Oh Susanna – Johnstown (20th Anniversary Edition)
Continental Song City – 30 August 209
Originally released in 1999, this was Canadian singer-songwriter’s Oh Susanna‘s (Suzie Ungerleider) debut album, critically well-received at the time and, over the years, has become regarded as an Appalachian-gothic, folk-noir masterpiece with its songs of love and hate, imprisonment and freedom, darkness and light. Produced by Grammy-winner Peter J. Moore (who handled The Trinity Sessions for The Cowboy Junkies) in Toronto and independently released, it now gets an anniversary remastering with the addition of bonus tracks, as well as being made available on vinyl for the first time.
As an opening statement of intent, the title track, a murder ballad backdropped by the Johnstown Flood of 1889, moving from simple fingerpicked guitar to a brooding blues with snarling electric left little doubt that she meant business. It was followed by the no less ominous sexually charged You’ll Always Be with its dirge-like chords, her fierce howl of a vocal and the doomy final piano note.
Softer sounds enfold the acoustic-based lullabying slow waltz love song Alabaster and the piano backed Old Kate, a song of love, abandonment and turning to a witchy woman to track down an old lover hat can’t help but feel like a stalker narrative in waiting.
The last of the five minute plus tracks, The Bridge, played on resonating acoustic guitar, unfolded another tale of love turned sour, a young bride discovering on her wedding night that the marriage wasn’t going to be what she’d hoped for and looking to find a means of escape. Elsewhere Oh, My Good Ol’ Gal holds the feel of traditional spooked Appalachian folk, Walking is stripped bare blues and both Parallel Rails and Pueblo underscore her narrative skills.
Concluding with the nervy guitar figure of Back Dirt Road and its theme of travelling free, the waltzing lyrically upbeat love song Home Soon (The Cherry Song) and, finally, the similarly-themed Bazil Donovan co-write Tangled & Wild with its repeated “Run away with me, won’t you?” refrain, it more than stands the test of time, the remastering bringing out the full power of her voice and the intricacies of her playing.
The bonus tracks all come from A Shot of Oh Susanna, a collection of five all-acoustic versions of tracks from the album, including a blistering version of You’ll Always Be, that was originally only available on a cassette at live shows and here given a full production.
Since Johnstown, Ungerleider has gone on to release a further six albums, among them 2017’s conceptual A Girl In Teen City, each further consolidated the fulsome praise accorded her debut. Were this to be released today as an unknown artist, it would undoubtedly be acclaimed once again as the arrival of a volcanic new Americana talent with a great future ahead of her. They’d not be wrong.
September UK Tour
*support from Matt the Electrician
SEP 4 WED – The Musician, Leicester
SEP 6 FRI – The Long Road Festival, Lutterworth
SEP 7 SAT – Secret venue, High Wycombe
SEP 9 MON – Water Rats, London
SEP 10 TUE – Kitchen Garden Cafe, Birmingham
SEP 11 WED – The Met, Bury *
SEP 12 THU – The Glad Cafe, Glasgow *
SEP 13 FRI – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Liverpool *
For ticket links and further details visit https://www.ohsusanna.com
Behind the Songs
Photo Credit: Press image by Heather Pollock