Bluestownmusic nl March 202l4 Review (translated to English)
Christine Santelli & Heather Hardy - Live In The Parlour
Format: CD / Label: Rapid Records
Release: 2024
Text: Peter Marinus
After years of making a name for themselves solo in the blues world, Christine Santelli (vocals, guitar) and Heather “Lil' Mama” Hardy (violin, vocals) decided to perform together at the intimate Parlor in Jersey City, NJ.
Christine Santelli has been at it for a long time. Bettye Lavette was a fan of hers and recorded two of her songs. Christine's EP 'Limelight 69' was voted EP of the year by Deep Roots Magazine. She was also nominated for a Grammy and was inducted into the NY Blues Hall Of Fame.
Heather “Lil' Mama” Hardy started out in the punk band the False Prophets before joining the Sam Taylor Band. In 1996 she started her own Lil'Mama Band and was inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall Of Fame in 2000.
So no beginners and that can be heard on this album! Although there are only the two of them, this duo sounds very powerful and close.
Christine's lived-in vocals and her driving acoustic guitar and Heather's wah wah violin ensure that. The wah wah violin makes you forget that there is no electric guitar to be heard. Heather lets her violin howl and scream with fervor like Jerry Goodman in his the Flock period and in other songs she sounds warm and intimate a la Scarlet Rivera (Bob Dylan).
It opens with the driving Poor Me with fabulous violin playing. That violin sounds warm and melancholic in the intimate Lily's Song.
Blue Silhouette has a lazy funky groove. Christine provides bluesy, lived-in vocals and Heather provides razor-sharp violin playing. Heather sounds like Scarlet Rivera in the Dylanesque Good Day For A Hangin', She Wasn't Wrong and the Hurricane-like Evil Is Lurking. The wah wah violin is central to the penetrating and bluesy Lil' Doggie.
In the classic Iko Iko, the audience has every opportunity to sing along at the top of their lungs. The dragging Cadillac Delight is somewhat reminiscent of Fever. After the intimate and bluesy The Tree, Christine and Heather close the album with the powerfully pumping blues of I Rise.
A wonderfully intimate live album by Christine Santelli and Heather Hardy!