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Susan Werner
"People
who come to my shows so often tell me they appreciate the range
- the range of styles, genres, and colors in my music," says Susan
Werner in talking about her latest release, New Non-Fiction. "This
album captures that variety of colors and that live energy better
than anything else I've ever done in the studio."
On her fifth album, Werner vividly demonstrates both the quality of musicianship and stylistic breadth that has marked her career as a singer-songwriter with roots in jazz, classical, country, and popular song. Produced by Bruce Cockburn's longtime collaborator Colin Linden, New Non-Fiction plays like a collection of short stories written by a diverse group of authors with different voices, perspectives, and experiences. Yet the stories have a unifying thread woven by Werner's powerful, classically trained voice, her keen eye for observation, and her sophisticated musicianship. Longtime fans and critics alike have come to expect this unique combination of musical diversity, emotional depth and vocal excellence from Werner both in live performance and on previous releases Midwestern Saturday Night (1991), Live at Tin Angel (1993), Last of the Good Straight Girls (Private Music, 1995), and most recently, the acclaimed Time Between Trains (Bottom Line, 1999). "Artful, funny, and blessed with a luminescent voice," the San Francisco Bay Guardian said Werner "combines a singer-songwriter's keen attention to detail, a cabaret chanteuse's sense of drama and a sardonic feminist's approach to romance and relationships." "Her songs," said the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, "are finely detailed compositions that recall the writing of Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits for their attention to detail while dealing with subjects such as emotional discomfort, embarrassment, and a love's inadequacy." "I've been trying to find a way to write songs that sit right on the 50-yard line, right in the middle between singer and audience," she says in explaining the creative balance between the confessional and the general. "The point is to find a place of mutual connection, not co-dependency. They say that's what healthy, mature relationships are built on," Werner laughs. In the end, Werner -- who has made a career of blending her matter-of-fact Midwestern farm girl sensibility with urbane wit and sophistication -- pursues her own musical path across genres and market-driven categories. As she sings on the groove-driven Shade of Grey, Don't tell me the answers I'd rather learn them for myself and/Don't sell me your answers Put your book back on the shelf/With the new non-fiction/Hey, let everybody have their say/And at the end of the day/All you really get's another shade of grey. On New Non-Fiction, the musical and lyrical colors Werner paints are anything but.... |
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