Volt’s New Album Shout Sister Shout! (Ruf Records) Produced by David Catching (Queens of the Stone Age) in Joshua Tree, CA
New Orleans-via-Belgium psych rock/garage/blues artist Ghalia Volt has joined the Allman Betts Family Revival tour. Volt’s new album, Shout Sister Shout! was released in October on Ruf Records and debuted at #2 on the Billboard Blues Chart (behind Joe Bonamassa). Volt made a winter pilgrimage to Joshua Tree, CA where producer and Queens of the Stone Age collaborator David Catching welcomed her to Rancho De La Luna, also the site of recordings by Iggy Pop, Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, and PJ Harvey.
Last month, 60 Minutes (CBS) spoke with her and aired footage from her Juke Joint Festival set in Clarksdale, MS.
Link to 60 Minutes’ Twitter post with Ghalia’s segment.
Link to 60 Minutes clip of the full The State of The Blues segment.
When 60 Minutes asked how she got into blues music, she recounts, “I guess from punk and rock and roll music, just digging and digging. That was the real roots of the music I used to listen to until I got caught.” In developing her style, she said, “I was just watching the guys play and learning from that.”
Here’s what we’re reading about the album:
“Volt has whipped up a helluva thang here, a relentless, blistering heat-seeking missile you can’t escape even if you wanted to.”
–Grant Britt, No Depression, October 11, 2023
“Undeniable.”
–Hannah Means-Shannon, Glide Mag, Oct. 26, 2023
“The album of her career.”
–American Blues Scene, Oct. 6, 2023
“She immediately commands your attention… Volt’s best batch of songs yet… Shout Sister Shout has no duds or down moments with every track up-tempo and rocking. A real buzz of a record.”
–Dan Willging, OffBeat Magazine, October 30, 2023
“She does justice here to the mystical lore of the desert… Ghalia Volt is respectful of her roots even as she so stylishly transcends them.”
–Doug Collette, Glide Mag, Oct. 5, 2023
“An artist you should know… amazing.”
–Jam and Toast, Sept. 20, 2023, full Q&A
“Seductive, alluring, enticing.”
–Kristen Rowland, Loud Women, Oct. 1, 2023
(Continues below.)
Ghalia Volt Supporting Allman Betts Family Revival Tour
Nov 29, 2023 – Buffalo, NY — Kleinhans Music Hall
Nov 30, 2023 – Reading, PA — Santander Performing Arts Center
Dec 1, 2023 – Boston, MA — Orpheum Theater
Dec 2, 2023 – New York, NY — Beacon Theatre
Dec 3, 2023 – Huntington, NY — The Paramount
Dec 5, 2023 – Tysons, VA — Capital One Hall
Dec 6, 2023 – Charlottesville, VA — Paramount Theater
Dec 7, 2023 – Macon, GA — Macon City Auditorium
Dec 8, 2023 – Charleston, SC — Galliard Center
Dec 9, 2023 – Gainesville, GA — Boot Barn Hall at Bourbon Brothers
Dec 10, 2023 – Fort Pierce, FL — Sunrise Theatre
Dec 12, 2023 – Sarasota, FL — Van Wezel PAC
Dec 13, 2023 – Jacksonville, FL — Florida Theatre
Dec 14, 2023 – Spartanburg, SC — Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium
Dec 15, 2023 – Nashville, TN — Ryman Auditorium
Dec 16, 2023 – Mobile, AL — Mobile Civic Theater
Dec 17, 2023 – Austin, TX — ACL Live at The Moody Theater
“She’s got an exciting batch of songs with this one… She’s got the riffs/hooks/singalong thing down.”
–Jim Hynes, Making a Scene, October 9, 2023
“Unstoppable performer… impressive credentials… blazing slide guitar and sandy, sassy vocals… Her sound on Shout Sister Shout! has been likened to those of garage-rockers and psych-rockers such as Deap Vally, Mr. Airplane Man, Larkin Poe, Holly Golightly and early music by The Kills.”
–Darryl Sterdan, Tinnitist, Oct. 6, 2023
Volt brought her own vibe and impressive credentials to Joshua Tree—and a batch of great songs that she wrote on her eighteen-state One Woman Band tour, done via Amtrak, for which she carried guitars, amps, and foot-drums herself. She has taped a video session with tastemaker series Jam In the Van. American Songwriter praised her “skill and savvy” and Guitar World agreed, saying that her music comes from a “scrappy background in punk, garage rock and psychobilly.”
“Can’t Afford To Die” pairs its propulsive rockabilly rattle with a sobering lyric about cost-of-living. With its addictive beat and ghostly alt-gospel vocals, centerpiece “Shout Sister Shout!” demands to be heard. “It’s a song encouraging women to speak loud for what they deserve,” says Volt. “Fight back, stare back, scream back! It takes courage, but it’s rewarding, and we need this for future generations.”
“Insomnia” is a trip, its slow-burn psychedelia swirling from the speakers. The seething “Hell Is Not Gonna Deal With You” finds Volt spitting venom onto the mic, while “Po’ Boy John” is a cathouse rave-up.
The sounds of Shout Sister Shout! are bolstered by Lou Reed’s long-serving drummer Danny Frankel, who has also recorded with She & Him, Marianne Faithfull, Joan Jett, Social Distortion, Jim White, and Fiona Apple; Dr. John keys man Ben Alleman; and Catching himself grabbing a guitar on some tracks.
As for Volt, her unstoppable motion is palpable on the North Mississippi-flavored “No Happy Home,” which addresses the rambling, unrooted but rewarding life of a musician, and “Hop On A Ride,” co-written with Eddie 9V. The latter subtly name-checks the US music cities and record labels that have touched her musical journey. “It’s really my story of young adulthood,” she says, “I visited all those cities, dug all those vinyls from those labels – and definitely hopped on a lot of trains.”
It’s a journey that started in Brussels, Belgium, where she began her career as a street performer before moving to the States without a driver’s license, traveling by train, bus, and even hitchhiking at times, ultimately settling in New Orleans some six years ago.
Her adopted hometown music mag OffBeat has raved about her “intriguing… charismatic… rebellious energy,” continuing, “When it came time to let her demons out, she made sure there was nothing left for an exorcism [via] Ghalia’s ability to move from an indie rasp to a keening howl in the space of a single phrase.” They characterized her sound by saying, “Ghalia’s secret weapon may be her love of pure rockabilly… Ghalia may have taught herself the blues, but there’s no reason to believe it’ll pin her down.”
Volt’s One Woman Band album placed in the Billboard Blues Chart top ten; collaborated on record with Cody Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), GRAMMY-winner Boo Mitchell (Bruno Mars, Valerie June, John Mayer), and Cedric Burnside; become a favorite at festivals like Mississippi’s Juke Joint Fest and New Orleans’ French Quarter Fest; and opened shows for Burnside, Dragon Smoke (consisting of Ian Neville, Eric Lindell, Stanton Moore), Buddy Guy, Bobby Rush, and soon, Eric Gales.
Shout Sister Shout! was released via Ruf Records, home to albums by Spin Doctors, Luther Allison, his son Bernard Allison, Samantha Fish, Bette Smith, and Canned Heat.
