Queen Esther – Blackbirding

Queen Esther’s absolute dedication to move into a unique time of American life hits like buckshot

Queen Esther – Blackbirding
Format: CD – Digital
Label: EL Recordings
Release: 2026

“There hasn’t ever been an album quite like Queen Esther’s ‘BLACKBIRDING.’

It’s an emotional study of events at Gettysburg during the Civil War, and how it turned historial times into an era that never really allowed Blacks to get past the ramifications which occurred then.

Queen Esther’s absolute dedication to move into a unique time of American life hits like buckshot. Her voice is suitably strong to what her songs approach, and make the listener believe they are in the time of destruction and pain, and show how the sins of the past have not begun to be healed.

The singer has assembled an outfit that approaches modern music from the lens of the distant past, and the vocals are touched by the era of the 1800s, while not sounding dated at all.

No other singer has found quite a sound that touches Queen Esther’s. Her way of imparting such darkness feels like it’s coming from something that no one else has been able to share.

This is an achievement beyond just history. It also time travels into a place that can make the listener reel into a lost circle of hurt, and not know how they really got there. It will be a performance when played live that feels like it could easily be on Broadway as well as a rock theatre.

There really hasn’t been anything to compare to right now. Instead, it offers thrills which could be coming soon. It’s all there.” – Bill Bentley, Americana Highways

Queen Esther roamed Pennsylvania’s Gettysburg battlefield to create Blackbirding, a reclamation driven Black country soul album that dismantles myths and assumptions about what happened during what is considered by most historians to be the bloodiest, most important engagement of The Civil War – and explores the reasons why, like slavery, this conflict has never really ended.

Website: https://queen-esther.com/

Tracks:
01. Are You Thirsty? (Les Vivandieres Theme Song) (3:09)
02. Can’t No Grave Hold My Body Down (5:04)
03. Hold Steady (2:33)
04. The Devil May Care (But Jesus Knows) (3:23)
05. Hey Virginia! (3:05)
06. I Feel So Alive (4:20)
07. Oh My Stars (The Gettysburg Variation) (4:57)
08. Rebels (2:46)
09. Magic (5:55)
10. Home Free (3:38)
11. When I Get Home (2:09)
12. You’re Gonna Get What’s Coming (3:59)