Award-winning folk and blues singer/songwriter/guitarist Linda Sussman has released a compelling new single in defense of women’s rights: “A Power You’ll Never Know.” Just a few months earlier, Sussman dropped her fourth full-length album in five years, titled “Shake It Loose Today,” which quickly climbed to #1 on the Roots Music Report’s weekly Top 50 Alternative Folk Album Chart.
Sussman says the new single is a direct response to the US Supreme Court’s overthrow of Roe v Wade, which essentially strips women of their basic rights to decide matters concerning their own bodies.
In “A Power You’ll Never Know,” Sussman’s strong vocals are supported by her unique and powerful folk-blues-style fingerstyle guitar, with two of her loyal studio musicians—Kevin Kelly on bass and Shawn Murray on drums—rounding out the sound. There is an urgency created in both the music and the lyrics, as Sussman delivers the six-verse song nearly straight through, with only a two-line musical interlude between verses, offering just the right amount of pause as the lyrics unfold.
Sussman grabs the listener nearly immediately: “Keep your laws off my body / I’m not your church, I’m not yours to own / What stirs inside me / is a power you’ll never know / There’s a storm movin’ sideways / ‘bout to unravel your throne” and continues to punch with thought-provoking lyrics in nearly every line, such as, “We all know there’s an off-ramp / for the girls on the other side of town / We’ll find our way ‘round the mine fields / as we shout Foul, Foul Foul” and “Now, what I find sinful / is how you pound your chest / A thin veneer of pretense / as if you gave a rat’s ass / And you use your religion / to strong-arm all the rest.”
Sussman says she proudly supports freedom in choice and the separation of church and state, two elements that she notes are critical to any democratic society and which must be vigorously protected.
Sussman’s music can be found on all streaming platforms as well as on her BandCamp page.
