With Garage Glamour, The Claudettes push their style and sound into sharper focus, the title signaling it without overexplaining. The album moves with a cabaret-blues theatricality, anchored at its edges by two of the most earnest and unguarded performances in the band’s catalog.
Johnny Iguana, the Claudettes’ composer and keyboardist, has played on recordings featuring artists including Derek Trucks, Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, and James Cotton, alongside his own Chicago punk-organ cult band Oh My God. He has also been reaching a wider audience in recent years as co-composer of the original score for the Emmy-winning FX/Hulu series The Bear. JQ, Iguana’s co-creator on that score, joined him to co-produce two tracks on Garage Glamour. Grammy-winning producer Steve Berkowitz (also Iguana’s uncle) traveled from New York to Chicago to co-produce much of the album. A 2025 Delmark Records release by Iguana is also currently nominated for a Blues Music Award.
Garage Glamour marks a pivot point for the Claudettes in the arrival of lead singer Rachel Williams, who first began appearing with the band onstage in 2023 and now steps into the recording studio with them for the first time. Her voice reorients the group’s center of gravity, particularly on the album opener “(You Are My) Whole World,” a duet with Grammy-nominated guitarist and vocalist John Primer.
Rachel’s vocals are clear and gentle, with a tone that carries real presence and still cuts through as the band builds into heavier dynamics. Johnny Iguana, who wrote the song, tells American Blues Scene:
“I envisioned this song as an old-fashioned soul-vocals duet a la Teddy Pendergrass/Stephanie Mills or Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell. For the male lead, I thought of John Primer, who is best known as a blues star and alumnus of the Muddy Waters band but who is also one of the most stirring soul singers alive.
“Primer, a Grammy-nominated singer/guitarist who is now at a career peak at 81 years old, has been touring the world steadily for years and has toured and recorded with me many times, appearing on albums together with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy and more.
“‘(You Are My) Whole World’ is not a blues song, but I could hear John’s voice in my head and insisted he sing the duet with Rachel. What ensued left two wives of Claudettes band members crying when they heard the track, and left me insisting, ‘This is a Grammy-winning song!’
“Please enjoy John and Rachel’s heartfelt performance of this beautiful new love song by the Claudettes.”
RACHEL WILLIAMS: Vocals
JOHNNY IGUANA: Keyboards and vocals
ZACH VERDOORN: Basses, guitars and vocals
MICHAEL CASKEY: Drums and percussion
JOHN PRIMER: Guest vocals and guitar
“(You Are My) Whole World” was recorded at VSOP Studios (Chicago) by Matt Hennessy, mixed at VSOP Studios by Matt Hennessy and produced by the Claudettes and Steve Berkowitz. Mastered by Harry Brotman Musical Services.
