Album Notes

Bio info for Susie Flaherty

Finalist in the 2008 New England Songwriting Contest, Susie Flaherty brings a blend of fresh and traditional sounds to her debut CD, “Raggedy Man.” Her collection of heartbreak ballads and blues features 12 tracks plus a long bonus track of the story-song, “Mole in the Ground.” Based on the true history of a family friend, “My Daniel Died at Devil's Den” earned Susie a top spot in the songwriting contest at the Ossipee Valley Bluegrass and Acoustic Music Festival in Cornish Maine in July 2008. Performed unaccompanied, the haunting Civil War song has earned Susie accolades in the folk music and bluegrass community.
American by birth, but internationalist by experience and inclination, Susie has been influenced by geography as well as music: the Chugach Mountain Range, Mt. Aorangi and the Land of the Long White Cloud (New Zealand), Old Silver Beach, the Palouse and the Carroll County farmlands. Her musical roots also travel broad and deep, from playing old 78's of Bing Crosby and Bessie Smith to digital downloads of Carbon Leaf and Gogol Bordello. In between, musical influences include Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Buffalo Springfield, John Hurt, Patsy Cline, Josh White, James Taylor, Tracy Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, all the musical midwives from Common Ground on the Hill at McDaniel College, and many others.