Susan Santos: think blues rock boogie with overtones of ZZ Top and vocals reminiscent of early Amy Winehouse

Susan Santos

at Arlington Arts

on Thursday, May 29

Review by BRIAN HARRINGTON

APPEARING as a power trio, Susan Santos is a hugely respected singer, songwriter and guitarist who has shared a stage with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top fame, Billy later describing her as “a guitarist with a special magnetism”.

She has five albums to her credit and a slew of awards, including Best Musician Performance in the 2018 European Blues Awards and Best Female Album in the 2019 LA Critics Awards.

Her affinity with Billy Gibbons is clear from the moment she starts to play, her self-taught guitar licks are fundamentally blues rock boogie with distinct overtones of ZZ Top, but when you combine that with her vocals, which have a resonance reminiscent of early Amy Winehouse, the result is unique and very special indeed.

If you weren’t at Arlington Arts tonight, you missed an exceptional show.

Hopefully she will be back and playing to a larger audience.

Opening with Snakebite and Have Mercy from her new album Sonora, she instantly impressed.

She included a slower, more traditional blues and included some jazz influences, which provided variety, as did her occasionally stepping away from the microphone and singing from the front of the stage direct to the audience and turning her amplifier off in several quiet passages.

She even joined the front row, sitting with them while playing at one point.

This performance was a genuine tour-de-force, by a hugely talented artist.

Susan Santos gave us a single 90-minute set with no interval and with minimal chat – she preferred to get down to business and let her music and her playing do the talking.

She finished with the excellent Let It Ride and, as a well earned encore Hard Times.

I should mention her excellent band (bass and drums) who provided a tight and powerful backing for Susan.

Absolutely brilliant and highly recommended to blues rock lovers everywhere.

Her tour continues, ending in London on June 3.

Catch her if you can.