When we're happy with ourselves we're ready to be around other people.

Suzie Ungerleider (a.k.a. Oh Susanna) must therefore be.

That might explain why -- with the singer-songwriter's latest release, a self-titled effort, -- she a.) surrounded herself with some of Ontario's finest musicians including Blue Rodeo's Bazil Donovan, Sadies member Travis Good and former Crash Vegas star Colin Cripps; b.) signed a licensing deal with a major label, Nettwerk Productions, after years as an indie artist; and c.) oh yeah, got married.

"Finding a community in music and in life helped me to feel less determined to be so solitary," says the American-born, Canadian-raised Ungerleider, who performs tonight at Mount Royal College's Liberty Lounge.

It also gave the disc a somewhat less navel-gazing tone than its predecessor, Sleepy Little Sailor, opening things up and making her Americana a little more inviting.

HERALDED DISC

The track Right By Your Side, for example, is a flat-out country rocker complete with a bangin' piano and swingin' horn section.

"I didn't feel as heavy-hearted as I did with the other one," she admits.

"I made this one as a reflection of what I was feeling ... and I didn't want to do the same thing as before because I was used to doing that."

You could have forgiven her if she had returned to what she'd previously done, considering the success she achieved on Sleepy Little Sailor.

That disc was well-received in North America and across the sea, and Ungerleider was heralded as the next Gillian Welch by many.

It also earned her attention from labels, including West Coast Nettwerk, which was familiar with her from the time she spent living in Vancouver, not to mention her appearances on some Lilith Fair dates. "It's cool because my main advocate there was interested in working with me since my EP days (in the late '90s)," she says.

"We both went our separate ways and did our own thing and came back together again.

"I got a chance to make a few records without label support -- some might say interference -- which was great because I learned a lot about the way the music business works and what a label can do for you ...

"Because I'd done these records before and they knew what I was about they weren't going to manipulate it or change it.

"I got to do what I wanted to do."

Well, almost. Until label involvement, the album was originally going to feature Ungerleider straddling a motorbike with the title Bitch on Wheels.

"That's not Nettwerk," she laughs, noting that it was the small English label she works with that nixed the title.

"I don't really blame them because if you've never heard what I do, you'd be like, 'What is that?'

"People might not know it's very tongue-in-cheek so maybe it's good that they didn't go for that."