The Claudettes

×

Expand

Timothy Hiatt

The band The Claudettes.

The Claudettes

(2023 Isthmus pick) This Chicagoland outfit plays rootsy rock ‘n roll, mixing in various other styles as called for by the muse of pianist-songwriter Johnny Iguana. (Iguana’s skills have also been kept busy in other avenues of late, as a co-writer of the score of the FX hit The Bear.) This year the quartet welcomed a powerful new lead singer, Rachel Williams, and has been introducing new material into their sets, so if you haven’t caught up for a while don’t sleep on this one.

media release:

Grounded in roots music yet pushing the boundaries of indie pop and rock, the Claudettes are writing the most riveting chapter of their story right now. Pianist/songwriter Johnny Iguana formed the Claudettes with drummer Michael Caskey, dazzling with the barrelhouse bravura of their 2013 debut Infernal Piano Plot…HATCHED! Another Yellow Dog Records release followed in 2015 featuring Nigerian-American singer Yana: No Hotel. Vocalist Berit Ulseth joined the band for Pull Closer to Me: Live in the Piano Room (2017) and Dance Scandal at the Gymnasium (2018, helmed by Grammy-winning Black Keys producer Mark Neill).

A new Claudettes era began when the band moved to Forty Below Records and released the acclaimed 2020 album High Times in the Dark (produced Grammy winner Ted Hutt) and 2022’s The Claudettes Go Out!, another collaboration with Hutt, with mixing by renowned producer Kevin Killen (U2, Elvis Costello, David Bowie). Now, the Claudettes introduce Rachel Williams, a six-foot Texan with a mohawk, a big voice and powerful stage presence. New music and videos are coming…

Outside the Claudettes, Johnny Iguana has earned a Blues Music Award nomination and Living Blues Award nomination for piano player of the year. Johnny co-founded indie-rock cult favorites Oh My God, toured as pianist for blues stars Junior Wells and Otis Rush, played piano on three Grammy-nominated albums and played on albums featuring Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Derek Trucks, Gary Clark Jr., Shemekia Copeland, Keb’ Mo’, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and more. Johnny is also co-composer of the score for the hit FX/Hulu series “The Bear.”

“Chicago’s original recipe band…The Claudettes’ sonic playing field is the blues and everything after, all tastefully and artfully blended together….Perhaps the band’s greatest super power: songwriting.”—NPR Music

“A skewed cabaret band of blues, jazz and rockabilly…a sensibility that feels equal parts James Dean and David Lynch.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“Holy Mackerel…I hear so many levels of what I consider amazing creativity…I hear touches of Jerry Lee Lewis at his most manic…of cinema…of multiple genres wrapping around one another…These guys are the B-movies of the music world—maybe not understood now, but in the future, the kings and queens of the universe!”—Frank Gutch Jr., No Depression

“The Claudettes Go Out! shows the band’s mastery of every era of American music, from the roots of the blues to today’s modern pop….the Claudettes pen standards for a new generation.”—J. Poet, Rock & Roll Globe