My dear friend and very talented Singer/Songwriter, Susan Lily, rounded off her Victorian tour with a very relaxed Sunday arvo at The Mantra, the café/studio/bar in Yarraville run by Patsy Toop and David Baird, best known to Country Music Fans as The Long and The Short of It.
Susan, who has been based in Adelaide for a while now, is the girl from Hay in New South Wales and has also spent a lot of time in Victoria over the years. Susan is a natural comedienne, and it comes across as she tells her stories and goofs around with the crowd. Most of her songs are quite serious, but she peppers them with intended and unintended moments of giggles and silliness that are very endearing.
She sang songs off both of her albums, Butterfly and the current release Free Spirited. as well as her EP, Daisy Jane. She also sang some covers, some well known, others that were interesting choices. Susan is of the belief that most songs have country in them when you strip them back. Certainly, the songs that she sang proved that theory.
She was joined on stage by Craig-Lee Smith for my favourite song off her current album, Tough as Geranium. She also sang another one of my favourites, Miss You Much. With the lightness of the afternoon, she didn’t sing some of her heavier songs like Broken, but she mixed the songs well, with a bit of everything.
You always feel that you are sitting in your living room and Susan is just having a giggle with you, singing you her songs and having a conversation. This lazy Sunday afternoon at The Mantra was no exception to that rule. The food, company, humour and music provided a 10 snort and a 10 star afternoon from Susan Lily, entertaining the crowd in her usual make-you-feel-at-home style.
Check out my reviews of Susan’s albums on this and other blogs featured in the side bar over the years. She is a great character and a fine singer/songwriter.
Cowgirlup 