Cliff & Susan Biography
Cliff & Susan
Cliff & Susan
Imagine if Charlie Daniels married a female Jerry Lee Lewis.
That’s Cliff & Susan.
Cliff & Susan are an award-winning married country duo from Arkansas whose sound is built on powerhouse vocals, high-energy musicianship and the unmistakable combination of piano, fiddle and guitar.
Susan Erwin Prowse commands the piano and keys while Cliff Prowse moves between fiddle, electric and acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals. Both are lead vocalists. Fiddle and piano remain the signature musical pairing behind their Fiddle & Keys identity, but Cliff’s work as a multi-instrumentalist gives the duo a much wider musical palette, both onstage and in the studio.
It is a sound developed the old-fashioned way: by playing together night after night.
Cliff & Susan perform more than 200 shows a year across the United States and internationally. Their career has taken them from Arkansas to stages throughout the Caribbean and Europe, building a live show rooted in musicianship, movement and connection. They have shared stages with artists including ZZ Top, Sawyer Brown and Niko Moon and have built a reputation for turning audiences from spectators into participants.
Their live repertoire spans more than 2,000 songs, but increasingly, the center of the Cliff & Susan story is their own music.
From the Stage to the Studio
Cliff and Susan met onstage in Little Rock in 2016. The musical chemistry was immediate. They formed their duo soon afterward and married in 2017.
Years of performing together helped create a musical language that now defines their original records. Susan's piano and vocals are met by Cliff's ability to move fluidly between fiddle, guitar, harmonica and other instruments. Cliff is also a songwriter, arranger and producer who performs much of the instrumentation on the duo's recordings.
Their signature song, “Fiddle & Keys,” became a calling card for that identity and led to a national television performance on Huckabee in 2023.
Their debut album, Fiddle & Keys, followed in October 2023 and went on to earn Album of the Year at the 2025 Arkansas Country Music Awards.
The album also helped mark an important transition for Cliff & Susan: from a successful touring act that released original music to recording artists building their live show increasingly around a catalog of their own.
Back-to-Back Honors
That evolution has been accompanied by a remarkable run of recognition.
At the Arkansas Country Music Awards, Cliff & Susan were named Entertainer of the Year and Vocal Duo/Group of the Year in both 2025 and 2026. Fiddle & Keys also earned Album of the Year in 2025.
Their national independent-music recognition has grown alongside those honors. At the Josie Music Awards, held at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Cliff & Susan won Duo of the Year – Country in 2025. Returning in 2026 in the awards' Alumni category, they won Duo of the Year – Country (Alumni), giving the married duo back-to-back Josie country duo honors.
Their original music has also reached audiences through radio, television, music video and film-festival recognition, while years of touring have given them something that cannot be manufactured in a studio: an instinct for how songs actually connect with people in a room.
Come On In
In 2026, Cliff & Susan began their next recording chapter with Come On In.
Their sophomore album, arriving October 23, brings the energy of their live show more directly into their original music. Rooted in traditional country while drawing from western swing, rock, blues and the duo's broader musical influences, the record was built with movement in mind.
The title track, “Come On In,” opened the album campaign in September, followed by “Hill Country Swing,” a high-energy traditional country track with a line dance built directly into the song.
The new music reflects what Cliff & Susan have learned through thousands of hours onstage together: people want great songs, but they also want to feel something together.
Built on the Road
The live show remains at the heart of Cliff & Susan.
Piano and fiddle provide the signature visual and musical identity, while guitar, harmonica, layered instrumentation and two lead vocalists allow the duo to move far beyond a single sound. Depending on the stage, Cliff & Susan can expand that foundation into a full-band performance built around their original catalog and the dance-first energy that has defined their career.
Their extensive repertoire gives them an unusual ability to read an audience in real time, but their original songs are no longer simply additions to the show. They are becoming the reason for the show.
After years spent developing an audience one room at a time, Cliff & Susan are building toward larger stages with the same philosophy that got them here: play at a high level, make people feel welcome and give them a reason to move.
Every show is an invitation.
Come on in.
SUSAN ERWIN PROWSE BIOGRAPHY
Susan Erwin Prowse is an international touring pianist, vocalist, songwriter, recording artist, producer, and entrepreneur whose career has grown from piano bars and international stages into award-winning original music, production, and creative leadership.
A native of Magnet Cove, Arkansas, Susan is best known today as one half of the award-winning married country duo Cliff & Susan. Performing more than 200 shows annually across the United States and internationally, the duo pairs Susan’s piano, keys, and vocals with Cliff Prowse’s fiddle, guitar, harmonica, and vocals, creating a high-energy live show built around musicianship, audience connection, and an extensive repertoire developed over years on the road.
