Hallock Hill

Susan Alcorn, “People Get Ready,” Curandera (Fleece, 2006)

Sometimes someone comes along and reinvents how we think of an instrument. Jimi Hendrix for guitar. Glenn Gould for piano. John Bonhams for drums. And Susan Alcorn for the pedal steel guitar, taking it out of the background of country bands and turning into a churchly, organ-infused power. What she does on this album with Olivier Messiaen’s 1937 motet “O Sacrum Convivium” smashes all conceptions of both that piece and the instrument on which it is played. Here, on the Curtis Mayfield Civil Rights-era classic “People Get Ready,” Alcorn twists and turns the melody, adding a microtonal critique on the emotion of its melody. While she has virtuosic abilities, she never sacrifices a performance to them, and her ability to maneuver her instrument into deep psycholigical territory will astonish you.

Alcorn’s recordings, many of which are available on CDR, are difficult to find, but are usually in stock at the Downtown Music Gallery.

Susan Alcorn on MySpace

Susan Alcorn’s official site