The Legendary Claudettes from Chicago with Johnny Iguana

Music Matters with Darrell Craig Harris

Darrell Craig Harris

Music Interviews, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 107 Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2026

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this Music Matters episode host Darrell Craig Harris speaks with The Claudettes prolific bandleader, composer, and producer Johnny Iguana from his home in Chicago. Johnny has toured and recorded with a long list of legends in the blues and rock world including members of The Rolling Stones! The Claudettes: Six albums into their lauded career, the Claudettes (of Chicago) continue to put a fascinating new spin on American roots music. Blues and R&B are laced with punk spirit and film-noir moods to create the band's singular "garage cabaret" sound. The Claudettes have earned worldwide acclaim with their recordings and concerts that are equal parts heart, musicianship and theatrical flair. Force-of-nature vocalist Rachel Williams (who dominates the stage like a glam-rock rebirth of Annie Lennox) and renowned pianist/songwriter Johnny Iguana join the positively heroic rhythm section of Zach Verdoorn (bass, guitar, vocals) and Michael Caskey (drums). Outside the Claudettes, Iguana has toured with Junior Wells and Otis Rush, played on many Grammy-nominated albums and recorded with Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Derek Trucks, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Johnny Winter and more. Johnny is also composer of the score for the Emmy-winning smash FX/Hulu series "The Bear" and has released two solo albums on the eminent Chicago blues/jazz label Delmark Records. website www.TheClaudettes.com www.Instagram.com/the_claudettes About Music Matters with Darrell Craig Harris The Music Matters Podcast is hosted by Darrell Craig Harris, a globally published music journalist, professional musician, and Sports Illustrated photographer. Music Matters is now available on Spotify, iTunes, Podbean, and more. Each week, Darrell interviews renowned artists, musicians, music journalists, and insiders from the music industry. Currently, over 1,000,000 global downloads in 40 countries. Visit us at: www.MusicMattersPodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/musicmattersdh For inquiries, contact: musicmatterspodcastshow@gmail.com Support our mission via PayPal: www.paypal.me/payDarrell voice over intro by Nigel J. Farmer

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Music Matters podcast with Daryl Craig Harris,
0:07.1	talking about all things music with celebrities, artists, music business insiders, and more.
0:23.1	Johnny Iguana from The Claudettes. How are you doing today?
0:23.6	Great.
0:24.7	Awesome.
0:25.6	Yeah, well, great.
0:27.0	It's great that we're able to connect.
0:29.6	We connected through our friend Howard, who's a great publicist friend.
0:33.3	And so the Claudez, it's a really cool band.
0:35.6	You have a lot of history.
0:37.2	You're coming up on your seventh album, which is going to be live for streaming June 5th. The album's called Garage Glamour. I was checking that out. It's great music. I really, I love the vibe. It's a ride that record. Yeah. So you guys are based out of Chicago. Actually, too, I should say the album's coming out on
0:55.1	Provter Records, and there's got to be vinyl and CD coming out later this spring. But you guys
0:59.9	are based in Chicago. Tell me about the band and how you guys got together. You have an amazing
1:03.6	singer, too, with Rachel Williams. Well, the drummer Michael Kasky and I started the group
1:09.2	quite a while ago, really modeled after, there's this great blues compilation.
1:14.6	So when I was a teenager, I was into punk and new wave and stuff,
1:18.6	and I had classical piano lessons,
1:20.6	and earlier on when I was a kid, like all kids, back then,
1:23.6	loved classic rock and pop and stuff.
1:25.6	And then my uncle sent me all this great blues stuff,
1:28.9	and I really got into blues.
1:30.7	And so that's what moved me out to Chicago,
	...

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