The Birds of Florida 01/05/2022
Panthers iguanas and flamingoes meet up with dobros, bongos and marimbas on songwriter Susan Werner’s colorful new EP The Birds Of Florida.
“I wound up riding out the winter of the pandemic in Siesta Key near Sarasota,” Werner says, “And despite my best efforts to relax, I somehow left with an album.”
Produced by drummer Erik Johnson (Huffamoose), the lush arrangements feature Gulf and Western sounds ranging from rumba to reggae to bolero ballads to Bakersfield twang. Werner’s signature sharp lyrics capture the beauty and strangeness of the Sunshine State – from the playful lead track “Florida La La La” to the beach stroll of a love song “I Could Get Used To This” to the heartfelt and poetic “The Birds of Florida.”
“I was not looking for songs in Florida,” Werner says. “I was just trying to get through a really, really long winter, like everybody else. But the tunes started landing, like, well, birds. From a talking Blue Macaw on a man’s shoulder in Key West, to a radio report about cold-stunned iguanas falling from tree branches, to a silver haired Siesta Key neighbor who uncannily resembled an ibis, birds and flying things began appearing everywhere, including in my songs. After a while I stopped chasing them off, and I’m glad I did. Because with these songs, this recording, I might have accidentally made a good case for the Sunshine State.”
