Fair singer Sebetto working on new album for 2016

FREMONT — Sue Sebetto’s musical career in northwestern Ohio has been a series of stops and starts and “what ifs” by her own admission.

The local country and gospel singer has kept a relatively low profile in recent years, Sebetto is now busy with a couple of new projects as she continues her career as a performer and studio artist.

“Music has been a passion as long as I can remember,” Sebetto said, as she talked about her upcoming plans and the influence her grandmothers had on her as a singer and songwriter.

Sebetto, a Clyde resident, was a featured performer at the Sandusky County Fair’s Log Cabin Stage. Her return to the fair every year for the past two decades has allowed her to stay involved in music, Sebetto said, even as she has had to devote more time to family and personal matters and less time on stage.

Now, she is working on a new country album that will feature her solo and on a series of duets with local artists.

Sebetto said she’s in the early stages of selecting music for the album, which will include original music and cover songs, and hopes to have the CD completed by spring 2016.

“I do what I can in the time that I have,” Sebetto said.

Sebetto got her start as a gospel singer. She wrote her first song when she was eight years old, with inspiration from her paternal grandmother that wrote poetry and sent it to her on a regular basis.

She never met her maternal grandmother, who died before she was born. But Sebetto said she was told that grandmother walked around her home and sang gospel hymns.

“I honestly feel like they’re the ones that influenced me spiritually and musically,” Sebetto said.

When she turned 18, Sebetto went to a nearby music store and bought her first guitar as she slowly gained confidence in her singing and songwriting abilities.

She recorded the gospel CD “All Things Are Possible” in 1990 and “I Believe” in 1993, before being asked to perform some country songs at a social event.

As she discovered she enjoyed both musical genres, Sebetto switched back-and-forth between gospel and country as a performer.

She performed with the country group Cumberland Road for nine years, with the group playing all over the region at festivals, fairs and small clubs.

Sebetto attends Compassionate Ministries Church and is a song leader at the church.

At the fair this year, Sebetto performed a three-hour set on Wednesday and stuck around to watch several other performers during the week.

The thrill of performing in front of an audience and getting positive feedback hasn’t faded, she acknowledged.

“It never goes away. Especially when I’m around live music, I want to be back up there,” Sebetto said.

In addition to her CD plans, Sebetto said she is also working with Mike Hall of the local country band Ridin’ Shotgun on putting together a two-piece live act for live performances.

She said she expected to start regular live performances with Hall around the same time she is finished with the new CD.

dacarson@gannett.com

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Twitter:@DanielCarson7.