Larissa Dalle

In the '90s, Larissa Dalle shape-shifted across the St. Louis music scene, first as part of an electronic-rock duo called Collaborateur, then in the dream-pop band Crushed, then as a solo country-torch singer with punk instincts and a sixth sense for the blues. Now as lead singer with rock and garage blues heavies the Wormwood Scrubs, her twangy moan has turned into a stormy wail reminiscent at times of Patti Smith but with an intense beauty that's hers alone. She's a cancer survivor with a voice that evokes neither pity nor mercy, but rather impure and visceral emotions — rage and desire and exhilaration — which is another way of saying she's a true rock & roll singer.