Mrs. Santa is played by award-winning folksinger Susie Coleman who resides in Pegram and teaches at the local music school and performance hall, The Musical Heritage Center of Middle Tennessee, fondly known as the Fiddle & Pick.

Susie is plays guitar and a little clawhammer banjo. A lifelong musician from Tallmadge, Ohio, she performed in clubs for 18 years, moving to Nashville in 1978. She stopped pursuing a stage career in the mid-eighties, perferring a quieter life to being on the road. She’s appeared on a few records, sang on a load of songwriter demos, and has been a student of many styles over the years: rock, pop, 60s folk, traditional folk, country, and more recently bluegrass and old time.

Besides having a strong and versatile voice, Susie still remembers hundreds of songs she picked up through years of performing and now teaches women and girls how to play guitar by ear using these tunes. She utilizes children’s songs, traditional gospel tunes, and folk standards from the 60s and early 70s as well as a few tunes by Taylor Swift, Gillian Welch and other contemporary artists.

In 1996, Susie started competing in singing contests held at regional festivals. She’s done very well, pulling in a dozen first place awards in traditional folk music singing contests, eight from the Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree, one from Uncle Dave Macon Days, and two from the Indiana State Picking and Fiddling Championship. She has served as a judge at the Macon County Hillbilly Days Festival and at the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention at Athens State University.

Susie is spending more and more time developing ways to pass these old songs forward. She’s pulled together a small group of women singers who were looking to learn good material for the rhythm guitar. FOLKSLINGERS is held twice a month at the Fiddle & Pick in Pegram. Susie also helps men and women become better singers by teaching them how to gently but effectively warm up their voices and is developing a workshop for church choirs.

To learn more, visit susiecoleman.com.