PHOTO: PETER DERVIN | On Friday night, Chickie Wah Wah continues its summer-long trend of presenting new and interesting music to open-minded fans who are not hobbled by genre restrictions. The opening act is two guitarists, New Orleans’ own Jimmy Robinson and Lily Kiara, an eclectic Dutch performer, performing solo and as a duo. The headliner, Nikki Hill (pictured) is a singer originally from North Carolina who currently resides in New Orleans.
More specifically, Nikki Hill is a soul singer in a rock ‘n’ roll band and has been touring with an explosive high-energy live show showcasing her raw voice filled with the passion and dynamics of the greatest blues shouters of the past.
She released her self-titled debut in 2012. Her sophomore effort, Here’s Nikki Hill followed in 2013. This past year saw the release of Heavy Hearts, Hard Fists. While her recordings are substantial, it is her memorable live performances that have had clubs calling her “the Southern Fireball,” “the New Soul Sensation,” and “the new Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
Lily Kiara is a Dutch guitarist, singer/songwriter, and dancer. She is on a three-week tour of the United States and is appearing across the south with New Orleans master guitarist Jimmy Robinson who many locals know from his longstanding rock band, Woodenhead, as well as other guitar combos including Twangorama.
Originally trained on organ, Kiara began playing guitar when she was fourteen years old. However, she didn’t become focused on songwriting until 1992 when she first heard Ani DiFranco play at Bennington College as an exchange student.
Kiara also counts Joni Mitchell, PJ Harvey, Suzanna Vega, Rickie Lee Jones, and Laura Marling as influences, but her songs are original to the core. The tunes are folky with melancholic undertones and her lyrics have a poetic stillness.
In 2015, she toured the United States performing in twelve states on trip that took her from New York to New Orleans as part of the International Songwriters Collective. At the end of the tour she continued with a series of solo dates in Texas.
Lily Kiara’s new album on Zip Records is called Fishing in the Field. It is a change in musical direction and features jazz musicians on lap steel guitar, trombone, percussion, trumpet, clarinet, banjo, bouzouki, and voice.
