Suzanne Santo

WCPO Lounge Acts

We all have vices, but few among us neatly package them into a sonic tour of our indiscretions.

But thank the Lord for Suzanne Santo, who's fronted the duo HoneyHoney alongside Benjamin Jaffe for a decade. When her solo debut "Ruby Red" dropped in August, it sent listeners see-sawing through 11 tracks alternatively filled with vice and redemption.

“There’s a lot of sex and booze on this record,” Santo told her hometown's weekly alternative paper, Cleveland Scene. "Just about every song has this common thread of accountability and reconciliation and sifting through parts of ourselves that aren’t savory."

Combining raw soul and honest Americana, Ruby Red marks an edgy change of pace for Santo from the album's very first line: "I want to smoke, I want to drink and screw every time I think about you."

Ruby Red borrows its name from producer Butch Walker's studios in Santa Monica, California, where Santo contributed vocals, guitar and banjo to his tour and latest album. Santo said she'd always been somebody else's bandmate, so she found time on the road with Walker to explore her own identity and forge it into Ruby Red, drawing inspiration from greats like Erykah Badu, David Bowie, Townes Van Zandt and Alabama Shakes.

"This record is so f***ing sexy, I can't deal," Walker said. "Proud to have been in the room when these songs were going down. Put it on and turn out the lights."

Set list:

• Ghost in My Bed
• Handshake
• - interview -
• Better Than That
• Best out of Me

Hosted by Austin Fast

Mixed by Brian Niesz

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