Susan Reed RIP

Susan Reed - RIP. In terms of musical history, Susan Reed is somewhat forgotten except perhaps by those who were there. However, she was important in terms of the fact that she was one of the first of a new generation of folk artists to come out of Greenwich Village with a recording contract, post-Pete Seeger, in the 1950's. She was an early signing of the then tiny, and decidedly folky, Elektra Records. She also beat Joanna Newsom to the punch by 50 years or so - she played a zither! Here is an excerpt from her obit:

Within a year, Life magazine was proclaiming: “The pet of Manhattan nightclubbers is a chubby, freckle-faced redhead of 18 named Susie Reed. Three times a night, Cafe Society Uptown’s choosy customers sit enraptured while Susie sings old Irish, English and Appalachian ballads and accompanies herself on the zither or the Irish harp.”

And two years later, Alan Lomax, a renowned authority on American folk music, was hailing her as a leading voice in a rebirth of the genre. “One of the most heartening things about America in 1947 is the spring freshet of enthusiasm for native balladry and folklore that is running through the country from coast to coast,” Mr. Lomax wrote in The New York Times. “Big, dulcet-voiced Burl Ives from Indiana, Josh White with his South Carolina blues, Woody Guthrie with his Okie songs, Susan Reed with her Southern lyric songs have become nationally known.”

Barely more than five years later, however, Ms. Reed all but stepped off stage.



I knew her as a neighbor, growing up in Nyack, NY. She ran an antique store there, and was married to an actor named James Karen, perhaps best remembered by New Yorkers as the longtime television spokesman for Pathmark Supermarkets. I never took the opportunity to speak to her at length about her music career, or why she stopped playing the game. Now I wish I had.

For those interested in her music, two titles are currently available from Collectors Choice. They are the first two titles listed here. There is also an album available on iTunes.