California Cowgirl is extra than simply the title of Annie Bosko’s long-awaited first album—it’s a superbly biographical abstract of the singer’s unwavering love affair together with her SoCal roots, lengthy after she left the West Coast for Music Metropolis.
Though it’s technically her debut launch, Bosko is way from a first-time artist. The Thousand Oaks native has constructed a loyal fanbase by a gradual stream of singles and EPs over the course of greater than a decade. Add to that her extremely energetic music movies and stage reveals—expertise she’s honed through the years working with prime songwriters and choreographers—have made her one of many right now’s hottest under-the-radar nation stars
“It took 20 years to make,” she proudly says. “I emerged within the music world throughout the singles period, the place individuals have been like, simply launch singles, nobody’s [doing] albums. After which only recently, albums turned a factor once more.”
Whereas she now calls Nashville house, the sun-baked seashores, mountain trails, alongside together with her circle of relatives’s farm nonetheless give Bosko an occasional case of homesickness. In any case, the Golden State is the place she developed her affinity for all issues health.
“I miss the outside, she says. “I’m an outside fanatic. I like mountain climbing, mountains, browsing. I grew up a tomboy, so I’d say that’s in all probability what I miss probably the most about California.”
The change in songwriting surroundings hasn’t slowed down the “Neon Child singer’s effectively constant exercise routine. Rising 4 different siblings, Bosko was skilled early to be aggressive. Along with her love of music she first discovered by singing Wizard of Oz tunes at age 5, Bosko additionally grew up enjoying a variety of sports activities all through highschool. She makes use of that athletic mindset right now to remain bodily and mentally ready for every efficiency.
“I’m only a believer that singers are virtually like athletes,” she says. “If you wish to do that at a aggressive degree, then you must practice such as you’re an athlete. Whenever you do, you are able to do much more, and you are able to do it quite a bit higher.”
Bosko’s deep dive into dance—try her strikes within the ultra-bouncy “Nation Ladies”—has contributed to a extra athletic physique and higher efficiency onstage. She says staying energetic as a lot as attainable is crucial for general well being. “I’ve to maneuver. I don’t like sitting nonetheless,” she says.
Annie Bosko Stays a California Lady by and Via
California Cowgirl isn’t only a catchy album identify for the singer born in Thousand Oaks. Regardless of making the transfer to Nashville, Annie Bosko will at all times stay a Golden State songstress at coronary heart.
When she wasn’t enjoying volleyball or softball throughout faculty, the outside have been her pure go-to for staying match. Rising up in California, Annie’s days have been stuffed with journey—from driving the waves at Pacific Coast hotspots like Leo Carrillo and Malibu’s well-known Zuma Seaside to mountain climbing the native trails, the outside turned her playground.
Whereas Tennessee might supply nice trails for mountain climbing within the Nice Smoky Mountains, good luck discovering a wave to shred. “I’ve not surfed in six months,” she says. “I’ll make time to go when I’ve some reveals in California. September is my favourite time, as a result of the water’s hotter from the summer season months and it’s much less crowded.”
A self-admitted tomboy, Bosco embraced all types of out of doors actions.
Raised on a household farm in California, Annie’s childhood was a sun-soaked journey. “My household was in farming, so we grew up, you understand, it was like ranch, farm life-style, driving horses. I used to be exterior quite a bit as a child. Once I bought house from faculty, it was like, trip your bike, go play within the creek, simply go, proper?” she reminisces.
Her love of the outside extends past the seashore. Annie’s fond reminiscences embrace mountain climbing California’s mountains, fishing, and even searching together with her household. “My dad hunts the birds. My mother cooks the birds. That’s form of the way it went in our fam,” she says, recalling early morning duck and dove hunts.
Nowadays, her health foundations start with a easy stroll. strolling is the muse of her health routine, particularly when life on the highway makes structured exercises a problem. “Typically it’s simply three miles strolling a day. If I don’t do anything, I attempt to stroll,” she says. Even when she will’t entry a gymnasium, Annie makes it a precedence to get her steps in, believing that constant motion is vital to sustaining her stamina and psychological readability.
Past strolling, Annie embraces a various mixture of exercises to maintain her physique sturdy and performance-ready. “Typically I’ll do like, circuit coaching, you understand, just like the elliptical, some weight lifting, bodily remedy… Typically I’ll do like a Pilates class or yoga. I do a number of stuff at house,” she explains.
Bosko’s additionally added a brand new athletic ability—golf—to remain energetic each at house and on the highway. “I’m a golfer now, who would’ve thought?” she laughs. “I used to make enjoyable of golfers. I used to be like, you don’t should be athletic to golf. Now I take pleasure in it.”
Annie Bosko Lives By This Actual-Meals Rule
Another excuse California nonetheless guidelines for Annie Bosko is the beautiful backdrop the Pacific Ocean supplies. Along with showcasing her lean and comely physique onstage, it additionally pays to remain in form for the numerous music movies Bosko usually movies. For the “Crooked Halo” singer, outside settings make for probably the most memorable movies—she favors the sunshine and brush of SoCal over the tick-infested forests of Tennessee.
