SiriusXM/CMT favorite “Crooked Halo” and was named a Rolling Stone Country Artist to Watch, later making her late-night debut on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” with “Neon Baby,” which marked her first charting single at Country radio. She has written songs recorded by Willie Nelson and Jessica Simpson, toured with Tim McGraw, Dierks Bentley and Blake Shelton, and sold out Los Angeles’ famed Troubadour.
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