While she still continues to cut her teeth on gigs in New York’s underground, The Subway Recordings introduces Susan to the world-at-large with sweet songs filled with love and loneliness. The catchy “Shakespeare” is based on her penchant for asking new acquaintances if they like Shakespeare. “I know I’m such a nerd, but, growing up, I always had an affinity for those stories.” Meanwhile, a lonely Susan got the idea for “Be Here,” in which she sings to an imaginary lover, while playing on the 59th Street/Columbus Circle subway platform one night. And the optimistic “Ain’t It Good to Know” is from her early busking years: “Ain’t it good to know you’ve got somebody who loves you/Ain’t it good to know you’ve got somebody who cares.” “Doing this right now, at this level…it means that, after all the years, and all the struggling and everything I’ve been through, it was all worth it—because now I can do what I really want to do. I want people to be encouraged by things that have happened to me in my life and know that you can come from any background, however difficult, and, if you keep at it and trust yourself, you can really take charge of your life.”
