Susan Voelz (born Susana Maria Voelz) is an American musician. A

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

-nominated vocalist, violinist, and composer. She is a member of the

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

band,

Poi Dog Pondering Poi Dog Pondering is an American musical group which is noted for its cross-pollination of diverse musical genres, including various forms of acoustic and electronic music. Frank Orrall founded the band in Hawaii in 1984, initially as a solo pr ...

. She has also worked with a long list of famous musicians. She has worked on

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

s for movie and television soundtracks. She has continued with her own solo career, she has released two albums, which have received positive reviews. As a writer, she has published a book with Billboard/

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

in 2007; ''The Musicians Guide to the Road''.

Biography

Voelz was born and raised in

Wauwatosa Wauwatosa (; known informally as Tosa; originally Wau-wau-too-sa or Hart's Mill) is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 48,387 at the 2020 census. Wauwatosa is located immediately west of Milwaukee, and is a pa ...

, Wisconsin, in the United States. As a child, she discovered her grandfather's violin in the attic of the family home, and began to learn to play. Nurtured by family members who each played a variety of instruments, she frequently joined in playing in the family concerts in the living room, now saying in retrospect "We were cheerful and awful." Discovering in secondary school that the violin could be played in rock music and other

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other f ...

s of music opened up new possibilities, and encouraged her to continue practicing her craft. It was during this period that Voelz found a used

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

for $25 and learned to play it, although the violin never ceased to be her primary instrument. After graduating high school, Voelz majored in English and in Music (Violin), graduating from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

. After relocating several times, she found herself living in what had become a college town with a thriving mecca for artists during that time:

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, Texas. She began playing and performing with musicians she met there, including Ronnie Lane, who had relocated to Austin with former bandmate

Ian McLagan Ian Patrick McLagan (; 12 May 1945 – 3 December 2014) was an English keyboardist, best known as a member of the rock bands Small Faces and Faces. He also collaborated with the Rolling Stones and led his own band from the late 1970s. He was i ...

, both of

Small Faces Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The ...

Faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

fame. They performed in a short-term band dubbed the Seven Samurai. During this period, she found opportunities to perform as a backing musician with others on tour, including

John Mellencamp John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his catchy brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumen ...

and

Alejandro Escovedo Alejandro Escovedo (born January 10, 1951) is an American rock musician, songwriter, and singer, who has been recording and touring since the late 1970s. His primary instrument is the guitar. He has played in various rock genres, including punk ...

. Voelz was offered work by the Hawaiian band

, who had relocated to Austin and were searching for a fiddler for their planned debut album. The combination clicked, and she has now contributed to 13 albums with the band. Voelz has worked composing music and assembling

s for movies, documentaries and educational tools. She composed the score for the ''

Frontline Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield. Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to: Books and publications * ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant * ''Frontlines ...

'' television series ''The Lost Children of Rockdale County'', which won the

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

, as well as the follow-up ''Merchants of Cool''. She also worked on projects for PBS educational documentaries. Traveling as a

sideman A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform live with a solo artist, or with a group in which they are not a regular band member. The term is usually used to describe musicians that play with jazz or rock artists, whether solo ...

with a variety of musicians, working as a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

in the studios, Voelz has performed with numerous famous performers, and continues to do so.

Discography (selected)

Solo

*1994 ''13 ribs'' , Voodoo/Dixiefrog Records (FRA), Pravda Records (US) *1995 ''Summer Crashing'' *2016 ''Beautiful Life: Songs of Prince Re-imagined'' Octave8Records (US)

With Alejandro Escovedo

*1994 '' Thirteen Years'' *1994 '' The End/Losing Your Touch'' *2005 '' Room of Songs'' *2006 '' The Boxing Mirror'' *2008 '' Real Animal''

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

With Grains of Faith

* 1988 Grains of Faith (cassette)

With Poi Dog Pondering (studio)

*1989 ''Poi Dog Pondering'' Texas Hotel Records/

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

*1990 ''Wishing Like a Mountain and Thinking Like the Sea'' *1992 ''Volo Volo'' *1995 ''Pomegranate'' *1999 ''Natural Thing'' *2003 ''In Seed Comes Fruit'' *2008 ''7''

With Poi Dog Pondering (live)

*1997 ''Liquid White Light'' *2000 ''Soul Sonic Orchestra'' *2012 ''Live at Metro Chicago'' (4 CDs, with 2 DVDs)

With Poi Dog Pondering (compilations)

*2001 ''Sweeping Up the Cutting Room Floor'' *2005 ''The Best of Poi Dog Pondering (The Austin Years)''

Collaborations

*1989 '' Big Daddy'' with

References

External links

Official site

Myspace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Voelz, Susan American women composers 21st-century American composers Indiana University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin Poi Dog Pondering members Columbia Records artists 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American violinists 20th-century American composers 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American violinists 21st-century American singers 20th-century women composers 21st-century women composers