Susan Werner

After writing twelve albums of songs in styles ranging from folk rock to Tin Pan Alley to gospel, country, and chamber music, what might a woman deemed by Nation Public Radio as "The Empress of the Unexpected" try next? As audiences will testify, Werner's been knocking it out of the park - or concert hall - all around the US for twenty years.

Renowned as a charismatic performer, she's known above all for challenging herself to conquer new styles, almost like mountaintops, every few years. From her 1995 major label debut, the folk rock gem Last of the Good Straight Girls, to her 2007 "agnostic gospel" hymnal The Gospel truth, to 2013's tribute to agriculture and her Iowa farm roots Hayseed, to 2018's Cuban flavored collection An American in Havana, Werner's creative restlessness has become her defining characteristic.

In 1996, Werner was featured as part of the "next generation" in Peter, Paul, and Mary's PBS special LIfeLines. She has performed on NPR's World Cafe, NPR's Mountain Stage, and in 2016 Nebraska Education Television broadcast The Land Will Outlive Us LAll, a one hour special on Werner, agriculture, and her 2015 concert tour across the state.