Susan Werner

Susan Werner is one of the strongest voices in today’s crop of contemporary folk singer/songwriters. A natural performer who began singing and playing before she was out of elementary school, Werner studied voice at the University of Iowa and Temple University in Philadelphia before turning in her arias for an acoustic guitar. Her first two self-released CDs, Midwestern Saturday Night (1992) and Live at Time Angel (1993) earned her a major label debut on Private Music/BMG, which released Last of the Good Straight Girls in 1995. Werner has become a favorite on the touring circuit, performing around 125 dates each year, either as a solo act or opening for artists such as Richard Thompson, Keb Mo and Joan Armatrading. Her latest CD, The Gospel Truth, is “The world’s first agnostic gospel recording,” a collection of spiritual songs without the dogma often present in fundamentalist Christianity. It follows I Can’t Be New, Werner’s previous release, which offered a collection of original songs inspired by Gershwin, Porter and the Great American Songbook.