Cosy Sheridan, Susie Burke and David Surette

There are double bills and then there are double bills. Cosy Sheridan and the duo of Susie Burke and David Surette, who will grace our stage on Friday, April 13, are a match made in heaven. They're friends on and off the stage and their musical styles are seamless and entwined in a way that bonds them to each other and to the audience at large.

Cosy Sheridan has been called a "mythic songwriter." Her wryly insightful songs have been showcased everywhere from Carnegie Hall to The Dr Demento Show. In her new CD, "Live At CedarHouse," listeners can sample a taste of Sheridan's live performances and see why she's been called "one of the era's finest and most thoughtful singer-songwriters" and why Acoustic Guitar magazine wrote, "If I were going to throw an all-girl dinner party at which I wanted to laugh and cry from the hors d'oeuvres to the chocolate pudding, Cosy Sheridan is the first woman I'd invite."

Sheridan is one of the pre-eminent songwriters on the folk scene documenting the lives of modern women. She places the fast-paced culture of 21st century America into a mythic context with insightful, energetic and at times comic effect. Who else would think to make botox injections the modern equivalent of the beauty cream of Persephone, Queen of the Underworld? Or to find a modern Psyche reminiscing about Eros from a women's prison?

Sheridan first appeared on the national folk scene in 1992 when she won the songwriting contests at the Kerrville Folk Festival and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and released her critically acclaimed CD, "Quietly Led," on Waterbug Records. Cosy calls Moab, Utah home these days and has spent time working on several interesting projects in the past couple of years. In 2003 she created a one-woman show, "The Pomegranate Seed — An Exploration of Appetite, Body Image and Myth in Modern Culture," and released an accompanying CD of the music. The Salt Lake Tribune described it as "a bold unflinching look at issues affecting women's lives." Cosy performs the show all over the country at colleges, high schools and benefits for women's issues. In the summer of 2005 she spent six weeks writing a song cycle for best-selling author Robert Fulghum's latest book, Third Wish -- currently at the top of the bestseller list in the Czech Republic and gaining popularity across Europe.

Susie Burke and David Surette have made a name for themselves as one of the finest acts on the New England folk scene. Together since 1988, Susie and David have built a steady following for their own blend of contemporary, traditional, and original folk and acoustic music. Burke's vocal style is at once stunning and heartfelt, and is matched by Surette's fluid fretwork. Both are well-respected within the folk music community, as is demonstrated by the fact that they have appeared as backing musicians on numerous recordings. Many of these have come out of the New Hampshire Seacoast area, where Susie and David are based, and which has a well-deserved reputation as a haven for folk and acoustic music. Susie Burke has been singing on Seacoast stages since the early 80s, as a soloist, a member of several local bands, and in several duos, including one with guitar whiz Harvey Reid. Her musical tastes and influences are varied and many, encompassing contemporary and traditional folk, swing, country, topical songs, and acapella singing, with detours along the way for Broadway show tunes and classic ballads. Before devoting her energies to music full-time, Burke worked as a day-care teacher, and her love of kids is evident in her wonderful participatory children's concerts.

David Surette has been performing in the Seacoast area since the mid-80s, both with Susie and with a number of other groups and musicians. He is well-known as a top-notch accompanist in New England's contra dance and Celtic music circles, and is also in demand as a studio musician. As a multi-instrumentalist, David brings a variety of stringed sounds to the duo; Folk Roots magazine notes that his "bouzouki, guitar, and mandolin playing is exemplary." In addition to performing and recording, Surette maintains an active teaching schedule, and is head of the folk department at the Concord (NH) Community Music School. He was awarded an NEA travel grant in 1994 to study the traditional music of Brittany, France, and has written a book of Celtic guitar arrangements for Mel Bay Music.

Susie and David have released five albums on the Madrina Music label, to positive response from both critics and audiences, especially their latest recording, a duo effort titled "Sometimes in the Evening." Together, they bring skill, taste, feeling, and pure enjoyment to their music, and are bringing their music to an ever-widening circle of listeners. Susie and David are currently recording a new CD which will be released later in 2007.

 

 

Somewhere in the uncharted territory of Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Dr. Ruth, and Deepak Chopra is you at a Cosy Sheridan concert — laughing and crying, laughing and crying. Go there. CATIE CURTIS

[Sheridan’s] tender/tough voice, lively acoustic guitar playing, and brassy vulnerability are a disarming combination. DIRTY LINEN

[Susie Burke] posesses one of the finest, purest ballad sopranos heard in folk music today… her phrasing is unerringly devoted to the lyric. She displays a gift for pulling honest emotional chords — all too rare in these clever and cynical times. Scott Alarik, Boston Globe

Surette has distinguished himself among North American Celtic guitarists by his use of Breton and French materials…His technique is impeccable, and his touch and phrasing are immediately recognizable. Acoustic Guitar