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By JEFF DEAN Times Leader Correspondent
Friday, December 08, 2000     Page: 12A

A few years ago, Chicago-based singer/songwriter Susan Werner came to a
fork in the road.
   
The acoustic guitarist and pianist had already spent 10 years carving a
niche for herself as a folk singer. But then she discovered within herself a
yearning to pursue music with a jazz and blues tinge. Jazz and blues from the
1930s no less.
    It seemed, she said, that she had to make a choice. Which did she choose?
   
“Both,” answered Werner, who appears at the Chicory House in Wilkes-Barre
this evening. “On the one hand, I’m pursuing this sort of Great Plains,
prairie balladry, this sort of country-tinged rock.
   
“And on the other hand, I’m fulfilling my aspirations to be the female
Cole Porter. I want to create a whole album of original songs that could have
been written in the 1930s.”
   
Those two seemingly disparate goals have actually worked together to turn
Werner into a kind of one-women, two-act show. Now, instead of just playing
one type of music, she said she feels free to play compositions from her
entire, varied repertoire.
   
And her audiences are going crazy for it.
   
“I did this one show last summer,” Werner said, laughing, “and
afterwards, this 7-year-old girl came up – eyes as big as saucers – and said,
you’re even better than Britney Spears! She was just overjoyed.”
   
Werner said the reason she found the exchange so amusing is because it
hadn’t been all that long since she’s reconciled herself to some hard truths
about the music industry. One of those truths, she said, is that pop culture
is a force to be reckoned with.
   
“At some point,” she explained, “you have to take pride in what you do
for your own reasons. It’s a little bit like being a chef at an excellent
restaurant. You don’t serve as many customers as (the fast-food chains), but
the clientele you do serve actually appreciate your skill. You realize that
being a good chef is the real goal. You realize you’re fulfilling your
assignment.”
   
Which brings Werner to a subject near to her heart: fulfilling her
assignment. For the first time since she began playing music at the age of 5,
she said she feels like she’s on a path, that she can see an end to her
musical means.
   
“I’ve been playing music all my life,” she said, “and as of late I have
been seeing that all of these projects I have are each going to end up a piece
(of the same whole). I’m not wandering anymore across the wilderness anymore.
I have a clear road in front of me, with clear goals. It’s very energizing.
   
“I think every young artist goes through a period of experimentation,”
she added, “but see, I’m finished with that. I’m finished searching for a
style, seeing what fits, figuring out for what I have to say.
   
“I’ve reached the point where I know what I want to say, and what I do
that connects with other people. It’s exciting. It’s exciting to be able to
tell people these are the things I have to say.”
   
WHO: Susan Werner
   
WHERE: The Chicory House, St. Stephens Procathedral, 35 S. Franklin St.,
   
Wilkes-Barre
   
WHEN: Tonight at 8
   
ADMISSION: $10
   
INFO: 825-8772