MUSIC FROM THE BIG HOUSE

Ordinarily I don't enjoy singers who "wail." But the sound coming from Rita Chiarelli, known as "Canada's Queen of the Blues," is fantastic!!! It's as if it comes from the very depths of her powerful, sweet, loving soul!  Genuine love pours forth. In this documentary (Directed by Bruce McDonald) it shows Rita with inmates of Angola Prison (Louisiana State Maximum Security Prison) not just giving a concert, but singing with the men, hugging them, talking to them.  They obviously accept her reality and share her love for Blues, Jazz, Rock, and Country. The history of the transformation of the  prisoners from violent, unruly behavior to the calm, you might even say repentant (with some religious commitment involved, too) is explained and described as the result of the music she brought to them.  What a remarkable woman, with a remarkable God-given gift for communication, soul to soul, heart to heart.