Hurray for the Riff Raff’s critically-acclaimed album Small Town Heroes has been on repeat at Chez Lefort ever since we became fixated on their song St. Roch Blues in the wake of Isla Vista (or, pick-a-town in our “gun-try”).  Watch below as singer-songwriter Alynda Lee Segarra and band first perform (from last year on KEXP) The Body Electric, Segarra’s rending response to the murder ballad traditions.  In the album’s notes, it is dedicated to the Indian woman gang-raped in 2012, Damini, making a recent link between violence and women, and the murder ballads’ crimes-of-passion themes. (As a footnote the song’s title derives from Damini’s translation–“lightning.”)  Superb.

After, watch HftRR’s full performance a few days ago at KEXP in which they perform Blue Ridge Mountain, Levon’s Dream (Helm of course), End Of The Line and Everybody Knows.  This is a seriously soulful artist on the scene.