W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

I’ve seen Alynda Segarra AKA Hurray For The Riff Raff more times than I can count. They’ve managed to transform from a queer banjo picking Puerto Rican from The Bronx who after a stint of traversing the country as a vagabond traveler to a well respected indie musician after having found their space in New Orleans. Its certainly been quite the ride.

Last week HFTRR released their latest LP, The Past Is Still Alive and it’s already a front runner for my ears to be a top album for 2024. Alynda is known for their extremely personal songs to begin with but these new tunes take that personal introspection to a whole other level. First of all it’s a lockdown album, second of all it deals a lot with the unexpected recent loss of their father. Lastly it’s an album which reclaim some of their earlier musical roots whit Alynda had moved away from with their more recent albums. The bottom line is, it is an absolute triumph of an album.

Segurra returned to NY last night at MHOW and put on a truly magical show. With a set (not surprisingly) heavy on the new tunes, the show still managed to give off an extreme sense of familiarity.

One particular standout (amongst many) was the set closer, “Ogallala”, a wonderful new song which Alynda transformed on stage into a spine tingling, goose bump inducing anthem that no doubt brought tears to at least a few eyes in the sold out crowd.

Anyways, HFTRR’s tour is just starting out so there’s a good chance they’ll be coing your way real soon. Go Check them out. And in the meantime, go give The Past Is Still Alive a listen.