With two successful concerts under our belt, we got brave and decided
to book Susan Werner, one of our very favorite artists, and a well-known
name in the folk music world. After some creative negotiations, our dream
turned into a reality on January 19, 2002.
Susan was scheduled to perform a single set, but after she saw the audience
eating, playing pinball and chatting before the show, she suggested breaking
up her show into two sets to everyone can spend time together between
the sets. She performed her first set on guitar, starting out with "Time
Between Trains" and covering many of our favorites, including "Shades
of Grey" and "Misery & Happiness" from her new CD ("New
Non Fiction") and "Petaluma Afternoons" and "St. Mary's
of Regret" from her earlier CDs. In between songs, she had the audience
laughing with her ad libs and stories.
We took a lengthy break to eat more of Laura's delicious food and play
some pinball (if only I'd gotten a photo of Susan at the pinball machine!),
then Susan performed a second set on her piano. In addition to a beautiful
version of "Much At All", she played a variety of great new
songs. She finished the evening with one more guitar song and one more
piano song.
Many people in the audience hadn't heard Susan before, and were very
impressed with her performance. Those who had heard Susan before were
delighted to finally see her in Indiana (her first performance in the
state ever!) and in a rare house concert performance. Many people had
traveled quite a distance to attend, including one fan of Susan's from
Maryland!
Susan spent time after the show signing autographs and chatting with
guests, then spent additional time with just the four of us. It was a
great show and a great evening.