Behold Anna Rose Playing Studio At Webster Hall, April 16th

Anna’s father is the legendary Alan Menken, who wrote the scores for Beauty And The Beast (yeah, I know), The Little Mermaid, and many other Disney movies, but whose personal music tastes run closer to Little Feat and The Stones. I mention this because 27 year old Anna Rose is a gritty soul blues rocker belter but, listening to her current album, the 2013 Behold A Pale Horse, it is apparent she plays both the bitter battering ram blues belter (“Because Your Mine”) and the singer songwriter with a bit more punch than most (“Drive”). The album zig zags effortlessly between the two, less vertiginous, more parallels.

Here is a quote I took off Anna’s website: “My name is very sugary, but my personality is very spicy. My mom used to call me a little ball of fire. I love hard. I hate hard. I play hard, but if you calm me down, I can be gentle. That’s what this album is. It shows the true essence of who I really am as a person, as an artist.”

The album doesn’t exactly coincide with my tastes, I prefer the more melodic stuff to the rough and tumble blues, but I bet she brings it hard live on stage, and Studio At Webster Hall is a great place to see a band, one of my favorite rooms in the city. Anna is performing there, opening for the Voice finalist Tony Lucca on April 16th, 2015. Get tickets here.