Riff Raff enthrall audience at legendary Adelphi
After Hurray for the Riff Raff signed to Loose Music at the beginning of 2011, it was only going to be a matter of time before the American Folk band played their first U.K. tour.
It has been a busy schedule with nine U.K.dates in all and numerous press engagements, interviews and radio air play. It seems Alynda and Huey, fellow New Yorkers, built up quite a rapport when he interviewed the band on his BBC 6Music show. Other press of note is a superb interview by Ruth Barnes for The Other Woman.
So it was that Alynda Lee Segarra and Yosi Perlstein found themselves on De Grey Street outside the New Adelphi Club, the home of live music in Hull.
It would be fair to say it wasn’t the biggest Friday night crowd ever witnessed at the famous club, but the mood all around was one of excitement and anticipation. Alynda took up her guitar and Yosi his fiddle and the pair launched into Slow Walk taken from the eponymous debut album.
Bluesy tones and easy laid-back poetry, invoke scenes of the unhurried pace of life in the Crescent City. Alynda has spoken about the pressure in early childhood, to succeed and be the best. She cites this as one of the contributing factors to her leaving her family home aged seventeen. So this song I think, is about letting things happen, and being free to live in the moment. Other album tracks follow such as the delicately poised Daniella and the single Take Me, resulting in rapturous applause and much whoop and holler.
Alynda’s voice is smoky and glorious, her lyrics heartfelt and genuine. Her songs framed by people and place, reflect the powerful emotions she has already experienced in her young, yet spirited life – not for the faint of heart train-hopping up and down America’s East Coast with a band of hobos – thankfully the twenty three year old has decided to put down roots, to live and play amongst the many talented musicians plying their trade in the bars and clubs of New Orleans.
Then there is Yosi, the quiet one, and his gifted fiddle playing. I read somewhere that with violins it is all about the purity of tone. Yosi’s bow-craft is unassuming yet beautiful, recalling the more somber moments here and now, I feel tears stinging my eyes.
Tonight is not just about the ‘deep and meaningfuls’, no Siree: there’s a sprightly song about cowgirls and cowboys, and more than a touch of bawdy banter in between numbers. Towards the end of the set, banjo in hand, Hurray for the Riff Raff have won many a heart in Hull’s Adelphi.
Alynda introduces Junebug Waltz and invites the crowd to grab a partner and dance. No takers. Well there was one, but she could hardly waltz on her lonesome. Talking about lonesome, on the merch. table stands a framed photo of Hank Williams, a sort of talisman to bring good fortune on the tour. To pay tribute to Hank, Hurray for the Riff Raff conclude the set with an authentic rendition of the country favourite, ‘I’m so lonesome I could cry’. The crowds beg and bay for an encore and the pair treat them to an improv. percussive number on Yosi’s fiddle.
One learned folkie observes, “What a soulful pixie Alynda is, she is the Queen of melancholic Americana” …says it all really. Soon to be appearing in the hit show Treme on Sky, Hurray for the Riff Raff’s musical currency is riding high, and withLondon label Loose Music steering the ship, hopefully it won’t be too long before they tour these shores once more.
Hurray for the Riff Raff’s debut album is out now on Loose Music
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Michelledee's Blog 
Bet they were great!
would it be possible to use your photo of Alynda with banjo for a feature in Penguin Eggs magazine?