Susan Voelz
Encyclopedia
Susan Voelz is an American
musician. A Grammy Award
-nominated vocalist, violin
ist, and composer
. She is a member of the alternative rock
band, Poi Dog Pondering
. She has also worked with a long list of famous musicians.
She has worked on film score
s for movie and television soundtracks
. She has continued with her own solo career, she has released two albums, which have received positive reviews. As a writer, she has published a book with Billboard/Random House
in 2007; The Musicians Guide to the Road.
, Wisconsin
in the United States
. As a child, she discovered her grandfather's violin
in the attic of the family home, and began to learn to play. Nurtured by family members who each played a variety of instruments, she frequently joined in playing in the family concerts in the living room, now saying in retrospect saying "We were cheerful and awful."
Discovering in secondary school that the violin could be played in rock music
and other genre
s of music opened up new possibilities, and encouraged her to continue practicing her craft. It was during this period that Voeltz found a used acoustic guitar
for $25.00 and learned to play it, although the violin never ceased to be her primary instrument.
After graduating high school
, Voelz majored in English and in Music (Violin), graduating from Indiana University. After relocating several times, she found herself living in what had become a college town with a thriving mecca for artists during that time; Austin
, Texas
. She began playing and performing with musicians she met there, including Ronnie Lane
, who had relocated to Austin with former bandmate Ian McLagan
, both of Small Faces/Faces
fame. They performed in a short term band dubbed the Seven Samurai. During this period, she found opportunities to perform as a backing musician with others on tour, including John Mellencamp
, and Alejandro Escovedo
. Voelz was offered work by the Hawaiian band Poi Dog Pondering
, who had relocated to Austin, and were searching for a fiddler
for their planned debut album. The combination clicked, and she has now contributed to 13 albums with the band.
Voelz has worked composing music and assembling film score
s for movies, documentaries and educational tools. She composed the score for the Frontline television series, "Children of Conyers County" which won the Peabody Award
as well as the follow-up Merchants of Cool which received a lukewarm review from Rolling Stone
magazine. She also worked on projects for PBS educational documentaries.
Traveling as a sideman
with a variety of musicians, working as a session musician
in the studios, Voelz has performed with numerous famous performers, and continues to do so date.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musician. A Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-nominated vocalist, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist, and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. She is a member of the alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band, Poi Dog Pondering
Poi Dog Pondering
Poi Dog Pondering is an American musical group, noted for its cross-pollination of diverse musical genres, including various forms of acoustic folk music, and electronic music. Founded in Hawaii in 1985, the band moved to Austin, Texas in 1987, where they recorded their first three albums...
. She has also worked with a long list of famous musicians.
She has worked on film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
s for movie and television soundtracks
Soundtracks
Soundtracks may refer to:* The plural of soundtrack* Soundtracks * Soundtracks , an album by Tony Banks of Genesis...
. She has continued with her own solo career, she has released two albums, which have received positive reviews. As a writer, she has published a book with Billboard/Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
in 2007; The Musicians Guide to the Road.
Biography
Voelz was born and raised in WauwatosaWauwatosa, Wisconsin
Wauwatosa is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States, and was incorporated on May 27, 1897. As of the 2006 census estimate, the city's population was 44,798. Wauwatosa is located immediately west of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is a part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. As a child, she discovered her grandfather's violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
in the attic of the family home, and began to learn to play. Nurtured by family members who each played a variety of instruments, she frequently joined in playing in the family concerts in the living room, now saying in retrospect saying "We were cheerful and awful."
Discovering in secondary school that the violin could be played in rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and other genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
s of music opened up new possibilities, and encouraged her to continue practicing her craft. It was during this period that Voeltz found a used acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
for $25.00 and learned to play it, although the violin never ceased to be her primary instrument.
After graduating high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, Voelz majored in English and in Music (Violin), graduating from Indiana University. After relocating several times, she found herself living in what had become a college town with a thriving mecca for artists during that time; Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. She began playing and performing with musicians she met there, including Ronnie Lane
Ronnie Lane
Ronald Frederick "Ronnie" Lane was an English musician, songwriter, and producer who is best known as the bass guitarist and founding member of two prominent English rock and roll bands; the Small Faces where he was nicknamed "Plonk", – and, after losing the band's frontman, Faces, with two new...
