"Suds in the Bucket" is a song written by

Billy Montana Billy Montana (born William Schlappi on September 28, 1959, in Voorheesville, New York) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Between 1987 and 1995, Montana released one studio album and charted six singles on ''Billboard''s Hot Coun ...

and Tammy Wagoner and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer

Sara Evans Sara Lynn Evans (; born February 5, 1971) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is also credited as a record producer, actress, and author. She had five songs reach the number one spot on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboar ...

. It was released in May 2004 as the third single from Evans' 2003 album '' Restless''. It became her third number-one single on the US Country charts, and her first since "

Born to Fly ''Born to Fly'' is the third studio album by American country music artist Sara Evans. It was released in October 2000 via RCA Records Nashville. The album produced four singles with its title track, " I Could Not Ask for More" (a cover of an E ...

" in early 2001. It was certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on August 18, 2023. The song appears in the game '' Karaoke Revolution Country'' and is included in the ''

Rock Band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

: Country Track Pack''. It was presented as well by artist Brennley Brown on The Voice on May 15, 2017.

Content

This up-tempo song tells the story of a girl who abruptly runs off to

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

one day with her boyfriend, leaving the "suds in the bucket and the clothes hangin' out on the line," noting how quickly it happened. The gossip and drama then spreads to other parts of their hometown, like a hair salon and the local church.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price, of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that it is "awash in fiddle and steel guitar and has a catchy chorus." She goes on to call the lyric "cute and will remind all parents of the fleeting joys of childhood and how quickly the kids begin building their own lives."

Music video

The music video follows the lyrics of the song. It shows a young girl running away from home with a boy to go get married. The song is intercut with scenes of Evans singing in front of laundry drying in the front yard of a home, in a beauty shop, and in a church. The video was directed by Peter Zavadil. It was first released to

Country Music Television Country Music Television, often abbreviated to CMT, is an American pay TV network that launched on March 5, 1983. It is currently owned by Paramount Global through the MTV Entertainment Group unit of its networks division. CMT was the first na ...

(CMT) on May 9, 2004 and then released on May 23, 2004, on

Great American Country Great American Family is an American cable television network owned by Great American Media. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming such as television series and Television film, made-for-TV movies—some of whi ...

. The video reached the top of CMT's ''Top Twenty Countdown'' for the week of September 9, 2004.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2003 songs 2004 singles Sara Evans songs Songs written by Billy Montana Music videos directed by Peter Zavadil Song recordings produced by Paul Worley Songs about teenagers RCA Records Nashville singles