Ghalia Volt Shout Sister Shout (CD)

(Ruf Records) 12 tracks

Joshua Tree. A place where rock'n'roll legends are born. In this notorious desert landscape in California, the stolen body of Gram Parsons was set on fire. This is where the now-deceased Joshua tree, which is featured on U2's hit album named after him, once grew. And what's more: exactly thirty years ago - Ghalia Volt reminds us - producer and co-founder of Queens Of The Stone Age David Catching founded his legendary Rancho De La Luna recording studio - a magnet for numerous renowned musicians - at this remote location.

"Recording an album at David Catching was a unique experience," says the acclaimed Belgian singer-songwriter of her new work recorded at Rancho De La Luna, Shout Sister Shout! The trip deep into the desert was just another stop for this young globetrotter, who only six years ago left behind the street music scene of her hometown of Brussels for the colorful hustle and bustle of New Orleans. In the music metropolis on the Mississippi, Volt first caused a stir as the energetic frontwoman of local heroes Mama's Boys. Her debut album Let The Demons Out (hailed by Classic Rock as "an irresistible force") and 2019's Mississippi Blend, a collaboration with scene musicians such as Cody Dickinson, Watermelon Slim and Cedric Burnside, recorded in Coldwater, Mississippi, soon followed.

British journalist Henry Yates (NME, Classic Rock, The Guardian) called Volt "a born star"; the album made the Top 3 of the Billboard Blues charts three times. Not even the covid pandemic could stop them. The tireless multi-instrumentalist traveled for weeks by train across the U.S. to write songs for her new "One Woman Band" project. She then played quite a few live shows as a solo artist. "It was like riding waves," Volt reflects. "If there were no gigs in Europe, I'd go on tour in the States. If things got quieter in the Southern states, I focused on the Midwest. The one woman band concept opened a lot of doors for me, I performed at some of the world's biggest festivals with it. But Shout Sister Shout! is what I consider my best work to date."

Some get lost in the desert. Others find themselves. To be sure, Ghalia Volt enjoyed considerable success with her one-woman band. Now she returns with an incomparable band record with which she wants to bring the concert halls of this world to a boil. "Maybe someday I'd like to perform again as a solo artist," she says, "but right now I'm really up for a band. I want to play the new songs live and go wild on stage ..."