[2] While at Berklee, they came to the attention of Cameo-Parkway record producer Dave Appell, which inspired both Christie and Hill to begin seriously pursuing music as a career.
[3][2] Although Susan Christie is not credited as a songwriter, several songs were written specifically with her in mind, most notably by John Hill, David Cochrane, and Bill Soden.
Described as having a catchy, quirky sound reminiscent of the 1920s,[5] Christie's breathy vocals are featured with a chorus of kazoo, harmonica, and backup singers.
[8] It was featured in episodes of Captain Kangaroo,[3][9] and later adapted for several television ads, including the debut of Funyuns in 1969 and a 1980 Turtles Chocolate commercial.
[2] Bootlegs and vinyl rips of these songs circulated on the Internet for years before they finally received a rerelease as part of the Columbia Singles album on March 16, 2018.
[2] They carefully selected a mixture of country, folk, and psychedelic songs and created unique, original renditions of each for an album to be released under the title Paint a Lady.
Following the failure to complete Paint A Lady, Christie abandoned her dreams of recording as an independent artist, working instead as a jingle singer and focusing on personal and family life.
Finders Keepers Records described the album as a “psychedelic take on country standards and hand crafted tales of inner-city solitude backed by a break heavy folk funk rhythm section”.
[13] Christie herself summed the album up simply: “I’d always been proud of it - it was a new sound, sort of ‘funky-folk’.”[12] Following the warm reception to Paint A Lady, Andy Votel and his wife, recording artist Jane Weaver, organized a live concert dubbed The Lost Ladies Of Folk which headlined Susan Christie along with artists Bonnie Dobson and Wendy Flower.