Monday, September 10, 2007

From the Subway to the Studio: Susan Cagle

I just happened to catch one of the last reviews from What Greg Likes before he decided to turn in his gun and badge... err, rather blogging pen, where he talked up a live performance CD by Susan Cagle, a New York City subway performer called the Subway Recordings.

Susan Cagle is a singer-songwriter who was formerly a childhood member of the Children of God a religious group *cough* that encouraged its young members to busk, and she learned to play guitar at age 7.

When she finally parted with the group in her late teens, she headed to New York City during the turbulent year of 2001, and discovered that she could make as much money busking in the subways as she could in a normal job, so that's exactly what she did. She recently signed a record deal after being discovered by producer Jay Levine plying her trade at Herald Street Station, and to capitalize on the sound she had cultivated over the years, the decision was made to record the album while she performed live in two subway stations.

A lot of the songs recorded for the CD were also recorded as music videos, and the one that really resonated with me was a song called Shakespeare. It really catches a certain pop sensibility that was missing from a lot of popular music in the past few years during the domination of Britney and Christina.

Now, I've heard rumors that she was also recently on The Oprah Winfrey Show because of her song "Dear Oprah" but I haven't been able to confirm it.

If the above is true, she may be destined for bigger and better things.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Yes, Susan Cagle was indeed on Oprah. I know Susan's family - her parents and siblings all perform in the subway and they are the nicest people.

All the best,

'Saw Lady'
www.SawLady.com/blog

MC said...

Nice to meet you Saw Lady :)