Susan Cowsill

It’s a long road from childhood pop stardom to her current status as one of New Orleans’ beloved vocalists. For Susan Cowslll, the journey has had some great scenery and a beautiful soundtrack.

Susan was eight when she joined her brothers’ band, the Cowsills, fresh from their chart success with “The Rain the Park & Other Things.” She fast became a scene-stealer onstage and a key part of the family harmonies. Her big moment in the Cowsiills’ version of “Hair” (“…and spaghetti!”) got her into the record books as the youngest performer ever to sing on a Number One hit. After the Cowsills split, she signed a solo deal with Warner Brothers at age 14. While this only yielded two singles, those notably included the first ever cover of a Sixto Rodriguez song (long before his rediscovery as Sugar Man), and a version of Warren Zevon’s “Mohammad’s Radio” brought to her by her friend Jackson Browne.

Next stop was Tulsa, where she teamed for a few years with power pop master Dwight Twilley; her harmonies are all over Scuba Diversand Jungle, his two biggest albums. Back in Los Angeles, she teamed with longtime friend Vicki Peterson of the Bangles, to write songs and harmonize. They initially hit clubs as the Psycho Sisters but as fate would have it, both wound up joining one of the ultimate Americana cult bands, the Continental Drifters. That band’s history could fill a book (and it has: Sean Kelly’s White Noise & Lightning was published in 2024). Suffice to say that by their early-millennial breakup, many handfuls of fans were ready to declare the Drifters the best unsigned band in America.

Susan joined the rest of the Drifters in moving to New Orleans in 1993, And when the band went separate ways, she took that as a cue to spread her wings as a singer and songwriter. Working with drummer Russ Broussard— her partner and also a former Drifter— she made her solo debut with Just Believe It, which wrapped the sounds of her heart— ‘60s pop, Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter and New Orleans grooves— into something all her own. The deeper and more personal Lighthouse (described by Rolling Stone as “an earthy, often crunchy folk-rock gem”) followed in 2010.

Around this time she also launched her Covered in Vinyl series of live shows, where she, Broussard and many of New Orleans’ finest musicians would play a classic album from start to finish. 

This year finds Susan with a busy calendar— still touring with the Cowsills, a longtime favorite of the Happy Together tour, while still performing solo with eyes on an overdue new album. She’s excited to be making her Big Easy Cruise debut this year.