Vocalist SUSANNA ROBINSON has always had a feel for jazz standards and "torch songs". She recalls that the song her mother sang to rock her to sleep was the Andrews Sisters' Lay That Pistol Down, Babe. "That was one of my earliest memories," she recalls. "That was my lullaby." Also a former member of the Roanoke-based SUZ AND THE SQUEEZERS, THE JUICE BAND, and THE BOO-WAHS, as well as the folk- blues ensemble BEYOND THERAPY, Robinson identifies her single most important influence as Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks. She feels that Dan's "acceptably laid-back, decadent style" allowed the personalities of the performers to really come through. Robinson maintains that Hicks has written some of the best songs she has ever heard, many of which she has, over the years, made her own. Other musical inspirations include singers MaryAnn Price and Chris O'Connell (now joining forces as the Austin duo "Ethyl and Methyl"), Peggy Lee, Billie Holiday, Patti Cathcart (of Tuck and Patti), as well as all of those "Sister Groups" of the 30's and 40's.

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