Bo Riddle · History

History

Bo Riddle is a custom bootmaker born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and raised in rural Missouri. He got his start in leatherwork when his father bought a shoe-repair shop during Riddle's sixth-grade year, and after high school he studied bootmaking at Oklahoma State Tech in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

Songwriting brought him to Nashville in 1990, and his boots followed: clients included a black pair with red flames made for Kix Brooks, along with orders from Marty Stuart, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Montgomery Gentry, and Sammy Kershaw. Bootmaker Stephanie Ferguson later credited him as the teacher who helped refine her own bootmaking while he was still in Nashville.

After several years in Nashville, Riddle moved back to Missouri with his wife, Nyla. Sources differ on where he settled: one account places him in Arcadia, another in Ironton. By the time of a 2019 interview he described himself as semi-retired, still making leather goods, and hoping to take on students.