Dancing About Architecture with Susan Alcorn

I was so happy when Susan agreed to do this. Our conversation for the podcast has been one of the most-listened to, and one of the ones other musicians bring up to me the most. I cannot recommend it enough. She is such a cool and interesting human.

Susan composes for and performs on pedal steel. Perhaps not the first instrument one thinks of when conjuring mental images of an improvising musician, but she does it. Susan is no carpetbagger to her instrument, either. Steeped in the blues, sharpened by playing real-deal Country & Western, Susan is taking the pedal steel where no one has gone before.

At the time of this writing, Susan is working on a new solo album, playing gigs, and in November, heading to Chile to perform with the Chilean musicians she played with on her album Canto (2023, Relative Pitch Records).

Member's first: August 12; Open to the public: August 19.

Spotlight On: What is your first memory of music?

Susan Alcorn: Hearing my mother sing nursery rhymes.

SO: You want someone to understand you. What song or album do you give them?

SA: Roberta Flack, First Take

SO: What instrument(s) can you play?

SA: Well, "play" is a broad word. My main instrument is the pedal steel guitar which sometimes I think I play well and other times I don't. Other instruments that I play (poorly) are the viola, the oud, charango, piano, guitar, mandolin, banjo, trumpet, trombone, and tabla drums.

SO: What song, album or artist never gets old for you?

SA: "98.6"

SO: What music do you and your significant other disagree about?

SA: My husband is not a musician, but has a broad palette of music he likes. I don't think he likes death metal and I'm not as fond of Fleetwood Mac.

SO: What is a creative work or artist, outside of music, that you love or admire?

SA: Remedios Varo.

SO: What was your first concert?

SA: Roger Williams (with my parents when I was ten), Mitch Ryder (without the Detroit Wheels) at 14 or 15.

SO: What instrument do you wish you could play?

SA: Piano.

SO: What person, dead or alive, would you like to share a meal with (and which meal of the day)?

SA: My grandmother. Lunch.

SO: There's a band playing in Heaven tonight. Who is in it?

SA: Arch Enemy

SO: What is your theme song?

SA: "Song of the Birds"

SO: Who is your musical hero?

SA: Joaquin Murphey

SO: What was your first paycheck related to music?

SA: I don't remember my first paycheck related to music, but my first pay was probably four or five dollars and some change from busking.

SO: When you were 15 your favorite artist, song or album was:

SA: John Coltrane, His Greatest Years, "Om (Closing Invocation)"

SO: You are programming a music festival. What artists, dead or alive, headline Friday, Saturday and Sunday night?

SA: Friday -Pauline Oliveros with Astor Piazzolla
Saturday - Olivier Messiaen (pipe organ) with Lori Freedman (bass clarinet) and Cecil Taylor (trumpet - during the current afterlife, he has learned to play the trumpet very well)
Sunday - Frank Zappa with Dion DiMucci and Dionne Warwick

SO: What artist is the most underrated or misunderstood?

SA: Bobby Goldsboro

SO: What is the last concert you saw?

SA: Jessica Pavone Trio at the Red Room in Baltimore

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