Susan Tedeschi is an impassioned blues belter chronicling the vicissitudes of life in her own words and those of blues legends like Big Mama Thornton, Junior Wells, or Elmore James.
Since her Just Won't Burn CD came out in 1998, the road has been her home. It was only very recently that she established a permanent address. Together with her band, she has traversed the continent many times, playing nearly 900 dates. Along the way, Tedeschi appeared at the 1999 VH-1 Concert of the Century and Farm Aid events as part of an all-star cast. She has continually been in good company, sharing the stage with the likes of Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers Band, John Mellencamp, Ray Charles, Sarah McLaughlin, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, the Dixie Chicks, and many others. Beginning in August, she was a featured member of the B.B. King Blues Festival 2000 tour traveling with King and Buddy Guy throughout the Northwest, the deep South, and the Midwest before the tour wound down October 2.
Tedeschi found her musical path after sitting in regularly at blues clubs throughout the Boston area following her graduation from Berklee in 1991. She assembled her own band in 1993 and began working all over New England. After winning Boston's Battle of the Blues Bands the following year and placing second at a national blues contest in Memphis in 1995, she self-produced her debut album, Better Days. She later signed with Tone Cool Records and released Just Won't Burn to great critical acclaim. Embraced by radio and the music press alike, the disc has lifted Tedeschi's career to new heights and was recently certified gold after selling more than half a million copies.
In addition to getting good press, she has been receiving awards like a Grammy nomination as Best New Artist, seven Boston Music Awards, and three W.C. Handy Awards. She has made her way into other media by appearing on TV shows hosted by David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, and Donnie and Marie Osmond. Tedeschi's music has also turned up in the soundtracks of The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas and Autumn Heat, and has been used in the TV sitcom "Party of Five" and other shows.