This No. 1 Country Hit From 2004 Was Actually Inspired by the Quirky Songwriting Style of Bob Dylan

It’s kind of amazing when you discover what songs actually inspired your favorite hits. For example, you probably didn’t realize that Bob Dylan took part in inspiring “Suds In The Bucket” by Sara Evans. Yes, that catchy commercial country hit that came out in 2004.

Originally, “Suds In The Bucket” was written by Billy Montana and Tammy Wagoner. They were the ones who observed the way Dylan changes words in his songs to make them fit.

“The thing that I think I love the most about that song is the language,” Montana told Songfacts. “We say, ‘little pony-tail girl growed up to be a woman.’ Bob Dylan put in a song, I think it’s a line that goes, ‘something I never knowed.’ Because he was rhyming it with ‘road.’ And so I was like, well, man, it can be done.”

In Dylan’s song “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”, he rhymes “knowed” with “road” in the way that Montana described. That might not be the song he was referring to in this interview, but still, it proves his point.

“And it ain’t no use in turning on your light, babe / That light I never knowed / And it ain’t no use in turning on your light, babe / I’m on the dark side of the road.”

“Suds In The Bucket” Took Some Convincing

The song is easily one of Evans’ biggest career-defining hits, and it’s the kind of tune that you automatically associate with her when you hear it. Ironically, though, her label was pretty adamant about not letting her record it in the beginning.

It all started when Evans got a CD titled “Suds In The Bucket” sent to her. She fell in love with the song, but the singer told CMT that she tried to get Joe Galante, the head of RCA Records, on board, and he wasn’t having it.

“And I could just envision how it would sound once I got ahold of it in the studio. So I kind of threw a little fit,” she explained. “I even had to get on the phone with Joe Galante and kind of throw a diva fit. Just let me record the song. If you hate it after I record it then we don’t have to put it on the record.”

After hearing the recorded version, Evans’ label was still reluctant, but they let her put it as the last song on her record, Restless. Sure enough, though, once the song went out to radio stations, people fell in love with it in the same way Evans had.

“Every single radio programmer would email them or call them, ‘Man, we love that Suds in the Bucket song,’” she shared. “And I was like, ‘Yes.’”

Photo by: M. Caulfield/WireImage for Bragman Nyman Cafarelli