Gerry Casey’s Interview with Ghalia Volt

June 28, 2026

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Ghalia Volt

No barriers. No boundaries. That has always been Ghalia Volt’s approach to American roots music.

Born in Belgium and now based in New Orleans, Ghalia Volt is a blues-rock singer, guitarist, drummer, and songwriter whose music refuses to stay in one lane. Her sound reaches across borders, pulling from the flamenco and traditional Spanish music she heard through her grandparents, the punk, garage rock, and psychobilly that shaped her early taste, and the deep blues traditions of artists like Skip James, J.B. Lenoir, and John Lee Hooker.

That wide-open musical vision drives Burn the House Down, Volt’s latest album. Recorded in Nashville with producer and fellow guitarist JD Simo, the record captures 11 songs tracked live in the studio over two days with drummer Chris Powell and bassist Brian Allen. The result is raw, physical, and immediate: amplifiers bleeding into each other, rough edges left intact, and every song powered by feel.

Across Burn the House Down, Ghalia makes room for every part of herself. “Lucifer’s Grip” rides a swaggering John Lee Hooker-style shuffle. “Let Yo’ Hair Down” taps into juke joint groove. “Where Do We Go” leans into Hill Country blues. “Mine” brings late-night rock & roll energy, while flamenco textures nod back to the music of her childhood. Rather than fitting neatly into a genre, the album uses blues as a launchpad for something bigger, louder, and more personal.

“Being true is always what resonates with me,” Ghalia says. “If you make art for yourself, if it feels right, if you feel good doing it, then it will translate.”

Volt has been chasing that truth for years. She began playing guitar at 11 and later cut her teeth as a street busker, learning how to hold an audience with nothing but presence, songs, and nerve. Her recording career includes Have You Seen My Woman (2016), Let the Demons Out (2017), Mississippi Blend (2019), One Woman Band (2021), and Shout Sister Shout! (2023). Mississippi Blend reached No. 3 on the Billboard Top Blues Albums chart, while Shout Sister Shout! reached No. 2.

Her path has also included collaborations and stages that connect her directly to the living pulse of American roots music. She has worked with artists including Cedric Burnside and Cody Dickinson, jammed onstage with Buddy Guy, and performed at major festivals across the U.S. and Europe, including New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Mammoth Bluesapalooza, Telluride Blues, Bilbao Blues Festival, and Blues Peer.

During the Covid shutdown, Ghalia reinvented herself as a true one-woman band, playing drums and guitar while singing lead vocals at the same time. That chapter proved what her music had always suggested: she does not need permission, polish, or a rulebook to create something powerful.

With Burn the House Down, Ghalia Volt steps into a new era. The album brings her multi-instrumentalist fire together with the stomp and swagger of a live studio band. It is not chasing flawlessness. It is chasing truth. As Ghalia puts it, the record is less like a polished jewel and more like a raw diamond.

Ghalia Volt is not simply honoring roots music traditions. She is stretching them, shaking them, and building her own.