The Suzanne Langille Songbook

Singer and lyricist Suzanne Langille began performing with Loren Connors, one of the world’s most singular guitarists, in 1984. The New Haven-based couple began issuing a series of recordings of their music on Loren's St. Joan label, alongside releases from local blues guitarist Robert Crotty. They’ve continued to perform as a duo, as part of the Haunted House quartet, and in collaboration with myriad other artists on various music labels. Langille has described their working dynamic as one based in their shared experimental spirit, and fueled by the emotional freedom that allows them to strip down a song and access its core. Langille wields her voice with such verve, poise, and foreboding that she can transform a single word into a bone-chilling warning or heart-wrenching lament. Connors has played on more than 100 releases across over four decades, honing a distinctive yet ever-evolving approach that has spanned his early takes on Delta bottleneck style, fragile song-based albums with Langille, thematic suites of airs, and the expansive, painterly abstraction that has defined his current style.

Four decades later, Langille and Connors will celebrate the forth-coming release of the Suzanne Langille Songbook (and their respective October birthdays) joined by a cadre of friends and collaborators, including Alan Licht, Angela Jaeger, Alessandra Novaga, Andrew Burnes, Bill Nace, Byron Coley, Daniel Carter, David Daniell, John Kolodij, Jane Hesser, Laura Ortman, Lin Culbertson, Neel Murgai, Ras Moshe Burnett, Tom Carter, Tom Surgal, Gabriel Martinez, Ronnie Yates, and William Hooker. The evening will also include a tribute to guitarist Dean Roberts, who had planned to travel from Lisbon to be part of this event but recently passed away.