A biography for Susan Tedeschihasn’t been written yet.
“I got a Magic Sam record, 'West Side Soul,' and that just ruined me. His voice, pure power, and then his guitar playing, I mean, he was the first one I heard the reverb.”
“I think I've been a performer since I was about 4.”
“There are a lot of amazing artists out there.”
“Just because you're from up north, it's not like the blues are a regional thing. It's just all about what moves you.”
“We have a big close-knit Italian family that honestly, just keeps growing.”
“When you're making a record you're trying to play for the song. You want people to play it on the radio. They're not going to do that if it's 12 minutes long. That's what's great about having a live record.”
“Musicians and artists, they are going to stand together for community and you are going to bring people in and figure out what you have in common.”
“I just remember certain things really well. I know my schedule, my husband's schedule and my parents' schedule. I also have a lot of songs in my head - a lot of lyrics and a lot of chords.”
“My grandmother used to have horses, so she'd get the sled out, have all us kids ride. We'd play music together. My grandmother would sit at the organ. We'd all sing.”
“We really try to bring a really joyful and happy and uplifting experience through the songs, through the words, through the music.”
“You can just sit in your car or get in the shower and make up a song, sing a whole melody and a lyric and it'll just come out. A lot of those get lost, though. You don't always record them when they happen and then it's hard to remember what you just did.”
“I went to jazz college and didn't know diddly about jazz like Derek did. He knew more about jazz and the country-blues artists, folkie acoustic artists like Robert Johnson and Mississippi John Hurt and Son House. I knew some about that stuff.”
“Me being from Boston, the downtime in December-January, the weather's not great up there.”
“Well, honestly, Derek - to me, there is no other guitar player out there like him.”
“John Leventhal is such a great guitarist and producer. He can't help but produce a song while he's writing it and he's so sweet and down to earth.”
“We'd like a larger audience, but on our terms.”
“The reason we probably started dating is because I knew who Mahalia Jackson was. Derek's like, 'What? You do?' I was like, 'Yes, of course.'”
“Being a woman, you feel like, 'Oh my gosh, everything has to be just right, your kids and this and that.' But there's no way you can control everything.”
“Being a band leader is sort of like being a mom.”
“The biggest problem that I have, careerwise, is finding time to play music and write music when I'm not onstage. Because I'm Mom from 6 or 7 in the morning up until a few minutes before I go onstage sometimes.”