Alynda Lee Segarra is a New Orleans songwriter fans of Shovels & Rope, Alabama Shakes, or any unfettered folk-rock might’ve caught word of. She has a dozen YouTube clips and other cuts earning a place at that table, but something uniquely vital lives in this new LP for ATO Records. Small Town Heroes sees a darkness, both with a nod to genre and odd awareness of present-day leaning on long tradition. In that way and others, Segarra — who performs as Hurray for the Riff Raff — recalls PJ Harvey. Here’s “The Body Electric,” a murder ballad in reverse. “Delia’s gone,” she sings, invoking the Cash-continued traditional, “but I’m settling the score.”
