Celebrated Singer/Songwriter Susan Werner Returns to Lincoln 

By popular demand, Susan Werner returns to Lincoln after sold-out shows across the country to perform music from her latest album, The Birds of Florida. 

Praised by the Chicago Tribune as “one of the most innovative songwriters working today” Werner relies on trademark songcraft and wry, poetic lyrics that have established her as a Lied Center audience favorite! For her return to Lincoln, Susan will sing a few Nebraska song favorites from the Hayseed Album, commissioned by the Lied Center and IANR. Dorthy Lynch may make a saucy appearance!

Werner has made a name for herself coast to coast. From her 1995 major label folk/rock debut “Last of the Good Straight Girls” to her 2007 collection of agnostic gospel hymns “The Gospel Truth” to her 2017 travelogue “An American In Havana,” Werner writes ambitious concept albums with subject matter and sounds to match.

After writing twelve albums of songs in styles ranging from folk/rock to Tin Pan Alley to gospel, country and chamber music, Werner has been deemed by National Public Radio as “The Empress of the Unexpected.”

As audiences will testify, Werner's been knocking it out of the park – or concert hall – all around the U.S. for twenty years. Renowned as a charismatic performer, she's known above all for challenging herself to conquer new styles, almost like mountaintops, every few years.

From her 1995 major label debut, the folk/rock gem Last of the Good Straight Girls, to her 2004 collection of Tin Pan Alley styled originals I Can't Be New, to her 2007 “agnostic gospel” hymnal The Gospel Truth, to 2013's tribute to agriculture and her Iowa farm roots Hayseed (commissioned by the Lied Center and IANR) to 2018's Cuban flavored collection An American In Havana, Werner's creative restlessness has become her defining characteristic.

“I like concept albums, because they provide a place for the audience and the artist to meet.  You may not know me and I may not know you, but we both know something about a farmer's market, about what it is to sit in a pew at church and wonder what life means, we both know something about falling in love and maybe falling back out again. I like to have a starting point for an evening's conversation with an audience – it's a great icebreaker.”

She first arrived on the national stage when her 1995 BMG debut earned her national concert tours with Joan Armatrading and Richard Thompson.  In 1996, Werner was featured as part of the “next generation” in Peter Paul and Mary's PBS special LifeLines.  She has performed on NPR's World Café, NPR's Mountain Stage, and in 2016 Nebraska Educational Television broadcast The Land Will Outlive Us All, a one hour special on Werner, agriculture, and her 2015 concert tour across the state.

Her songs have been recorded by Tom Jones and Michael Feinstein, Broadway stars Betty Buckley and Christine Ebersole, and countless individuals and ensembles. But Werner says she's just getting started: “I just released an album of songs inspired by a trip to New Orleans.  And I've always wanted to go to Scotland – hey, maybe I could learn the bagpipes. It's not impossible….is it?”

Tickets

Susan Werner will perform in the Lied Center's Carson Theater on Saturday, April 20 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm. In-person tickets are available for both shows, and live webcast tickets are available for the evening performance. Tickets are available now at liedcenter.org, (402) 472-4747, and the Lied Center box office.

About the Lied Center for Performing Arts

The Lied Center is Nebraska's Home for the Arts. Located at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Lied presents the world's most iconic artists and major regional, national and international performances that entertain and inspire audiences. We offer something for everyone, including the best of Broadway, symphony orchestras, dance, music, theater and family programs. Artists at the Lied have ranged from Itzhak Perlman and Wynton Marsalis to the American Ballet Theatre and St. Louis Symphony. The Lied also is committed to educational outreach: Nearly 100% of visiting artists work with students in the days leading up to their performance. Visit us at liedcenter.org.

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