Susan Cowsill

Caropop

Susan Cowsill was the kid sister of the family band the Cowsills, and she made an indelible impression singing “and spaghetti’d!” on the Cowsills’ 1968 hit version of “Hair.” Jump to the 1990s, and she was singing and, for the first time, writing songs in the indie supergroup the Continental Drifters, which also included her friend Vicki Peterson of the Bangles and Peter Holsapple of the dB’s. With the Drifters having a resurgence with a new book and compilations—and with Susan still performing with the Cowsills and on her own—she takes us on a lively tour of her long, colorful career. Did she want to join the family band at age 7? How close did the Cowsills get to starring on The Partridge Family? How is singing other people's songs "like having an amusement park in your body?" And can we expect new Continental Drifters music?