The Blacks

Hometown: Chicago, IL

"While making two albums for Bloodshot Records — Dolly Horrorshow (1998) and Just Like Home (2000) — the quartet created a sound and put on a show like nobody else, a cocktail of hillbilly punk, garage rock, red-light-district blues and cabaret, a dash of glam swagger and sensuality, and killer harmonies."--Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune

"These are the Blacks, and they are one of the finest rock & roll bands you'll hear this year."--Riverfront Times

In 1993, Danny Black found a Hank Williams record left behind in the apartment he had just rented and everything started to make sense. He met Gina Black at a G. Love and the Special Sauce show at Lounge Ax. She promptly abandoned her classical bass training and they formed a rock band. Drummer James Emmenegger, culled from an Eagles cover band (we wish we were kidding about that), was known about town for his wide lapels, a drumming style that looks like he’s having a seizure, and rambunctious head banging at all Devil in a Woodpile shows. Rounding out the line up (for the first record) on rhythm guitar, sweet harmony vocals, and the occasional French maid outfit, was Nora O’Connor (Neko Case, Mavis Staples, Andrew Bird, Jakob Dylan, New Pornographers). The Blacks burned bright for two albums (1998’s Dolly Horrorshow and 2000’s Just Like Home), then flamed out under their own volatility. In 2010, after a 10 year hiatus, the band reunited and returned with a digital-only EP, In Sickness and Health.  Then they broke up again during the encore of the release show.  So goes rock and roll....

Compilation Tracks:

Short film "Chic-A-Go-Go! Salutes Bloodshot Records" featuring the Blacks on the DVD Bloodied But Unbowed: Bloodshot Records' Life In The Trenches

"The New World" on Poor Little Knitter on the Road

"Why Drunky?" on Down to the Promised Land