Australian songstress Lo Carmen’s voice dances so nimbly with Peter Head’s winsome gruffness, I knew there had to be some kind of emotional connection between the two. I suppose the title should have given it away, but I’ll show my hand here and say that listening to this father-daughter duet is the best thing about The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree.
Peter Head is as deft a storyteller as he is a pianist. He serves as a solid counterweight to Lo Carmen’s near-unearthly whisper of a voice. Between their covers of jazz standards and their original Prohibition-era tales of love and gangsters (see “My Sweet Orchard”), it’s easy to feel like you’re in another time. The Heads clearly approach their music with vim and vigor and it’s a joy to listen to.