From: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org (believers-digest) To: believers-digest@smoe.org Subject: believers-digest V6 #27 Reply-To: believers@smoe.org Sender: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk believers-digest Friday, February 1 2002 Volume 06 : Number 027 In Today's believer's digest: ----------------- Susan on the radio 2/1/02 ["Charlie Sweeney" ] folkwax article [Simona Loberant ] time out NY [meredith ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 06:38:40 -0500 From: "Charlie Sweeney" Subject: Susan on the radio 2/1/02 Hi all, This is a heads up that Susan will be on the radio at approximately 9:30 Friday Feb. 1st on WXPN 88.5 in Philadelphia. XPN streams live on the web from http://www.xpn.org While Suzie is in town, she'll be taping an episode of the World Cafe for broadcast in a couple of weeks, and I'll et you know the details of that as they become available. HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 05:59:11 -0800 (PST) From: Simona Loberant Subject: folkwax article I got my folkwax email issue today and there was an interview with Ms. Werner herself. I copied the text below. but go to the folkwax website www.folkwax.com and sign up (its free) and there is a review of the album if you follow a link from the interview as well as an oppurtunity to rate the CD and listen to songs from. (btw, if you sign up for the free newsletter put SimonaL as the person who referred you... they have an occasional raffle for a guitar or something for people who refer other people!) Susan Werner talks about her new album 'New Non-fiction' and her singular songwriting process Story and photos by Mark Harbeke Susan Werner chats with fans after a recent show on her current tour to promote her new album, New Non-Fiction. We've been on Susan Werner overload here at the FolkWax office...and we like it! Werner, a native of the Midwest, will release her fifth album, titled New Non-Fiction, on February 5th. We were lucky to hear Susan perform solo this last Friday after seeing her open for Eddie From Ohio in 2001. We had an advanced copy of New Non-Fiction, which we listened to a few times before seeing her live, but we still weren't prepared for what she had in store for us (stay tuned to FolkWax for a review of the Susan Werner show we attended on January 25, 2002). Susan's always had something to say. She tells me that once she picked up the guitar at age five, she knew she wanted to be a singer/songwriter and nothing else. She's been compared to Joni Mitchell and Shawn Colvin, but her still-evolving style - formed from years of practice and classical vocal, guitar and piano training at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - contains elements of Big Band Jazz and "scat" singing in the style of Cole Porter and Ella Fitzgerald. Susan took some time out of her touring schedule to talk with FolkWax. Here's what she had to say... Mark Harbeke of FolkWax: Susan, you've opened and played with Eddie From Ohio - how did that come about? Susan Werner: I did a tour last year with Ellis Paul and it evolved out of that. I really enjoy playing with Eddie From Ohio because they push the performers that play with them. They wing it and it's not just the band showing off. They give off a different kind of energy that I like. Part of why I open for and play with a lot of different artists is because you want to make new friends and meet new audiences all the time. It makes for a better show if the audience is unfamiliar with you. It's great to be put on the spot and forced to communicate. FW: Let's talk about your new album, New Non-fiction. I really like the song "Blue Guitar." Who plays slide on that track? SW: That's my producer, Colin Linden. He's worked with Bruce Cockburn and I really like [Colin's] work because he's inventive and brave. Colin also plays slide on [the songs] "Shade of Grey" and "Neferfiti's Dream." Normally when Colin plays slide he prefers straight, I-IV-V Blues, but for my album he bent it a bit. FW: Now, what does the title "New Non-fiction" refer to? SW: It suggests dispensing all the "yippity-yap," the information overload that clouds us, and living and finding your own notes. It also coincides with the background on the cover [New non-fiction's cover shows faded lines as from newsprint -Ed], which is based on a real book. If you read the lines you can see it's all just useless advice. FW: That's an interesting concept. A lot of the songs of your new release have an almost hypnotic beat and rhythm. I'm mainly thinking of "Everybody's Talkin'" and "Nefertiti's Dream," which you mentioned. When you write songs, do you design the beat and rhythm around the lyrics, or write them the other way around? SW: You know, until I did this record I wrote from the lyrics outward - everything started with the words. I've gotten confident enough in the last few years to start writing songs from the music outward, even though it tends to take more patience. I think that if you just take some words and slap music on it, it doesn't give the song much room to move harmonically; you end up "straight-jacketing" the song. I know the Great [Bruce] Springsteen always writes his lyrics first, as does Peter Gabriel, who I think can do anything. He writes astounding lyrics and music and you know he has something to say. Susan Werner plays during a tour stop in the Midwest. FW: You said you're going to spend tomorrow songwriting. How do you usually go about it? Do you have any quirks or tasks you do to free your mind? SW: Yes. I rent a [hotel] room that's about 20 minutes from my house. It creates a separate space, like a kid in a tree house. Then I abide by strict rules that I have to set for myself or I won't stick to songwriting. Like, I always unplug my cell phone (once I turn it back on I don't write any more) and then I sit at my typewriter and chain-smoke and travel back and forth between my guitar and the piano. I also bring some juggling balls that I'll use to relax. And no one is allowed in my space when I'm writing. I'm like a cat - you don't want to move me or I'll get mad. Like I said, I have to set these rules for myself and obey them because it's easy to get caught up in anything other than songwriting. FW: What's your most memorable gig so far? SW: Oh, I played the Beacon Theatre in New York City in 1995. I remember walking out and there just being a great response from the crowd. People that I hadn't played in front of before knew my songs well enough that they started clapping before I got into them! That was big. And, of course, touring with Mary Chapin Carpenter and playing in front of 100,000 people. It was so overwhelming...like putting your head in an oven door and feeling the heat. It was strange at first, but then I just treated it like playing in front of one person because it's impossible to play off the energy of that many people. I also enjoyed playing with Richard Thompson. His attitude was just to kill 'em, to completely knock yourself out. It was tiring, but I learned a lot. FW: I've heard your vocal and guitar style described as a cross between Shawn Colvin and Joni Mitchell. Do you have any other influences, obvious or subtle? SW: Well, all three of us have some things in common. I'm a white girl from the northern plains [of the Midwest], so we share some of the snow-covered themes. I'm not as quirky as Colvin; I'm more of a Jazz singer. There're some records I want to make just as a singer. I want to sing some scat, something like "Blackbird" in an up-tempo, big band Jazz setting. I really miss the Ella Fitzgerald style of Swing singing that's all but disappeared from the music landscape today. FW: Can you give some of our readers who aren't familiar with your work some background on where you grew up and when you decided to become a full-time singer/songwriter? SW: I grew up on a farm about an hour west of Dubuque, Iowa. I started learning guitar when I was five; I knew right then I wanted to play music for a living and I never changed my mind. I was really lucky, in the environment that I was in, that I had good, supportive parents - you know, with them being farmers. Most farming families at that time, and even now, want their kids to continue the family business or just stay close to home. But my parents supported me all the way. I went to Temple University [in Philadelphia]. I wanted to be an art singer, or an opera singer, for the longest time, but I picked up the guitar in college after not having played it for a while and really enjoyed the challenge, physical and mental, or playing Classical music on it. Pretty soon I was playing a lot of the Folk festivals on the East Coast. You know, about 50 percent of the American public lives in the metro areas between Boston and Washington, DC, and those areas are still my bread 'n' butter. FW: What's next on your plate, Susan? SW: I'd like to sing with Tony Bennett. He's a great ambassador for the old [Jazz] standards. Yeah, I'd like to hang with Tony for a while. I also want to make a record with Quincy Jones. With New Non-fiction, Jazz seems to really be my new area. I admire a lot of Jazz singers and composers like Cole Porter, Gershwin... I think I'm free to explore some of that because of how this new record is doing. FW: Okay, last question - it's non-musical. The liner notes on New Non-fiction say you drive "large American cars whenever possible." What's your favorite make, model and year? SW: My parents had this huge [Pontiac] Bonneville from 1971 or '72 with, like, a 455 [cubic inch big-block] engine. The wheels would race forward before the rest of the car! I always liked that feeling. I also like Lincoln Towncars and Buick Park Avenues; my grandfather had a Park Avenue with the big, plush-red interior. I remember riding around in that car in the summer and the wide windows letting the sun in and heating up the seats, which had a certain smell. FW: Thanks for talking to us today, Susan. I look forward to seeing your show coming up. SW: Thank you. See you there. Simona L. Loberant http://www.geocities.com/loberant "Every now and then go away, even briefly, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer; since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power." **Leonardo da Vinci Yahoo! Auctions Great stuff seeking new owners! Bid now! HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 23:37:04 -0500 From: meredith Subject: time out NY Hi, A friend who lives in NYC just told me he saw a review of _New Non Fiction_ in the current issue of "Time Out New York" today. There was also a plug for Tuesday's Joe's Pub gig included. I haven't seen this for myself, and I don't think it's at timeoutny.com yet - -- but it's worth looking for if you see the magazine on the stands. Apparently it's a good review. Looking forward to Tuesday (though I ***hate*** Joe's Pub, ack ptui), ======================================= Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA mailto:meth@smoe.org http://www.smoe.org/meth "an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind" -- mahatma gandhi ======================================= Live At The House O'Muzak House Concert Series http://www.smoe.org/meth/muzak.html HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ End of believers-digest V6 #27 ****************************** --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- This has been a posting from the Susan Werner believers-digest To unsubscribe send mail to Majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe believers-digest" in the body of the message