Hurray for the Riff Raff Flees From a String of Bank Robberies in "Hawkmoon," Thrilling New Video, Single & Ode To a Life-Changing Trans Woman
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This Friday, February 23rd, Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra, they/them) will release their anticipated and already-acclaimed new album, The Past Is Still Alive, via Nonesuch. Today, they share its latest single and final preview with "Hawkmoon," a rebellious road song and stirring remembrance of the first trans woman Segarra ever met – a poet, punk and fellow traveler named Miss Jonathan. The track arrives with a thrilling heist film of a music video, shot along the desolate highways and dusty deserts of a small New Mexican town called Tucumcari. On the run after a string of bank robberies across the southwest, Alynda Segarra stars alongside writer, actor and musician Denny (FX's Pose, Apple TV+'s City on Fire), and together they queer the timeless cool of American outlaws and iconography. They cruise in a classic car, rip shots from the bottle, duck in and out of diners, roll in cash on a motel bed and bask in the glow of neon signs shining through the night, while channeling inspirations like James Dean and River Phoenix. As "Hawkmoon" reaches its cathartic, rocking climax, the story ends in a poignant piece of spoken word: "Follow me to a place where everyone we love is still alive."
Listen to "Hawkmoon," and watch Alynda Segarra and Denny in the official music video, directed by Jeff Perlman: HERE
"'Hawkmoon' is a song about running away – a trans song, and memories of the first trans woman I ever met. Miss Jonathan was a German rapper, poet and train-riding crusty homeless kid who loved to wear the skimpiest outfits she could get away with and was a surprisingly great shoplifter. We became best friends for a winter, before I learned to play music in New Orleans, and I would ride shotgun in her beat up car and search for abandoned houses to sleep in. Meeting her changed my life and opened doors in my mind about gender, though it would take me many, many years to feel free enough to expand within myself. I have always wanted to honor her, since I have not seen her in decades and wonder if she is even alive. She suffered a lot of violence the last time we saw each other, and I think about her often."
-Alynda Segarra/Hurray for the Riff Raff
"Hawkmoon" follows recent singles "Colossus of Roads," "Snake Plant (The Past Is Still Alive)" and "Alibi," which respectively offered a paean for queerness and outsider culture, formative memories of leaving family and home behind, and a reckoning with addiction and plea to break through to a loved one who might already be gone. Like each of these songs, The Past Is Still Alive is full of profound reflections and personal stories grappling with time, memory, love and loss. The album is both a memoir and a roadmap, built on twin pillars of peril and promise that have forever been foundational to this country. It has been praised as "arresting and artfully autobiographical," as The New York Times said in an expansive new profile written by Lindsay Zoladz. "I get a kind of Springsteen, us-against-the-world feeling," added Conor Oberst, who can be heard on The Past Is Still Alive, in addition to producer Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee) and collaborators such as Anjimile, Meg Duffy, Mike Mogis, Phil Cook, S.G. Goodman and more. "There's this fighting spirit and world weariness to a lot of the songs, but the delivery is so effortlessly, nonchalantly cool."
Read the full piece from The New York Times, where Alynda Segarra discusses losing their father a month before recording the album, riding the rails and busking in hobo bands, using music to experiment more freely with gender identity, honoring queer elders like Eileen Myles, and why right now "is absolutely the right time for me to be alive, and writing songs."
Tonight, Alynda Segarra will accept The People's Voice Award at Folk Alliance International's 2024 International Folk Music Awards – an honor presented to an individual who unabashedly embraces social and political commentary in their creative work and public careers. It will be followed by a conversation between Segarra and NPR Music critic and correspondent Ann Powers. Then, on February 25th, they will begin to perform the music of The Past Is Still Alive on a spring tour of dozens of shows throughout the US, UK and EU. In partnership with PLUS1, $1 per ticket will support This Must Be The Place and their work to distribute Naloxone - the lifesaving medicine that reverses an overdose, and will be available for free at every Hurray for the Riff Raff tour stop. Find the full list of dates below and tickets at hurrayfortheriffraff.com/tour.
Pre-Order The Past Is Still Alive Here
Early Praise For The Past Is Still Alive
"Recalls the confident swagger of Lucinda Williams and breaks your heart in all the right places"
The New York Times
"A remarkable showcase of the musician's vivid songwriting, marked by emotional epiphanies and local details"
The Wall Street Journal
"Alynda Segarra examines our frailty and resilience with an unsparing, yet tender cadence — their music, always evolving, responds to the contour of their words"
NPR Music
"The most directly personal and poignant collection of songs from Alynda Segarra…will stand amongst their finest works"
Rolling Stone
"If you weren't all-in on Segarra being one of our best modern storytellers, then you will be once you tap into 'Alibi'"
Paste
"The Past Is Still Alive is a record that confronts the idea of human obliteration, whether as a species or as individuals. It's an act of fierce witness bearing, part memory box, part salute into a setting sun. Segarra knows what it takes to push up through the concrete and wire of a hostile environment, and they present it with tender but unsentimental empathy"
MOJO, * * * *
Hurray for the Riff Raff Tour Dates
2/25 - New Orleans, LA - Tipitina's*
2/27 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade (Hell Stage)*
2/28 - Durham, NC - Motorco Music Hall*
2/29 - Washington, DC - Atlantis*
3/1 - Philadelphia, PA - Foundry*
3/3 - Woodstock, NY - Levon Helm Studios*
3/5 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg*
3/6 - Boston, MA - Sinclair*
3/7 - Keene, NH - Nova Arts @ Brewbakers*
3/9 - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground*
3/10 - Toronto, ON - Great Hall*
3/12 - Columbus, OH - Skully's*
3/14 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall*
3/15 - Saint Paul, MN - Amsterdam Bar & Hall*
3/22 - Knoxville, TN - Big Ears Festival
3/28 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater^
3/30 - Seattle, WA - Neumos^
4/1 - San Francisco, CA - August Hall^
4/2 - Sacramento, CA - Harlow's^
4/4 - San Diego, CA - Voodoo Room^
4/5 - Los Angeles, CA - Belasco^
4/6 - Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Harriet's^
4/7 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar^
4/9 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge^
4/10 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge^
4/12 - Fort Worth, TX - Tulips^
4/13 - Austin, TX - 3TEN^
4/14 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall^
4/27 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
4/28 - New Orleans, LA - Chickie Wah Wah w/ Dylan LeBlanc
5/10 - Dublin, IE - Button Factory*
5/11 - Manchester, UK - Deaf Institute*
5/12 - Glasgow, UK - Mono*
5/14 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club*
5/15 - Birmingham, UK - Castle & Falcon*
5/16 - Bristol, UK - Strange Brew*
5/17 - London, UK - Electric Brixton*
5/19 - Paris, FR - La Maroquinerie*
5/20 - Brussels, BE - Botanique*
5/21 - Amsterdam, NE - Tolhuistuin*
5/23 - Berlin, DE - Privatclub*
5/25 - Madrid, ES - Tomavistas Festival
5/26 - Figino Serenza, IT - Townes Van Zandt Festival
*w/ NNAMDÏ
^w/ Sen Morimoto
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For more information, contact Matt Hanks, Greg Jakubik or Annie Mickum at
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