Updated 2026
Blues With the Amplifiers Up
Jill “Chilly” Kurtz formed Caged Heat in Boston in 1997 after nearly four years with the acid-rock band Ashera. Singing while playing guitar and harmonica, she built the new group around the force of electric rock and the phrasing of the blues. The original trio paired Kurtz with bassist Kate Fred and drummer Chris Negrette.
Caged Heat’s debut album, Serious Action, arrived in 1999. Produced by Rob Ignazio and released through Ruff Stuff Records, it introduced a band whose identity depended less on blues revivalism than on using blues as working material: guitar attack, harmonica, rhythm and songs shaped for Boston clubs.
The group continued through lineup changes, with musicians including guitarists Lee Zoumas and Kyle Keenan, bassist Chris Ando, drummers Scott Hansen and Scott Hanson, and Jay Fortin appearing in surviving accounts of the band. Those changes are part of the record rather than a contradiction: Caged Heat remained Kurtz’s vehicle while its ensemble evolved.
One Way preserves Caged Heat through “D.O.S.,” track fifteen on Dig the Boston Underground. The placement matters. Caged Heat sits alongside the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Rick Barton, Last Stand, Natalie Flanagan, Ray Mason, Black Market Medallions, Emily Grogan, John Felice and other artists whose paths made Boston’s underground a network rather than a single sound.
Kurtz’s work also extended beyond Caged Heat. Her later credits include guitar with Triple Thick and additional vocal work, while Caged Heat recordings found another life through independent film. The One Way page does not pretend “D.O.S.” is a standalone Jill Kurtz release. It restores the doorway that already exists and gives the artist behind it a history of her own.