“In California, there are nonetheless ticks, however you don’t have as many,” she says. “I’d solely be afraid of the tall grass and being barefoot if I used to be in Tennessee,” she laughs, recalling her West Coast roots.
There’s a dietary component to her deep-rooted worry of ticks. For this country-singing carnivore, there’s additionally the priority of Alpha Gal Syndrome—a tick-borne situation that can lead to extreme allergic reactions to pink meat, inflicting hives, swelling, nausea, vomiting, and even anaphylaxis.
“I don’t need Alpha gal, the place I can’t eat steak,” she says. “I don’t need Lyme illness both. So I’m a little bit freaked out by ticks.”
Nothing will get between Bosko and a great ribeye. Particularly when at house in Tennessee, she’ll put her Cali cooking expertise to good use, usually throwing a steak and asparagus onto her Pit Boss and letting the grill do its work. “I do know everybody likes to s*** on California quite a bit, however with regards to the grilling, the steak sandwiches, they know what they’re doing. They do effectively.”
On the highway, nonetheless, the hunt for high quality meals turns into a problem, particularly when a Complete Meals isn’t close by. The singer suggests giving Walmart and even Goal a strive for locating optimum alternate options.
“Typically I’ll stroll to a Goal and I’ll discover, like, blended greens, olive oil, and like a pasta, a garbanzo bean pasta,” she says. “That to me is best than UberEATS or Domino’s. I can crush a big pizza. However generally that’s not the factor that’s going to make you are feeling the perfect. So I get tremendous inventive. Walmart’s bought some good choices, really, imagine it or not.”
Bosko says maintaining a weight loss plan closely primarily based on pure, complete meals was rooted again house on her household’s California farm, the place her father grew cilantro, recent strawberries, corn, spinach, carrots, and loads of different fruit and veggies. Her mom’s dedication to home-cooked meals left an enduring impression: “Each meal that we had she’d at all times have a protein, a starch, a vegetable, a salad,” she recollects.
Right now, she nonetheless takes that strategy to her menu: “I’m only a believer in consuming issues that may rot,” she says. “So something that may sit in your countertop that rots might be good so that you can eat.”
From ‘Over the Rainbow’ to Dominating Heart Stage
Whereas California Cowgirl was a two-decade challenge, her actual musical journey started when her 5-year-old voice belted out the Wizard of Oz basic “Over the Rainbow” together with her grandmother—the identical tune she would later sing at her grandmother’s funeral. That early spark led to her first massive break at 13, when she landed a singing half for Disney’s Little Mermaid 2: “I bought to go to Burbank, the Disney Studios.”
Bosko’s voice quickly discovered new phases, from serenading diners as a Macaroni Grill server—“I’d sing blissful birthday in Italian, which I can nonetheless sing,” she says—to performing the nationwide anthem in entrance of sold-out sporting occasions nationwide. “It’s the toughest tune you’ll ever sing, ever,” she admits.
When Bosko steps on stage, she blends her expertise as a singer together with her athletic expertise to supply followers with an equally entertaining tune and dance nation music efficiency, partially fueled by her ardour for Zumba. The Latin music-infused dance program is a brutally entertaining cardio exercise—and has change into one other important component of Bosko’s all-around health routine. “I like to bop,” she says. “I don’t like sitting nonetheless. Typically I’ll do like a Zumba dance exercise, or, like a YouTube dance exercise.”
Zumba and dance have change into important coaching instruments for constructing the stamina and stage presence that outline her performances. Zumba burns energy, and serves as a terrific different apply for her high-energy stage reveals—all qualities she says are important for each performers and anybody seeking to keep match. Bosko even turned a licensed Zumba teacher and taught a couple of lessons, however the overlap with touring made it troublesome to maintain. “I did get licensed, like, years in the past,” she says. “It didn’t final very lengthy, although, as a result of while you’re a musician, you actually don’t have the consistency of a set schedule.”
Her obsession with dance accelerated at age 19 when she skilled with Brian Friedman, the mastermind behind the strikes of artists like Britney Spears, Cher, and Beyoncé. “I did do, like, my first job ever after I was 19, with Brian Friedman, who choreographed Britney Spears, like he created this slave dance and all that stuff. And he’s actually phenomenal. I imply, I couldn’t stroll after I bought house from Europe. It was like my legs couldn’t—I used to be so sore from all of the shifting and all of the dancing.”
The music, dance, and all-around vitality Bosko shares together with her followers every night time equal an electrifyingly enjoyable live performance. With 20 years’ price of fan assist, exhibiting up every night time on the prime of her recreation is a promise she intends to maintain. She’s put within the work. “I run round and transfer quite a bit onstage,” she says. “I like to entertain. If I get bored, the followers are gonna get bored.”
