Susan Werner - Somewhere under the Radar

Susan Werner is waxing lyrical about Carmen Cusack, the Tony-nominated singer-actress (Bright Star) with whom she'll share a sublime Bay Area Cabaret double-bill at the Venetian Room this Sunday afternoon.

"You'll feel lucky to be in the room with her. She's so skillful it's thrilling. She can snap your heart in two like a sugar wafer."

But Werner might as well be talking about herself.

Check out that phrasing, that instinctive assonance, the sudden summoning of a perfect metaphor.
Over the course of twelve studio albums, the classically trained Werner –who has a fervent live fan base east of the Mississippi– has brought her keen ear and sharp wit to a dazzling range of subjects and musical styles, many of which seem tailor-made for Bay Area audiences.

Hayseed, her suite of tributes to family farms like the one she grew up on in Iowa, finds Werner getting aggro on agri-business, cracking wise about the price of organic produce, and crafting a wistful paean to winter in the era of global warming.

The Gospel Truth, Werner's rousing collection of "spiritual songs for agnostics" has lyrics that could serve as a hymnal at Glide Memorial. Chronicling her conflicted history with organized religion, she questions narrow-minded clergy: "If God is great and God is good/Why is your heaven so small?"

In one of her earliest and most beloved songs, "Uncle John," Werner, a lesbian with several gay siblings, reflects on the recognition and respect of a sensitive niece.

And her two most recent albums find Werner passionately delving into musical genres with huge Bay Area followings, Latin and New Orleans jazz.

Among the hundred-plus original songs in Werner's repertoire, is an ode to North Bay bliss�, "Petaluma Afternoon,"� and what should surely be an anthem of Peninsula nerds, "Recumbent Bike."