Pedal steel guitar virtuoso, composer, and improviser Susan Alcorn, who played an important role in broadening the horizons of the instrument beyond country, Hawaiian music, and traditional folk music, died in Baltimore, Maryland, on January 31 at the age of 71 due to natural causes.
Born on April 4, 1953, Alcorn was raised in a musical family, surrounded by the music of Beethoven, Brahms, Ella Fitzgerald, and Glenn Miller. One of her earliest musical memories was being taken to a symphony performance during her elementary school years. "That was the highlight of the year as I remember it. I loved hearing all those instruments live in the concert hall," she told Baker Artist.
At eight or nine, she took up the viola and later the cornet and the trumpet. Soundtracking these crucial years were the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Petula Clark, Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers, and rhythm and blues girl groups. Fast-forward to her move to Chicago, and an encounter with Muddy Waters changed the trajectory of her life forever.
“I remember how he played his slide guitar and how there was so much emotion and so much raw power all in the space of one single note, and in a way, that changed my life,” she explained. “I began playing bottle-neck guitar, then Hawaiian guitar, then dobro, then finally the pedal steel guitar. I guess Muddy Waters was my gateway drug.”
Alcorn soon started learning the pedal steel guitar but admitted it was a challenge since there were no teachers where she lived at the time, so she was largely self-taught. Later, when she moved to Houston, Texas, she took a few lessons from legendary jazz pedal steel player Maurice Anderson, who remained her mentor.
It was also in Houston that she learned how to play in a band, diving deep into the country and western swing scene and playing with a wide range of local musicians, which, all in all, helped her continue to hone her craft.
What Alcorn describes as a "musical watershed" happened in 1990, when she spent time – and eventually collaborated – with the composer and philosopher Pauline Oliveros, who introduced her to the Deep Listening approach – an alternative way of engaging with music, “free from preconceptions.”
Another moment that served as a catalyst was the 12 Minutes Max event at an art space in Houston. “I could do anything I wanted as long as it was no longer than… 12 minutes,” wrote Alcorn on her official website.
“I had never played solo before and was scared out of my wits. That night I walked onto the stage, sat at my steel guitar, looked the audience in the eye (that way, I thought, it would be more difficult to retreat into a world of my own), and when the moment felt right, I touched my picks to the strings and began to play, hopefully something that would connect with these people on a deep level as human beings.
“The result was a sense of intimacy with the space and the audience that I had never before experienced as a musician.”
Alcorn followed through with her solo ambitions and exploration of the instrument with her debut full-length album, Uma (2000) – a trajectory she continued with over a dozen albums. She was also an avid collaborator, particularly in improvisation-based works, working with a host of artists, including Eugene Chadbourne (banjoist, guitarist, and music critic), Jandek (the musical project of lo-fi folk singer Sterling Smith), and Mike Cooper (country blues, jazz, and experimental guitarist and singer-songwriter).
In 2017, Alcorn received the Baker Artist Award, and in 2018, the Instant Award in Improvised Music along with saxophonist Joe McPhee. Her final project, the In-Yu EP, came out in 2024, and she was reportedly in the process of recording a trio album with composer Mat Maneri and clarinetist Lori Freedman.
Writing about her lifelong passion, Alcorn eloquently summed it up: “I view the instrument I play, the pedal steel guitar, not as an object to be mastered, but as a partner with which to share with the listener a meaning, depth, and hopefully profound awareness of each fragile moment we’re together.”
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