Cliff & Susan have earned back-to-back Arkansas Country Music Awards for Entertainer of the Year and Vocal Duo/Group of the Year in 2025 and 2026. Their debut album, Fiddle & Keys, was named Album of the Year at the 2025 Arkansas Country Music Awards. They have also earned back-to-back country duo honors at the Josie Music Awards, winning Duo of the Year – Country in 2025 and Duo of the Year – Country (Alumni) in 2026 at the Grand Ole Opry.
Their signature song, “Fiddle & Keys,” led to a national television performance on Huckabee, and Cliff & Susan have shared stages with artists including ZZ Top, Sawyer Brown, and Niko Moon. In 2026, they entered a new chapter with their sophomore album, Come On In, continuing their evolution from longtime touring entertainers into an original country act built around the chemistry, musicianship, and energy of their live show.
Susan’s career, however, extends well beyond Cliff & Susan.
She has twice been recognized by AY Magazine as an Intriguing Woman, first in 2022 and again in 2026. In 2025, Arkansas Money & Politics named her among its Top 25 Trailblazing Women and selected her as one of its Achievers in Their Forties, recognizing her work across music, entrepreneurship, production, and community leadership.
Susan is also a member and contributor to the Forbes Business Council, where she has written about music, technology, entrepreneurship, and human connection.
Her work behind the scenes has earned recognition within Arkansas music as well. Susan and Cliff were named Promoter of the Year at the 2021 Arkansas Country Music Awards, and their collaborative Sounds of Unity project with Ten Penny Gypsy received the 2023 Arkansas Country Music Award for Publication/Blog/Podcast of the Year. Susan also co-founded the Yadaloo Music & Arts Festival, whose inaugural event was named Best New Festival of the Year by the Arkansas Festival & Events Association.
Susan is the founder of Piano Ladies, an organization and professional community created to connect, educate, and support women working in the piano entertainment industry. She is also co-founder of Big Red Dog Productions, the independent production company behind Cliff & Susan’s music, touring, and creative projects.
Long before those accomplishments, Susan built her career one room at a time.
She began playing piano as a child and grew up performing in churches, pageants, talent competitions, and school events. At Magnet Cove High School, she graduated as Class President and Valedictorian while competing as a four-sport athlete.
Susan attended the University of Central Arkansas, where she was a member of the Honors College, performed in the university jazz band, served as President of Alpha Sigma Tau Sorority’s Upsilon Chapter, and competed in the Miss Arkansas Pageant as Miss University of Central Arkansas and later as Miss Saline River. She graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science in Pure Mathematics.
Before music became her full-time profession, Susan worked as a Radio Frequency Engineer for Alltel Telecommunications and earned her Six Sigma Black Belt. She later earned her Private Pilot Certificate, another reflection of the curiosity and determination that have characterized her career.
In 2003, Susan began her professional entertainment career and eventually left engineering to pursue music full time. Her path took her through piano bars, Branson theater shows, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and ultimately international touring. Beginning in 2010, she expanded her touring into the Caribbean and Europe, developing the versatility and audience connection that would become central to her work with Cliff.
In 2015, she launched her Pink Piano Show, which became a long-running fan favorite during race season at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
As a solo recording artist, Susan released the self-produced 12-song album Painting You Gone in 2014, followed by the Nashville-recorded EP Ain’t My Baby Grand in 2016. Her career as a songwriter and recording artist eventually converged with Cliff’s, leading to Fiddle & Keys and the original-music chapter they are building today.
Whether she is behind a piano, writing a song, producing a project, building a business, or creating opportunities for other entertainers, the common thread in Susan’s career has always been connection. After more than two decades as a professional entertainer, she continues to build a life around music, entrepreneurship, and bringing people together.
CLIFF PROWSE BIOGRAPHY
Cliff Prowse is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger, recording engineer, and one half of the award-winning country duo Cliff & Susan. A musician’s musician with roots in country, bluegrass, western swing, rock, blues, gospel, and pop, Cliff has built a career around an uncommon ability to move between instruments, genres, the stage, and the recording studio.
A true multi-instrumentalist, Cliff plays more than a dozen instruments, including fiddle, acoustic and electric guitars, Dobro, lap steel, steel guitar, bass, upright bass, electric bass, piano, harmonica, banjo, drums, and mandolin.
That versatility is as important in the studio as it is onstage. Cliff can take a song from its first idea through a finished recording, writing, arranging, producing, engineering, tracking multiple instrumental parts, and mixing. On many recordings, he performs most of the instrumentation himself, building songs layer by layer while maintaining a singular musical vision from writing through production.
Cliff has produced music for more than 30 artists and was selected by the Mid-America Arts Alliance as a Catalyze Fellow in music arranging and production. His work spans multiple genres, with credits as a producer, arranger, songwriter, session musician, engineer, and instrumentalist.
Music has been part of Cliff’s life almost from the beginning. He received his first drum set at age three and grew up surrounded by music. Around age ten, he began studying violin with renowned Arkansas instructor Tommy Henderson, beginning a lifelong relationship with the fiddle. He went on to win numerous fiddle competitions and People’s Choice honors in the Mountain View, Arkansas, folk-music tradition.
