Blues-inflected folk-rock with insight. Vocals range from intimate to unreined, in striking songs that connect with both the ear and the soul.

Su Livingston is the writer, singer, pianist, and co-producer of The Wild Within, her second CD and first solo project. Her influences are timeless singers and songwriters such as Tom Petty, Carole King, Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Neil Young, and Rickie Lee Jones. Songs originating from piano and vocals are amplified by the veteran LA musicians that join her here (guitar, keyboards, cello, bass, drums), bringing depth and color to create emotionally distinct tracks. Featured Players include:

Drums - Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant, Allison Krauss, Mark Cohn, Ani DeFranco, Rickie Lee Jones, T Bone Burnett), Fritz Lewak (Melissa Etheridge), Jimmy De Julio (Rick Vito)
Bass - Mark Browne (Melissa Etheridge), David Sutton (Tracy Chapman), Jen Condos (Don Henley, Ray LaMontagne, Sam Phillips), David May (David May Project, Fat Barbie)
Guitars - Greg Leisz (Joni Mitchell, Sheryl Crow, KD Lang, Paula Cole, Shawn Colvin), Terence Eliott (Chuck Negron, Jody Watley)
Keyboards - Patrick Warren (Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Fiona Apple, Amy Mann, T Bone Burnett, Joe Henry)
Cello - Richard Dodd (The Section Quartet)
Su co-produced with Paul DuGre (Tracy Chapman, Leo Kotke, Los Lobos, The Section Quartet)

From the playful metaphor of “Ride a Bike,” to the searing blues energy of “Action Packed,” poignant irony of “Imperfect Girl,” and dreamlike presence of “In Your Room,” The Wild Within reveals an artist of bold range grounded in organically crafted, beautifully performed lyrics and music.

Su is a Los Angeles native. Raised on waves, bikes and rock bands, she is once again living in the beach town she grew up in. Su began learning to play piano by ear at 4. She joined a rock band at 11 as a singer and continued with a folk-rock band throughout high school and into college (Van Halen opened for the band, Laytham, at Myron’s Ballroom in LA in 1976). She played various original solo and band stints in other states before returning to LA to focus on songwriting. She reunited with Laytham guitarist David May to write and release their Fat Barbie CD in 1995. Su and David assembled a band and showcased LA clubs—including House of Blues, the Roxy, and the Troubador. They were distributed nationwide by Hear Music and featured on KLOS radio’s Local Licks program and its end-of-year “Best Of” show.

The songs on The Wild Within are grounded in Su’s own experience as an explorer of emotion and wilderness. The listener is drawn in to personal, yet universal themes of identity, relationship, sense of place. Song ideas often strike in limit-testing adventures, upon trail or bicycle, and continue at the piano. From their outset to CD pressing, these songs hiked the John Muir Trail, Canada’s Great Divide, Scotland’s West Highland way, and bicycled 3,000 miles. “Each song on the CD has been wilderness-tested: these are the sounds and lyrics I wanted playing in my own mind in beautiful places as well as when changing lanes, and having gone the distance still wanted to hear again.