The Sweetback Shout!

Musical Fruit

2011-10-25T01:08:00.003-04:00

My favorite fruit is surely beans,
I eat them with a plate of greens,
I eat them when they're young and green,
I eat them when they're old and mean.

Indolence

2011-08-22T00:50:00.003-04:00

Indolence, thy name is ME!
Waste! and Sloth! and Apathy!

I wake up slow, I sit and pout,
I wonder what it's all about,
I brew a bit of coffee up
I slouch around and drink a cup.

I make a plan to go and work,
But soon find some excuse to shirk,
I Yodel and I pick guitar,
Imagine I'm some singing star.

I sally forth just after noon
Into a gorgeous day in June.
And though I've wasted half of it
I set myself to work a bit.

But soon I find it is the brink
of five, and so I have a drink,
and sit and watch the evening creep
and fade, then shuffle off to sleep.

Sales are Extremely Depressed

2011-08-08T20:50:00.003-04:00

Time rolled along and so did the fries
in a vending cart parked under festival skies
when you left me I felt alright, I guess
but sales were extremely depressed.

Festival romance is bad they all said
better just stick to a quick turn in bed
now I've got a new girl, and we're heading out west
but my sales have stayed deeply depressed.

With your bright little nod, and your cute little wink,
they might come for the fries but you sold them a drink
as a cook-and-clerk team we were simply the best
but you left me, and sales are depressed.

A Tale of two Dickens

2011-08-01T09:59:00.002-04:00

In south West Virginia, and poverty stricken,
two singers were born with the same surname: Dickens.

Little Jimmy lit out and he conquered the south,
a diminutive man with a very big mouth.

Hazel went east, where she worked in the city,
Her songs full of pain, her voice lonesome and gritty.

I'm told they're related; I'm not sure how close,
they might be third cousins, or second at most,

but the difference is sharp twixt our two heroes Dickens,
she observed like a bird while he crowed with the chickens.

You can pick out a favorite, there's no harm in this.
I've got my preference, I won't tell you which.

But I'm thankful for both, and the music they sang,
for Hazel and Jimmy, the yin and the yang.

One Man Band

2011-05-28T23:36:00.001-04:00

My playing's Kenny Baker-based,
although I lack his tone and taste

So maybe more like Bobby Hicks
Except I don't know any licks

I pick guitar like Tony Rice
But I can't do it half as nice

I sing a bit like Bill Monroe
but Bill sang high, and I sing low.

Truly Sick Fiddling

2011-05-15T00:23:00.002-04:00

As best I can tell, the guy on the left who dances is Monte Gaylord, and on the right is Dale Morris. This is an excellent demonstration of the power of dancing. Enjoy.

A Paragus

2011-04-28T20:46:00.002-04:00

We saw a sign in front of us
It advertised "a paragus"

I gaped, and said aloud "Good Lord,"
"I'm glad that's all they could afford"

For if they had two paragii
The two might mate and multiply.

Guitar Pickin'

2011-03-31T21:46:00.001-04:00

My main man, Tyler Grant, shows you how it's done:

Peepers

2011-03-23T04:10:00.002-04:00

As we turned off the blacktop at 3am coming home from California, I opened the window to get some air and heard the first peepers of the year (for me anyhow.)

It's a sound that's so ubiquitous in rural WbgVa (West by god Virginia) during the spring and early summer that I don't think I had ever consciously noticed it until Emily asked me what it was one time.

To really appreciate it fully you should drive around some back roads at 35mph with all the windows down. The Doppler effect of the moving car gives the pitches extra variety and you get that special "the martians are landing" sound.

Here's a video of one of the little buggers:

Bluegrass Champs

2011-02-12T20:48:00.002-05:00

Scotty Stoneman is one of my all-time fiddling heroes. The recording of him playing Live in L.A. with the Kentucky Colonels might be my favorite CD ever. Nine out of ten fiddle albums is basically boring, but I don't think Scotty ever played a boring note in his life. I read Ivan Tribe's biography of the Stoneman Family a few years ago, and learned that one of the reasons why they played as if their lives depended on it was because at times it basically did.
Anyway, here he is with the Bluegrass Champs, including his sister Donna, who steals the show, on mandolin and tenor vocals.

