SUSAN CRAIG WINSBERG BEGAN HER MUSICAL STUDIES IN HER HOMETOWN OF CHICAGO AT THE AGE OF FIVE ON THE PIANO. She received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Flute Performance from SJSU and then went on to perform professionally throughout the U.S., Europe and Canada. 

In the 1990’s Susan began composing and delving into other genres of music, including Celtic, New Age, Jazz and Mariachi. She formed the Celtic band Blackwaterside in 1995, and she has played with an all-female Mariachi band called the Mariachi Divas since 2007. Susan has received two Grammy awards and eleven nominations as a member of the Mariachi Divas, one Grammy Nomination with David Arkenstone, and has released five CDs on her own Craig Records label. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she plays principle flute with the San Fernando Valley Symphony Orchestra and continues to perform recitals, recording sessions and concert tours of both Celtic and classical music, as well as recording and releasing her own compostions.  

STRANGE TIMES WAS WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 2020– thus the title. Musicians need to “play out,” as we say; to share the gift of music with the public, live and in person. This is my take on being “all dressed up with nowhere to go,” ready and eager to perform, but being stuck inside to play to my four walls, and gradually feeling slightly crazed as a result. 

Many musicians composed something at this time to express the varied emotions and struggles they were experiencing. I tried to achieve my expression of intense restlessness through various musical constructs.

The intro is a somewhat ominous, almost bluesy ostinato pattern on the piano, doubled with upright bass, played by Larry Steen, and soon joined by the intricate rhythmic workings – almost melodic at times – of Chris Wabich. The flute enters with a simple, elegant melody, harmonized on the second pass, and ending with a turn on an unexpected Picardy third, adding a strange emotional twist.

Susan Craig Winsberg