Blues Belter, Vaudeville Vamp, Rock n Roll Hell Cat, Cabaret Chanteuse, Burlesque Babe, Circus Run Away, Raucous Ring Mistress, Opera Dame… Where did this all begin?
Christa & Ben, two blues enthusiasts, met in the 90s at a musical soiree. Most of the repertoire that evening was classical and the occasional “show tune”. Christa ended the night belting out a couple of Bessie Smith’s rowdier songs that resulted with an uptight neighbour throwing a rock through the window and minutes later police arriving to raid the party thus cementing the night in local folklore.
Christa then went overseas where she sang and performed in New York, London, Edinburgh and Hong Kong. She came back home and sang with Machine Gun Fellatio, Ring Mistressed for Circus Oz, toured her own cabaret shows and recorded and toured jazz and blues songs of the 20s and 30s with her jazz pianist father Dick Hughes.
Meanwhile Ben was the guitarist for The Whitlams, produced and performed with The Stiff Gins, played with Lior and Waiting For Guinness & released his first solo album.
Their paths crossed again, there was no rock throwing this time, and after a few jam sessions on the verandah it was clear that Ben’s low-down-home guitar picking and Christa’s big beautiful voice were the perfect combination for a fine blues partnership.
Together they have written some songs inspired by old school blues that inspired them both to play in the first place and are preparing to record these originals in the near future.