Wednesday, May 27

Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas live in the 9th Ward with The Albrights

Tickets: $8 advance, $10 day of show at Ticketweb.com Babeville Box Office (M-F 11a-5p),  or charge by phone 866-777-8932

7pm Doors 8pm Show

Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas have arrived at last with their long awaited Instant Records  debut, SECRET EVIL. The album sees the Detroit-­based band serving up a brilliantly polyglot sonic stew–equal parts rockabilly and surfpop, cabaret jazz and funky reggae, Latin psych and Gypsy punk– all cooked upon the hot Motor City pavement and seasoned by that distinctly Detroit combination of blasted R&B, showband theatrics, and limitless rock ‘n’ soul energy. Songs like “Caught Up” and the syncopated “No Place Left To Hide” showcase Hernandez’s unstoppable vocals and breath of musical ambition, braiding contemporary pop thrills with an original and unmistakable creative persona all her own. Dizzying in its range and ambition, SECRET EVIL is fresh, focused, and surprising, a remarkable debut album from an indescribably compelling new band.

“We get called a lot of different things from a lot of different people,”Hernandez says.“It’s a combination of stuff that’s really fun and dark and makes you feel a whole range of emotions.”

Born and raised in Detroit, Hernandez headed off to Chicago’s Columbia College at 17 but dropped out two years later in order to devote her ample energy to music. She moved to Kansas City, where, despite having only rudimentary skills, she bought and then taught herself guitar and piano.

“I picked it up really easily,” she says.“I found that I knew how things should sound, how to form a chord just by listening to the instrument. Every day I would learn a couple of chords and write another song.”

Hernandez pushed hard, penning a ream of sensitive singer/songwriter-­inspired  tunes and educating herself in the art of lo-fi recording. She eventually returned to Detroit and in 2009, united the five-­man Deltas. Though initially just a provisional arrangement, Hernandez and the powerhouse combo promptly made their bones as a  preternaturally volatile live act, capable of full force raw power, wide-­ranging emotion, and inventive, dramatic stagecraft.

Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas are now primed and raring to bring their ineffably cool Midwestern rock‘n’soul to an over heated venue near you. Having waited  patiently to unleash SECRETEVIL, Hernandez is now fully prepared to call the highway her home,at least for the foreseeable future.

Buffalo’s own The Albrights are opening the show.  With their trademark blend of pop steeped indie rock with an Americana soul, The Albrights are an emotional, hard-rocking, rag-time circus.