Sue Albano at Murphy’s

For reasons not clearly understood, the music industry is dominated by men. There have been important “girl” bands over the years, but most popular music is created, produced, played and performed by men.

The recent Tuesday farmers market that featured Live Band Karaoke, however, proved that in Sonoma the local women own the town. Many delightful and excellent performances were given by the local female vocalists – one being crowd favorite Sue Albano.

Albano sang Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away” backed by the excellent Starling House Band, aka Sonoma Sound Syndicate. But Albano did not just walk up there and nail it, she has been playing around town for several years. Typically she plays the bass guitar and sings, but lately she has been walking out in front of the crowd musically naked, just letting her voice and personality deliver the goods.

Albano, 53, currently fronts the band called Scarlett Letters, named after her granddaughter Scarlett. Scarlett is a loving constant in Sue’s life, and has given her a new level of verve and purpose.