Cliff & Susan

With a schedule encompassing more than 200 shows per year, running a music production and artist development company, creating a regular podcast, and even sharing their experience with aspiring artists through an online academy, Cliff & Susan (aka Cliff and Susan Prowse) are the definition of musical power couple—a duo completely focused on making an impact with their music and their lives.

And somehow the couple managed to squeeze in the production of their own debut album into the mix. The record, Fiddle & Keys, hit the US iTunes Country Albums Top 40 upon its release in October 2023. After building a devoted fan base over the years, with their highly interactive shows, Susan says, “We were like ‘We’ve got enough music’—we felt like we had an album’s worth. And we were ready to make our stamp in the world…”

Both life-long Arkansans, Cliff & Susan bonded immediately over music and never looked back. They met on stage at a dueling piano club called Willy B’s in Little Rock. Susan had been touring the piano bar circuit extensively. “I immediately said ‘Come join me at the show’ [a casino residency she had, which they’ve continued together since then]…and love happened. And we eloped in Vegas a year later.”

They came from somewhat different directions into the world of music prior to that fateful meeting. Cliff had grown up immersed in the music of the Heartland, with a singer-songwriter dad and grandparents who would “always take me to Mountain View, Arkansas, where we’d watch the ‘Music on the Square’…I kind of got my start there.” When he met Susan, Cliff was doing music mainly on the weekends and working a pharmacy day job. After a stint in the corporate world (as a radio frequency engineer with a math major and minor in physics), Susan says, “In 2003…I discovered I had a valid path into the music business through piano bars…” She had 10 years of classical lessons under belt and loved to play for people. “I was a little scared to sing; but I faced my fear and here I am 20 years later…”

To find out more, visit www.cliffandsusan.music. Listen to the interview here.