SUSAN ANGELETTI
LIVE—99 1/2 WON’T DO
INDEPENDENCE DAY–FEELIN’ LONESOME AND LOW DOWN–HE’S INTO SOMETHING–BRING IT ON HOME–GO TO HELL–ALL GASSED UP–HOUND DOG
Many people use social media outlets for a good thing–it is a forum through which folks like us can access music from deserving artists we might not otherwise hear of. One such artist that we recently connected with thru Facebook is the beautiful and talented Susan Angeletti. Susan is one of those female artists that will take you back to the first time you heard Janis Joplin, or, for you young’uns out there, maybe Dana Fuchs or Beth Hart. She has graciously offered to us her entire recorded catalog, and, beginning tonight and over the next three Sunday nights, when you get finished with Sunday Night Football, drop by here and enjoy September Sunday Nights with Susan Angeletti!
We begin with her excellent CD recorded in May. 2004, as she opened for B. B. King at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, MA. It is entitled “Live—99 1/2 Won’t Do.” Susan is on vocals and acoustic guitar, with Matt Caderette on electric guitar, Darby Wolf (all of seventeen years old here!) on keys, Peter Kim on bass, and Dave Lincoln on drums. She leads off with a dazzling original, as she shows off her acoustic guitar skills as well as her considerable vocal chops on the lovelorn tale of “why you caused me so much pain,” “Independence Day.” Young Mr. Wolf is all over the B-3 here, as is Matt on a brilliant solo. She continues that theme of heartbreak with the “two steps forward, but I fall right back down” of “Feelin’ :Lonesome And Lowdown.” You gotta love the roadhouse rocker that gives our heroine the last word on a no-good lover, the audience call-and-response boogie of “Go To Hell (Treat Me Right), Our favorite of this portion of the program had to be the eight-minute, testifyin’ read of Cooke’s immortal “Bring It On Home to me,” done in a slowed tempo that really takes advantage of her voice range.
There are two other cuts on the set from other shows, and they are just as good. Her original, “All Gassed Up,” is a booming rocker that details a mythical trip from Knoxville to Nashville to Memphis, and the cool thing about this one is that Susan is singing over the flute of one Ian Anderson. That’s right–ol’ Tull himself is all over this one! The set closes with a killer version of Big Mama’s “Hound Dog,” as Susan and guitarist John Sheldon and harpmeister Stewart James lettin’ it all loose! This one features one of Susan’s students, then-thirteen-year-old Sonya Kitchfield being called onstage to add backing vocals. At the climax, Susan shows her passion for Howlin’ Wolf in a shout-out to this legendary bluesman!
A Connecticut native who grew up in Southampton, MA, Susan gives an inspiring and fun-filled performance while opening for B. B. The crowd was sho’ nuff into it, and “Live—99 1/2 Won’t Do” is an excellent opener for this Sunday night series! Until next time…Sheryl and Don Crow, The Nashville Blues Society.
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