Susan Werner

13 Front Street,Frenchtown NJ 08825

17 June, 2022

Description

Clever and engaging songwriter and performer credited with “bringing literacy and wit back to popular song” ArtYard and the Frenchtown Bookshop are excited to announce that award-winning singer-songwriter Susan Werner will appear in their Concerts at ArtYard series. The performance is 8 PM on Friday, June 17 at ArtYard’s McDonnell Theater. There is truly no one in contemporary music writing “sharp, funny, compassionate lyrics” (Washington Post) like those of Susan Werner. Her training as a jazz pianist and opera singer — she has a Master’s in vocal performance — make her concerts a master class in musicianship and raises her to “the elite of American songwriters” (Direct Current). Her 12 albums cover the genres of folk, jazz, gospel, and Broadway-style American Standards. No wonder her songs have been recorded by Tom Jones, Michael Feinstein, Betty Buckley, and Christine Ebersole, and NPR called her “The Empress of the Unexpected.” In short, in the words of Nashville Music Row Magazine, “This woman is great. Period.” But, in 25 years of nonstop touring and recording, she has continually reinvented herself. The has recorded albums of vintage-sounding songs in the style of Gershwin and Cole Porter (“I Can’t Be New”); witty gospel-styled songs that weave soulfulness and doubt (“The Gospel Truth”); songs with Cuban rhythms following her tour there (“An American in Havana”); New Orleans jazzy songs (“NOLA”); and a side-splitting collection of humorous songs including “What Did You Do To Your Face” (about bad plastic surgery) and “Pabst Blue Ribbon” (about the aphrodisiac effects of Milwaukee’s finest beer). Werner will be accompanied for this performance by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Trina Hamlin, who will also open the evening. Proof of vaccination from Covid-19, valid identification, and masks are required for this performance. Photo at top: Susan Werner by Bob Yahn About Susan Werner Over the course of her 25 year touring career, Susan Werner has built a reputation as one of the country’s most compelling live performers. With formidable chops on guitar (she began playing at age 5) and piano (she was a guest on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz) along with a graduate degree in voice performance, her shows are a one-woman master class in musicianship. Her songs are noted for their poetry and sharp wit, and also for their astonishing stylistic range. In 2014 she composed the music and lyrics to the musical theater score Bull Durham, The Musical (MGM). Her latest recording of original songs, The Birds of Florida, took flight in January 2022. Werner grew up on her family's hog farm in Iowa. But she took to singing rather than farming. She received her master's degree in opera singing from Temple University, making ends meet by playing jazz piano in nightclubs and restaurants. She began appearing at coffee houses around Philadelphia and New York, and in 1993 she recorded an album, Midwestern Saturday Night, on her own label. The power of Werner's classically trained voice caught the attention of reviewers like the Washington Post's Geoffrey Himes, who praised her "strong, pristine voice like Joan Baez's." Her songs often hearken to classic Tin Pan Alley but there is an unmistakably contemporary edge to Werner's compositions. In her words, "These are all new songs done in an old way." Concerts at ArtYardThe concert is part of the opening season of programming at the McDonnell Theater, the heart of ArtYard’s new building at 13 Front St., a welcoming communal resource and vessel channeling the power of art to unsettle, engage, bridge divides, and spark unexpected moments of arresting beauty. The 162-seat theater has state-of-the-art projection, lighting, and surround sound and will be the site of music, film screenings, dance, theatre, artist talks, and more. Music at ArtYard is curated by Scott Sheldon, co-owner of the Frenchtown Bookshop and the former presenter of The Sanctuary Concerts in Chatham. Over 15 years, Scott presented more than 300 concerts, including Judy Collins, Suzanne Vega, Marc Cohn, Rosanne Cash, Jimmy Webb, the Roches, Janis Ian, Josh Ritter, and Nick Lowe. For more information and tickets, please visit www.artyard.org.