Photo Credit Cameron McCool!
The story of singer songwriter Suzanne Santo is a story of movement and constant change.
Humanly and artistically, she has never been afraid to blur the lines as she’s built her sound in the grey area between Americana, Southern-gothic soul, and forward-thinking rock & roll.
It’s a sound that nods to her past — a childhood spent in the Rust Belt; a decade logged as a member of the L.A.-based duo HoneyHoney; the acclaimed solo album, Ruby Red, that launched a new phase of her career in 2017; and the world tour that took her from Greece to Glastonbury as a member of Hozier’s band — while still exploring new territory.
Her latest track is called Yard Sale and it’s a tune with which Suzanne boldly moves forward, staking her claim once again as an Americana innovator. It’s an album inspired by the past, written by an artist who’s only interested in the here-and-now. And for Suzanne Santo, the here-and-now sounds pretty good.
“Yard Sale is an unpacking of many lifetimes into 12 songs. Much like an actual yard sale, this thing has something for everyone. No need for haggle prices, this puppy is a screamin’ deal.” She admits.
Suzanne began writing the album while touring the globe with Hozier — a gig that utilized her strengths not only as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, but as a road warrior, too.
“We never stopped,” she says of the year-long trek, which often found her pulling double-duty as Hozier’s opening act and bandmate. “Looking back, I can recognize how much of a game-changer it was. It raised my musicianship to a new level. It truly reshaped my career.”
Songs like “Fall For That” were written between band rehearsals, with Santo holding herself up in a farmhouse on the rural Irish coast. Others were finished during bus rides, backstage writing sessions, and hotel stays.
After a final and unforgettable milestone performance at Glastonbury, with 60,000 fans watching Suzanne got back to LA and within three days, she was back in the studio, working with producer John Spiker on the most compelling album of her career.
Until she got the hell out (again!), and relocated to Austin — a city whose fingerprints are all over Yard Sale, thanks to appearances by hometown heroes like Shakey Graves and Gary Clark Jr. — and falling in love all over again. Throughout it all, Suzanne continued writing songs, filling Yard Sale with the ups and downs of a life largely spent on the run.
“I moved so much, both emotionally and physically, while making this record,” she says. “I dropped my band, joined a world tour, came back home, went through a heartbreak, moved across the country, and fell in love with someone else. I just kept marching forward. Throughout that experience, there was this emotional unpacking of sorts. A shedding of baggage. I’ve gotten good at knowing what I need to keep holding onto and what I don’t.”
A true artist is never satisfied, never fully accomplished and always moving and changing in order to achieve a better version of themselves. Suzanne Santo is one of those!