, who had relocated to Austin with former bandmate Ian McLagan
Ian McLagan
Ian McLagan is an English keyboard instrumentalist, best known as a member of the English rock bands Small Faces and Faces.-Small Faces and Faces:...
, both of Small Faces/Faces
Faces (band)
Faces are an English rock band formed in 1969 by members of the Small Faces after Steve Marriott left that group to form Humble Pie...
fame. They performed in a short term band dubbed the Seven Samurai. During this period, she found opportunities to perform as a backing musician with others on tour, including John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp, previously known by the stage names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American rock singer-songwriter, musician, painter and occasional actor known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock that eschews synthesizers and other artificial sounds...
, and Alejandro Escovedo
Alejandro Escovedo
Alejandro Escovedo is an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:The son of Mexican immigrants to Texas, Escovedo is from a family that boasts several professional musicians, including brothers Coke Escovedo and Pete Escovedo, and Sheila E...
. Voelz was offered work by the Hawaiian band Poi Dog Pondering
Poi Dog Pondering
Poi Dog Pondering is an American musical group, noted for its cross-pollination of diverse musical genres, including various forms of acoustic folk music, and electronic music. Founded in Hawaii in 1985, the band moved to Austin, Texas in 1987, where they recorded their first three albums...
, who had relocated to Austin, and were searching for a fiddler
Fiddler
A fiddler is a person who plays a fiddle or violin.Fiddler may also refer to:*Fabrangen Fiddlers, an American musical group founded in 1971*Tupolev Tu-28 "Fiddler", a fighter aircraft*Fiddler , a DC Comics villain...
for their planned debut album. The combination clicked, and she has now contributed to 13 albums with the band.
Voelz has worked composing music and assembling film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
s for movies, documentaries and educational tools. She composed the score for the Frontline television series, "Children of Conyers County" which won the Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
as well as the follow-up Merchants of Cool which received a lukewarm review from Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine. She also worked on projects for PBS educational documentaries.
Traveling as a sideman
Sideman
A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...
with a variety of musicians, working as a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
in the studios, Voelz has performed with numerous famous performers, and continues to do so date.
Solo
- 1994 13 Ribs |Voodoo/Dixiefrog Records (FRA)| Pravda Records (US)
- 1995 Summer Crashing
With Alejandro Escovedo
- 1994 Thirteen YearsThirteen YearsThirteen Years is an album by Alejandro Escovedo.-Track listing:#"Thirteen Years Theme" – 0:49#"Ballad of the Sun and the Moon" – 4:33#"Try, Try, Try" – 4:35#"Way It Goes" – 4:54#"Losing Your Touch" – 3:56#"Thirteen Years" – 4:03...
- 1994 The End/Losing Your Touch
- 2005 Room of Songs
- 2006 The Boxing MirrorThe Boxing MirrorThe Boxing Mirror is a 2006 album by Alejandro Escovedo released through Back Porch Records.- Track listing :# "Arizona" – 4:51# "Dear Head on the Wall" – 3:40# "Notes On Air" – 414# "Looking For Love" – 4:08# "The Ladder" – 2:55...
- 2008 Real AnimalReal AnimalReal Animal is a studio album by Alejandro Escovedo, released in 2008.-Track listing:#"Always A Friend" – 3:35#"Chelsea Hotel '78" – 3:30#"Sister Lost Soul" – 4:16#"Smoke" – 4:23#"Sensitive Boys" – 4:29...
AmericanaAmericana (music)Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...
With Poi Dog Pondering (Studio)
- 1989 Poi Dog Pondering Texas Hotel RecordsTexas Hotel RecordsTexas Hotel Records was an independent record label based in Santa Monica, California, which released records by singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt, Henry Rollins and the Rollins Band from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s...
/ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company... - 1990 Wishing Like a Mountain and Thinking Like the Sea
- 1992 Volo Volo
- 1995 Pomegranate
- 1999 Natural Thing
- 2003 In Seed Comes Fruit
- 2008 7
With Poi Dog Pondering (Compilations)
- 2001 Sweeping Up the Cutting Room Floor
- 2005 The Best of Poi Dog Pondering (The Austin Years)