New Orleans, LA. (Top40 Charts/ KRVS) - New Orleans' Wet Bank Guide (September 2007) called Susan Cowsill's Katrina song, Crescent City Snow, "arguably the best of the lot. It is the anthem we have all been waiting for. To hear it is to want to buy it." It can be purchased on the New Orleans Musicians Relief benefit CD ReDefine.
Alex Rawls at Offbeat Magazine (September 2006) said, "Susan Cowsill's shows have similarly spoken for so many New Orleanians, transforming the post-Katrina experience into art. The loss of her brother Barry in the hurricane fueled a cover of Lucinda Williams' "Drunken Angel" that was so loaded with grief and loss that it was almost unbearable. At Barry's wake, she performed 'Crescent City Snow'-her Katrina song-and the anguish and power in the way she sang, 'I want to go back to the place / where I know who I am' spoke for all of us, articulating why we're back and the pain at the cost of living here."
Cecil Doyle, Music Director, KRVS said, "Self-produced recordings about the storm have poured into the studios of KRVS. None have come close to garnering the overwhelming emotional response of Susan Cowsill's Crescent City Snow. Susan has managed to craft a recording that somehow captures Christmas, bittersweet nostalgia and the weight of memory while still making you smile.... maybe even chuckle a time or two. I've yet to hear a more personal and heartbreaking tune composed in the wake of the catastrophe."
Susan Cowsill was the Winner in Best Roots Rock category at Big Easy Awards on April 24, 2007.
Whether delivering a heart-tugging ballad or belting out a punchy rock tune, critics agree that Susan Cowsill has an exceptional talent for connecting with a song's emotional core. Rolling Stone praised Cowsill's voice as "The hardy, heartbreaking sound of…a bar-band angel…in the prime of her singing and songwriting life." The Washington Post proclaimed "As good as Cowsill's voice is, her smart, emotional songwriting is her biggest asset." All Music Guide raved "Cowsill has stories to tell and she tells them with a skill and vigor that never lets artifice get in the way of cutting to the emotional truth…"
Lyrics for Crescent City Snow:
I feel like a kite without a string
Only my tail to guide me
Just paper and sticks and tattered sheets
Waiting on a friendly wind
Hold all our memories in one hand
So tight that you won't let them go
And in the other hand we pray
That the wind and the panic and the rain
Will all turn to a
Soft and quiet snow
(Courtesy of CoCo Bunny Music, administered by Bug Music)
Performing on Crescent City Snow:
Russ Broussard: drums, percussion, chorus vocals
Chris Knotts: electric guitars
Rob Savoy: bass guitar and chorus vocals
Jonno Frischberg: viola, violin, button accordion
Nicolas Broussard: chorus vocals
Kelly Broussard: chorus vocals
Jeanne Vidrine: chorus vocals
Recorded at Dockside Studios, Maurice, LA
engineered by Steve Reynolds
mixed by Steve, Susan and Russ
Produced by Susan and Russ
EQ and mastering by John Fishbach at Piety Street, New Orleans, LA
