Imagine waking up somewhere in your 50's to realize you have not pursued your one true love in life (as David Byrne sings, "Well... how did I get here?". Letting Good Days Go By...) After helping others to realize their dreams for 35 years, I concluded the one thing about which I would be most disspointed upon death would be that I had never pursued music as a profession. Chickened out. For endless years sitting at my desk, being barked at continuously by my boss, I used to daydream about being on stage singing, entertaining, playing guitar. So, at the age of 51, I took a leap of faith and never looked back. I'm really glad I did, because I found out -- I'm REALLY good at this! I am an eclectic, professional singer, songwriter and guitarist. My stellar vocal range is 3 ½ octaves, and I can sing in any style. I play guitar the most proficiently, but also play ukulele, harmonica and blues harp, piano and percussion (a little bass). All self taught. And I am a damn fine whistler, too. I grew up in an Italian family of firefighters in northern Virginia in the 1950's. My mother and older brother played piano, so I picked up the piano by ear at age 5 and eventually took a year or two of classical lessons that gave me a great general education on music. I sang in the church choir as a young girl. Then, as a teenager in the 60's and with the help of my first boyfriend who taught me my first three chords, I taught myself guitar at 13 (on my brother's Harmony). My dad was helping when firefighters extinguished a fire at a local music store and brought home my first classical guitar. Hey, it was a smoking guitar, nyuk nyuk. Well, I kept on learning and playing and listening to the radio, and as a teenager and young adult performed occasionally at weddings, folk festivals and parties. Somehow managed to stay out of trouble and graduate from Oakton High School in 1971. Immediately went to work in retail to make some money to go to college (never got there). Worked in a variety of jobs from retail to office staff, secretary, word processor, office manager, temping... Only played music as a hobby and with other friends who played. Fast forward to 1986, when I moved to Maryland, and in order to meet people and make new friends, I joined the Baltimore music scene. I performed solo in Fells Point bars, then joined with another musician, Art Wachter, to create the folk/blues/rock duo, Backseat Drivers. We entertained part-time for 10 years in Maryland, DC, and Virginia. It was a great opportunity to hone my performance and songwriting skills and learn about eclectic music. In 1988, I moved to Pennsylvania and began working full-time at York College of Pennsylvania in 1993. By then, the duo had broken up, sadly, and I reluctantly appeared solo in a few restaurants and coffee houses now and then just to keep up the chops. My personal best was to sing acoustically, without a PA system, for three hours straight. Now it's 1999, I bought my first house in southern York County, Pennsylvania, started a relationship with the man who would become my husband (third time is the charm). I studied Buddhism, took up birding, created a beautiful garden at my home. Very soon after one of the worst gigs ever, I decided it was finally time to give up music altogether and focus on other things in my new and happy life. I never really expected to return to music. A vacation to Hawai’i in 2004 inadvertantly changed all that. My husband and I took a trip to the Big Island... it was very inspiring, leading to a lot of soul-searching. Upon my return home, I left my full-time job as an Events Coordinator. I was asked by the Green Party to run for the State House of Representatives of Pennsylvania as a Green Party Candidate. I agreed, spent no money on the campaign, got a lot of free publicity and brought some truly different perspectives to the race. (Check out the 10 Key Values -- http://www.gp.org/tenkey.shtml. ) Somehow I managed to win 8% of the vote against a long-time incumbent, successfully helping the Green Party maintain party status in Pennsylvania. Following that adventure, I took some time to “figure out what I really wanted to do when I grew up”. I met with a success counselor to discuss an environmentally friendly network marketing business, Melaleuca (www.melaleuca.com). Turns out the counselor was psychic, because her first statement was "tell me about your music". "Nothing to tell," I said. But she must have guessed music still tugged at my heart and network marketing wasn't going to be my cup of tea, so she talked me into going back in to music. So in 2005 at the age of 51, I picked up my guitar and began playing again. I started experimenting with finger-picked open tunings, writing new songs and rearranging vintage music. (I have a passion for beautiful American and British music from the Post-Romantic era, 1880-1915, and like to bring it back to life.) I developed a unique style, borrowing from past influences like Joni Mitchell, David Byrne, Incredible String Band, Nick Drake -- to name a few. And people embraced my new sound when I entertained. In 2006, I spent 10 months in the studio to produce and record my very first CD, Cosmic Summer Sojourn. It was brilliantly engineered by Rob Ziv (he has produced such greats as Eric Clapton and Celine Dion). Our collaboration culminated in an enchanting aural daytrip. The music is a mix of old and new; eastern wisdom and the beauty of nature. The artistic anthology features my original music, anchored by some late 19th century songs uniquely re-arranged to sound new... all interlaced with the sounds of summer recorded in my backyard. One reviewer writes: “To me the most captivating parts of the CD are the tracks where your voice and that of the guitar are pure and allow me the most access to the poetry of your lyrics. Your artistic virtuosity both vocally and instrumentally are astounding: each alone would be rare.” Lucid Forge reviews: “…a great debut album with lots of poetic depth.” The CD has been requested by radio stations in the U.S., Canada, Germany, England, Eastern Europe and Australia. One song, Under the Stars Tonight, was chosen for a compilation CD, Chill Out East Coast Version. I have since returned to writing and to a more “mainstream indie” sound, pulling from pop, roots, jazz and blues. My forthcoming new CD, My Blue Skin, will feature an eclectic variety of tunes with moodier stylings. I will play all the instruments on the recording. Of special note is the song, Why Don’t I Know You? While I was entertaining elders by singing popular standards at an Assisted Living Facility, one of the residents, Buzzy Firey, approached me about putting music to some lyrics he had written. The tune is about love from afar. It’s the first song I have co-written. After changing a few words in the song (I told Buzzy there really weren’t any "drive-in movies" anymore...) I created a jazzy tune, adding some interesting effects on the recording. I have been performing full-time now since 2006 at coffeehouses, weddings, assisted living facilities, festivals and private/corporate events, teahouses. My husband and I relocated to Wilmington, North Carolina in December 2009 after being on the road for three months with our three cats. Wilmington has an amazing live music scene, and I'm gratified to be a part of it. Just an FYI, I dabble as a certified Raw Foods Chef and have been known to occasionally teach a lesson about Buddhism, and I teach Yoga as well. But music is my main focus. It's never too late to realize your dream. "With her incredible talents, original voice and eclectic music, Susan Savia’s interesting journey will continue for a long time, and one that a lot of people will want to follow." |
