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With her compelling and polished approach to music, Susan Crowe is one of Canada's most respected singer-songwriters. At once complex, challenging and accessible, Susan's intelligent and moving songs have captivated audiences and reviewers from coast to coast, continent to continent. She possesses, in the words of Britain's Folk Roots magazine, "that rare ability of crafting a lyric that bears scrutiny on its own terms."
That rare ability has earned her two Juno nominations, nominations from both the West Coast and East Coast Music Awards, repeat performances at all of Canada's major folk festivals, and invitations to the prestigious Kerrville Songwriter's Festival in Texas. She's toured Canada, the United States and Central Europe. Her finely crafted songs have earned her places on several compilations, including the Kerrville 2000 CD. She's been called "a writers' writer," but might also be called a "well-kept secret." It's her slow but steady approach that's attracted a legion of followers who appreciate an artist who steps well beyond folk clichŽs and predictable melodies.
In 1994, after being away from music for more than a decade, Susan began to write again. That led to her first album, This Far From Home, which was chosen by Vancouver's Georgia Straight as one of the top albums of the year. It was subsequently nominated for a Juno award in the roots/traditional category.
Now established as a recording artist of note, Susan returned to the festival circuit and recorded a second album in 1996, The Door to the River, receiving more high praise from critics. Dirty Linen magazine described the two albums as "lyrically sparse but telling, conveying a deep sense of emotion, very subtly but very powerfullyÉboth are rewarding works, both strangely compelling in ways that will move you."
Susan's growing reputation as a recording and performing artist was further enhanced in 1999 with the release of her third album, A Pilgrim’s Mirror, which received more plaudits from the critics and a West Coast Music Award nomination.
In October 2003, Susan Crowe released her fourth cd titled Book of Days (Corvus/Festival). Produced by Danny Greenspoon at Toronto's Canterbury Sound Studios, Book Of Days, features eleven new Susan Crowe originals, including a co-write with Cindy Church and another with John Reischman. Book Of Days met with rave reviews across Canada, was the focus of a region-wide CBC Atlantic Airwaves radio broadcast and garnered her nominations from the East Coast Music Awards and the 2004 Juno Awards, in the Best Roots/Traditional Solo Recording category. Susan also won the Music Industry of Nova Scotia's Best Female Artist Award in 2004.
March of 2004 saw Susan joining forces with Cindy Church and Laura Smith, reprising the trio brava which played capacity houses across Canada. Her current "extracurricular" project is The Tenderlies, a trio consisting of Susan, Cathy Porter and Lisa MacDougall.
Susan's work has been recorded by John Reischman and the Jaybirds, St. John's choir Cantus Vocum, Quartette. Last year, In the Fall - her co-write with John Reischman - was published in the venerable music publication Sing Out!. Most recently, Susan's work has been included in recordings by "Lunch at Allen's", and Quartette's upcoming release.
In 1996, Susan developed her own record label, Corvus, which is modeled on a Quaker lending circle principle. Since then, this label has assisted other artists with production costs of recording projects.
In addition to recording and touring, Susan Crowe has been a resource leader for the SAC Power Songshop, a variety of other songwriting and guitar workshops throughout Canada. She hosted the Songwriters Circle at the 2004 East Coast Music Awards in St. John's, Newfoundland and in 2005 she was one of the featured artists on the CBC national telecast of the ECMA awards.
Susan was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, lived for many years in Toronto and Vancouver, respectively, and once again lives in Halifax. Susan was recently elected to the Board of the Halifax Chapter of PAL (Performing Arts Lodge) and volunteers for the Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia. She is also a founding shareholder, and active participant in the development and preservation of the Elizabeth Bishop House, an artist's retreat in the renowned poet's childhood home in Great Village, Nova Scotia.
The Georgia Straight described Susan's work as offering "a sense that the singer has tapped into the collective unconscious in a way that what she is singing about is not only true for her but true for all of us." Adds the Vancouver Sun: "With one of the most distinctive voices in Canada today, she is destined to become one of our lasting folk heroines.
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