From: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org (believers-digest) To: believers-digest@smoe.org Subject: believers-digest V11 #79 Reply-To: believers@smoe.org Sender: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk believers-digest Friday, September 7 2007 Volume 11 : Number 079 In Today's believer's digest: ----------------- SW article in Charleston, WV Gazette [Carolyn Andre Subject: SW article in Charleston, WV Gazette I came across the following and think it hasn't already been shared. It starts from the perspective of her appearances at Mountain Stage and NewSong: Oh - and 1) the website has incredibly annoying ads and is slow to load, and 2) I couldn't find the "musical slideshow" referenced at the end. It might be there, but I wasn't patient enough. http://thegazz.com/guide/articles/stories/2254/SHOW%3A+Susan+Werner+sings+agnostic+%27Gospel+Truth%27 SHOW: Susan Werner sings agnostic 'Gospel Truth' By Adam Harris For the Gazette SONGWRITER Susan Werner is making more frequent trips to West Virginia these days, and shes getting used to the relatively short runway at Yeager Airport. Its like courting death every time you fly into Charleston, Werner says, laughing. Ive been there enough to know my way around and to see familiar faces. Its always a pleasure to go back to West Virginia. I feel like I have cousins there. Story Continued after Advertisement Last month Werner was on the faculty at the Mountain Stage NewSong Academy in Shepherdstown, and she returns to Charleston Saturday to open the third season of the Woody Hawley Concert Series at the Clay Centers Walker Theater. I think Susan is one of the most important artists in America today, says the series artistic director and NewSong co-founder Ron Sowell. Shes an absolute pleasure to work with, and now I consider her a friend. Sowell has been accompanying Werner on Mountain Stage since 1993, when she emerged as an Iowa-raised farm girl with a masters degree in classical voice. This is her second concert for the Woody Hawley series. She has made a habit of producing good records that never lingered in one spot for too long stylistically, all the while maintaining a recognizable, charming wit. Werner has continually re-invented herself as a songwriter, most notably in 2004 with a retro-tinged collection of new classics, styled after the great American songwriters like Billy Strayhorn, Cole Porter and George and Ira Gershwin. I didnt realize it at the time, but most of the guys who wrote the great American songbook were guys. I didnt set out to do it, but these songs now give women a voice for some of their hopes and some torch songs that fit a womans life, she says. I felt like Id reached a point in life where there werent any more dark corners I needed to explore in my own self, she says about veering from her folk/pop background. So once you become a relatively happy human being, what do you do? she laughs, adding, Songwriters joke that were happiest when miserable. After taking on the classic approach to much critical acclaim, it was joy, not misery, that inspired Werners next reinvention. At the 2006 Chicago Gospel Music Festival, Werner and a friend spent the day taking in gospel choirs in all their uplifting, soulful glory. Growing up in lily-white, rural Iowa, there were no gospel choirs, Werner says. This was really a new music for me to experience. It was choir after choir, and the energy and the intensity was unlike any other kind of music. This got the wheels turning for Werner, a lapsed Catholic. I thought, I wonder if any nonbelievers have ever written a gospel record? Something for those of us who arent subscribers to the Christian church, but we want that feeling that something good is going to happen - feelings of anticipation, feelings of my life has meaning. Werner melded her skepticism with gospel flair and released what could be the first collection of agnostic gospel songs, The Gospel Truth. Werner confronts staunch religion with some evangelical zeal of her own, embracing questions and charity instead of assuredness and repentance. This time the music is molded like good country gospel music should be, with lots of uplifting piano, handclaps and even a soulful choir. I wanted to write a few songs where doubt and faith reside side by side because thats how they sit in my own life, in my own heart and soul. In between the believers and the nonbelievers, thats where a lot of Americans reside, Werner says, noting that people most deeply torn over prominent religious issues are the ones grasping the albums intent. I was surprised by how many people have struggled with exactly these things, people who grew up in the church but dont participate in the church any more, but find that the teachings of the church still operate in important ways in their life. They still cherish some of their experiences and the people they met. And her devoutness to songwriting remains in front of her devotion to debating religious ideas. I do songs from my whole career, Werner says. I really do enjoy singing to people, being present in the shows. Im an artist whose career is built from the shows out. Her appearance on Mountain Stage in March marked one of her first outings with the new material, and Werner was pleasantly surprised. I was a little concerned about this project going into the south, she says. I dove right in with Mountain Stage and people were lined up by the dozens, telling me stories about their history in church. I think this nation is getting a little more comfortable with not having all the answers. I think that would be a good shift, for just a period of time, to have a period where were not so sure. To contact Adam Harris, e-mail tunereview@gmail.com. On the Web See www.thegazz.com for a musical slideshow of a song from The Gospel Truth with photos from Werners NewSong Academy appearance. If you go Susan Werner with opening act Laurel Dennie and Ryan Kennedy, 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Clay Centers Walker Theater. Adults $12, students and seniors $7. Call 561-3570 or visit www.theclaycenter.org. Regards, Carolyn Andre - --- candre@house-of-music.com Chicago, IL / USA Support Independent Music! Use the Internet http://house-of-music.com 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 V11 #79 ******************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- -------------------------- 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