Courtney Santana

Courtney Santana is playing Waterloo Records & Video on Wednesday, September 23, for an in-store performance and signing of her album Living Through It All. She'll be performing songs from the record, and the signing follows the set.

For a long time, Santana has been one of those voices you've heard without necessarily knowing the name behind them. She spent years as a backup singer, contributing to more than 30 albums and sharing the stage with Hootie and the Blowfish, Robert Randolph, Salt-N-Pepa, and Musiq Soulchild while singing with Jesse Dayton and Kevin Russell's supergroup Shinyribs. It was Dayton who eventually pushed her to step out on her own; he co-produced and co-wrote most of the songs on Living Through It All, and the album draws on her experience of surviving domestic abuse and raising her two children. Her voice pulls from a few different places at once: the emotional power of gospel, the grit of rock and roll, the warmth of soul, and the storytelling of Americana.

That work extends beyond the music, too. She wrote the book Off Kilter: Getting Right After Abuse and founded The Survive2Thrive Foundation, which supports displaced and unhoused victims of domestic abuse. She also launched the app Sanctuary PBC, which connects survivors with safe housing. If you've followed her work in the city, this is the first time you'll see her center stage with her own material.

The performance starts at 5 PM at Waterloo Records & Video, 600 N Lamar Blvd, and admission is free.