Name: Queen Esther
Start: 2024-05-11T20:00:00
Location: Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center

Jeff McLaughlin

Broadstage

Making her BroadStage debut, the “brutal, original, explosive singer” (Vanity Fair) Queen Esther performs selections from her substantial body of alt-country, jazz, and Black Americana to fearlessly subvert all-too-common historical narratives, revealing the powerfully triumphant resolve of Black folk in the 19th century and now. On vocals, guitar, ukulele, she leans heavily on her latest release, “Rona,” a pandemic album that explores themes about love: those we hold close, near, and far, the ever-evolving landscape of a desolate city, and finding a place to call home in a changing and restless world. Queen Esther is joined on stage by guitarist Jeff McLaughlin whose “solos glowed and flashed... an aurora borealis of guitar” (Indianapolis Star).