Singer and songwriter Courtney Santana achieves Americana satori on her debut album Living Through It All, which was released in April. Santana recorded Living in Austin, Texas, with producers Jesse Dayton and Kirk Pasich, who provide settings that go from Jimi Hendrix-style blues to post-Bettye LaVette soul, with nods to Nashville-flavored Americana. Santana lives in Austin, where she’s done theater and been a vocalist for neo-funk band Shinyribs. Living is an Americana apotheosis, because Dayton and Pasich’s production suggests a middle ground between Austin and Nashville — Shreveport, La., maybe. The psychedelic soul of “Can You Dig It?” is as effective as Santana’s superb cover of Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings’ “These Eyes,” which almost makes you forget The Guess Who’s original. Meanwhile, the title track comes with a horn arrangement that evokes late-1960s soul. Living peaks with “Hardcore Believer,” written by Mark Winchester and Nashville native and Americana stalwart Laura Cantrell. “Hardcore Believer” encapsulates Santana’s message of self-realization with style, and it definitely evokes Nashville. Maybe Cantrell, whose 2023 album Just Like a Rose: The Anniversary Sessions marked her first release in nearly a decade, could produce Santana next time around — after all, in Americana, songwriting is just as important as the right production style.
6 p.m. at The 5 Spot
1006 Forest Ave.
