With 'Steady Eye Shaky Bow,' Suzanna Choffel aims high

Taken from a line in lead-off track "Archer," the title of Suzanna Choffel's new album "Steady Eye Shaky Bow" sums up her career so far. The Austin native said she's always had a strong vision of what she wanted to do, "but I feel I meander a bit off course at times."

Three years ago, Choffel won $10,000 in a Famecast contest for the song "Hey Mister." A few months after that, her video to "Raincloud" was featured on the home page of YouTube, attracting 430,000 views in three days. But nothing else really happened. She figured prominently in the plot of the 2010 cult documentary "Catfish," but, again, it was just a brief ripple of attention and then back to Momo's. Managed by a big-hearted fan who was new to the music business, Choffel was unable to make the record she heard in her head and couldn't capitalize on her exposure.

"I was too patient," she said. "And not very organized." Or maybe she just wasn't ready.

But with Tuesday's release of the sultry and engaging "Steady Eye Shaky Bow," produced by Danny Reisch (Bright Light Social Hour), Choffel is poised to finally make good on her potential as a national breakout artist. Gifted with a voice both husky and tender, plus a distinctive guitar style that taps and plucks more than strums, Choffel has made the album of her career. But the 31-year-old didn't really have a choice. You can be "up and coming" for only so long.

"This record should've been made two years ago," she said, "but in a way, the timing couldn't be better right now."

She's ready.

For the first time in her career, Choffel has a team behind her: Proven management from Rainmaker Artists (Blue October, Bob Schneider), a national radio promoter and her first-ever publicist.

The support is starting to pay off. KGSR and KUT have been playing "Raincloud," which has been picked up by a smattering of radio stations across the country. On Tuesday, Choffel celebrated the release of the LP with her first in-store at Waterloo Records, and on Saturday, she headlines at One World Theatre, her biggest show to date.

It's all happening because Choffel, Reisch and an all-star cast of local musicians have made a record of shimmering soul and percussive mental massage that demands to be played start to finish. Although "Raincloud" is getting the initial push, there are several airplay-worthy songs on the record, including "Hold of the Night," "Hot Shot," "Racecar" and "Come Clean." The eerie ethereality of "Animal" might be too exotic for radio, but it takes this album to a special place early.

This is a bedroom record and a sitting in the park record and a record to give to newcomers to make them feel like they moved to the right place. (But mostly it's a bedroom record.)

Choffel's previous album "Shudders and Rings" was singer-songwriterly, with an unmistakable Brazilian flavor. "Steady Eye Shaky Bow" is a pop record; think a smokier, folkier Duffy. On such tunes as the Motown-tinged "Inch," Choffel goes back to her teenage chanteuse years, when her covers of Whitney Houston and Cyndi Lauper brought talent-show crowds to their feet.

"I first had the pop star dream when I was about 7," said the middle child of three, with older and younger sisters. Choffel was lucky to be born with a very non-Jan Brady voice that made her stand out. By the time her parents divorced, when she was 12, Choffel knew she wanted to be a singer, but she was leaning toward R&B. "I was very influenced by African American culture and music, so my mother's Joni Mitchell and Emmylou Harris records didn't do anything for me," she said.

But as an Austin High student, Choffel fell under the influence of Patty Griffin, and everything changed. "That ‘Living With Ghosts' record did it," said Choffel. "When I was 17, I went by myself to see Patty Griffin at the Cactus. Just her and a guitar. It opened up all the possibilities for me." Choffel soon found other models for the musician she wanted to be in Ani DiFranco, the DIY princess, and Paul Simon's "Graceland" and "The Rhythm of the Saints" albums. "Zanna Ouise" — her family nickname — also started borrowing her mother's Joni and Emmylou LPs.