Kara Suzanne

In connection with our show with The 78 Project, the Reverend John DeLore and I decided to record our four song set and release it as a free EP. So, a few nights ago we invited 20 friends, neighbors, fans, and rabble rousers to John’s apartment. We sailed through a case of beer, 1.5 liters of brown liquor, a liter of vodka, six litres of wine, a pile of meatballs, and managed to get a nice little recording out of the night. We’ve made it available as a free download on bandcamp. Now Go Folk Youself.

The 78 Project invites you to join together on May 20th at City Winery in New York City to share in an evening of music celebrating the artists of the New York series and the beautiful one-of-a-kind acetates they’ve created. It’s an opportunity to experience the momentous feeling of field recording, to hear the songs from the project performed live by they musicians who recorded them, and to take home an original acetate from The 78 Project to benefit the Music Maker Relief Foundation.

The live music revue will include performances from Dawn Landes, Vandaveer, The Reverend John DeLore & Kara Suzanne with more to be announced!

Throughout the night, there will be an opportunity to take home an original one-of-a-kind acetate from The 78 Project New York series via silent auction. These 78 acetates are completely unique, no duplicate copies have been made. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take home a piece of history created by an incredible artist. And all the proceeds from the sale of the acetates will benefit the Music Maker Relief Foundation charity.

Tickets are available through City Winery’s website & their box office: 212.608.0555 x 714

I had such a great time playing with everyone. Thanks to everyone at the 78 Project and the 7 Train Sessions for making it happen! - xoxo Kara Suzanne

“Friday night, December 2, at 9:02pm, forty New Yorkers piled onto a 7 Train bound for Flushing, Queens. Not an unusual occurrence in and of itself, except that these particular New Yorkers had more than commuting in mind. As the subway sped out of Grand Central Station, guitars, drums, banjos, mandolins, accordions, and even a mbira came out and a hootenanny began.

7 musicians and bands each played a cover song in honor of the borough of Queens, and a song of their own, and The 78 Project cameras caught it all.”

- the78project.com

The 78 Project is a documentary and recording journey inspired by Alan Lomax and his quest to capture music where it lived throughout the early 20th century. Their object is to bring the spirit of his work into the present by pairing breakthrough musicians with the songs and recording technology of the past.

The 78 Project asked me and The Reverend John DeLore to take an old folk song of our choosing and recreate our own version of it. We ended up with an American classic murder ballad that tells the sad story of Omie Wise. An early 19th century murder victim who was strangled by her beloved and drowned in a river. Our performance was captured in one take using one mic and recorded straight to a lacquer disc using a 1930’s Presto direct-to-disc recorder. 

While DeLore rewrote the lyrics to fit a murder trial from the mid-90’s, I wrote and arranged the harmonies for a more modern take on a classic tale.