Cliff also spent time in Nashville, recording, performing, doing session work, and continuing to develop the broad musical vocabulary that defines his playing today.
On fiddle, Cliff has shared the stage with Charlie Daniels, whose combination of musicianship, personality, and showmanship became an important influence. Cliff’s musical influences reach far beyond country, from traditional fiddle and bluegrass players to guitarists including Brad Paisley, Brent Mason, Albert Lee, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Healey, and Joe Bonamassa.
That range is reflected in Cliff’s own musicianship. He can build a traditional country arrangement around fiddle and steel, move into western swing or bluegrass, play rock and blues guitar, lay down a bass or drum track, or construct an entire studio arrangement from the ground up.
Cliff’s individual work as a musician, producer, and entrepreneur has also earned recognition outside the stage. AY Magazine named him one of its 2022 Men of Distinction, recognizing him as an owner and producer with Big Red Dog Productions. Arkansas Money & Politics selected Cliff for its 2023 Future 50, highlighting his work as a singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. In 2025, Arkansas Money & Politics named him one of its Trailblazing Men, recognizing his career as an international performing artist and co-founder of Big Red Dog Productions.
Cliff’s history with the Arkansas Country Music Awards reaches back to the organization’s inaugural year. In 2018, he was nominated for Fiddler of the Year, and in 2021, Cliff and Susan Prowse were named Promoter of the Year.
His work as a producer has increasingly earned recognition alongside his work as a performer. Cliff was nominated for Music Producer of the Year at the 2024 Arkansas Country Music Awards, and recordings he has produced have earned wins and nominations across multiple Arkansas CMA categories.
Cliff produced Trey Pendley’s “Daddy’s Son,” which went on to win Song of the Year at the 2023 Arkansas Country Music Awards. He also produced the 2024 Music Collaboration of the Year nominee “Good Clean Livin’” by Jon Bailey featuring Trey Pendley and Grace Stormont, as well as the 2025 Music Collaboration of the Year nominee “Last Call” by Erin Enderlin featuring Cliff & Susan.
In 2025, two of the five Arkansas CMA Album of the Year finalists were projects produced by Cliff: Cliff & Susan’s Fiddle & Keys, co-produced with Nashville producer Larry Beaird, and Freedom Sings Arkansas Vol. 01: Veterans Songs. Fiddle & Keys ultimately won Album of the Year, adding an award-winning album to Cliff’s production credits.
His work with Freedom Sings Arkansas has also allowed him to use his songwriting and production abilities to help veterans turn their experiences into original music. Across the project, Cliff has contributed as a songwriter, musician, arranger, and producer.
Cliff and Susan’s collaborative Sounds of Unity project with Ten Penny Gypsy received the 2023 Arkansas Country Music Award for Publication/Blog/Podcast of the Year, another chapter in the couple’s longstanding work supporting and promoting Arkansas music.
Today, Cliff is best known nationally and internationally as one half of Cliff & Susan, the married country duo he shares with pianist, vocalist, and songwriter Susan Erwin Prowse. Performing more than 200 shows annually across the United States and internationally, the duo pairs Susan’s piano and keys with Cliff’s fiddle, guitar, harmonica, and vocals. Both share lead vocals, and years spent performing together have created a musical chemistry that has become the foundation of their original music.
Cliff & Susan earned back-to-back Arkansas Country Music Awards for Entertainer of the Year and Vocal Duo/Group of the Year in 2025 and 2026. Their debut album, Fiddle & Keys, earned Album of the Year at the 2025 Arkansas Country Music Awards.
They have also earned back-to-back country duo honors at the Josie Music Awards, winning Duo of the Year – Country in 2025 and Duo of the Year – Country (Alumni) in 2026 at the Grand Ole Opry.
Their signature song, “Fiddle & Keys,” led to a national television performance on Huckabee, and Cliff & Susan have shared stages with artists including ZZ Top, Sawyer Brown, and Niko Moon. Their original song “West Virginia,” written by Cliff and Susan, was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2026 Arkansas Country Music Awards, while Cliff’s original “Spitfire” earned additional recognition through its award-winning music video.
In 2026, Cliff & Susan entered the next chapter of their recording career with their sophomore album, Come On In. The project brings Cliff’s songwriting, arranging, production, and multi-instrumental abilities even further into the center of the duo’s recorded sound, capturing more of the musicianship and energy that have defined their live career.
Whether he is behind a microphone with a fiddle, playing guitar, writing a song, building an arrangement, producing another artist, or recording instrument after instrument himself, Cliff’s approach comes back to one principle: serve the song. His ability to hear the complete musical picture and then write, arrange, perform, record, produce, and mix the pieces that bring it to life is at the heart of who he is as an artist and musician.