Susan Barth

Although chiming guitars and eminently singable choruses make the music of Susan Barth instantly accessible, beneath an iridescent pop sparkle lies a dense shadowland of sad observations and regrets.This compelling alternative pop lends itself admirably to dramatic applications. The hit WB series, Smallville, has utilized Susan's music to underscore on-screen action and she's recently inked licensing deals with a trio of powerhouse companies who keep Hollywood supplied with songs. Her first two releases, This Thing and Romeo and The Beauty Queen earned accolades from Billboard, merit awards from ASCAP, and airplay on Los Angeles radio, and her newest, Wonderland, promises to extend her legacy of ever-evolving songcraft. Growing up in New Jersey, Susan acquired her first guitar from her brother who earned it by selling Christmas cards. Initially it was just that guitar and singing into a hairbrush in front of the bathroom mirror, but soon the music of Rickie Lee Jones and Carole King influenced her with its emotional resonance and then The Beatles catalogue began supplying a lifetime of ideas about crafting concise, harmony riddled pop songs.Skipping school to take the train into Manhattan revealed an alternate universe. "It was a far cry from the white bread suburbs where I grew up," she marvels. But California was even further. In Los Angeles, she committed herself to songwriting and began creating an ever growing catalogue of songs while developing a network of players from the bands of Rickie Lee Jones, Bonnie Raitt and Macy Gray, many of whom record and perform with her today. Although she is a talented performer who graces a variety of stages in Los Angeles, she prefers to leave her diva at the door: it's her belief that a well-written song, not the artist, should be the star.Her perspectives as a narrator are dead-on, but the lyrical landscapes she charts don't belong to her alone. "I might write from a diary I imagine is yours," she says, "and put myself where I think you are. It may seem I'm talking about myself, but I'm very possibly talking about someone else I know very well. It's you and me and a combination and then it's maybe just a little whimsical fantasy song."Susan Barth's songs remind us that pop songs can be both catchy and emotionally rewarding when they are crafted this well.