Susan was raised in rural Iowa but began her professional music career in Philadelphia, after studying classical voice at Temple University. Inspired by a Nanci Griffith concert, Werner left behind her opera training and began performing as a singer-songwriter at coffeehouses throughout the Northeast. She self-released her first album Midwestern Saturday Night in 1992 and then went on to put out Live at Tin Angel the following year. In 1995 came her breakout album, BMG/Private Music's Last of the Good Straight Girls. Werner went on to record two more albums, adding some country and soul sounds to her signature vocal stylings. In 2004 Susan Werner released her album of instant songbook classics I Can't Be New on Koch Records. Since 2005, Werner has released a handful of albums, asserting her command over the form through collections of agnostic gospel hymns, classic American rock and pop songs, and a cycle of tunes inspired by her farming roots (2013's Hayseed).