Jerry Reed

2011-02-03T12:03:00.003-05:00

If you draw a straight line from Roger Miller to the Nappy Roots, and another one from Ray Charles to Brad Paisley, where those lines cross you will find Jerry Reed. Devilishly handsome, freakishly talented and all too quickly forgotten. Until recently I (like most people) mainly remembered Jerry Reed for "East Bound and Down" and his role in "Smokey and the Bandit." I also knew that he was a great and idiosyncratic guitar player, a fingerpicker in the self-taught tradition of Chet Atkins.

I didn't know he wrote this little ear worm which has been rattling around my head basically since birth.

I didn't know he played lead guitar on Elvis records, or that he acted in "the Waterboy."

Here he is playing and singing the hell out of an old standard.

And here's another classic, performed in the 1970s, when less was less, and more was most definitely more.

Dolly Parton II

2011-01-31T19:32:00.005-05:00

Dolly Parton can kill with a look.
With a chop, or a stab, with an axe or a hook.

Dolly Parton can penetrate steel,
with a laser she keeps in her four-inch-high heels.

Porter Wagoner once made her mad
the worst idea that he'd ever had.

She boxed on his ears til she made his face skinny,
Then stretched out his arms while he bawled and he whinnied

She stepped on his toes and she kicked at his crotch,
and she ratcheted up his whole stature a notch.

Then she stood with her foot on the small of his back
and said "tell me some more of those cold hard facts."

Dolly Parton

2011-01-30T00:05:00.003-05:00

Dolly Parton appeared in my dream
this wasn't nearly as nice as it seems
the one thing I clearly remember she said
was "Boy, I am going to cut off your head."

I know that she's small, and I wouldn't be scared
but god only knows what she keeps in her hair
it could be a knife, it could be a sword
one blow, she could send me to meet with the lord

Dolly is small, but she's hardly a trifle,
you bet on your life she can handle a rifle
when Dolly appears to deliver a threat
you should square your affairs, you should settle your debt.

the Red Hot Poker Dots

2011-01-21T00:40:00.004-05:00

These guys rocked my world last summer at the Albino Skunk Bluegrass Festival. I think they ruffled a few feathers with some of their song lyrics though.
Here they are in their native Australia performing Australian Horseback Bass Yodeling. Apparently it's an important part of their traditional mating ritual.

Willie Dixon

2011-01-10T01:11:00.003-05:00

Willie Dixon gets nervous. I know the feeling.

New Year

2011-01-01T10:44:00.003-05:00

Good Morning, good cheer, and a happy New Year,
I hope you had fun, and you drank too much beer.

I hope you composed a good new resolution,
And fired some crackers or guns... noise pollution.

Now go eat whatever you eat for good luck,
to ensure that the rest of the year doesn't suck.

Found Poem

2011-01-01T01:03:00.002-05:00

FOR SALE: BUTANE LIGHTER Monogrammed "Marion". 269-xxxx

The Prospector, Buckhannon, WVa dec. 23, 2010

---
Yes, it's a ready made country song,
and yes, I already wrote it.

-Jesse

Game Plan

2010-11-08T22:26:00.001-05:00

Fix me up a double shot
Two barrels of espresso, hot
Pour it down my throat at dawn
And drag my ass out on the lawn
Stick a shovel in my hand
I swear I'll till up half the land

Mack the Nerd

2010-10-20T10:37:00.002-04:00

Mack the Nerd was a man of few words,
his wife was a woman of plenty.
Wherever they went he would nod his assent,
and speak two or three words to her twenty.

-Jesse

Elizabeth Cook

2010-10-19T22:21:00.003-04:00

"El Camino" my new favorite song:

we met these folks at the Albino Skunk Bluegrass Festival in SC last weekend, but actually we heard the song on the radio a month or two ago, and just didn't know who did it.
-Jesse

Sam Chatmon

2010-10-12T12:22:00.002-04:00

No commentary needed. As Doc would say, "we turn now to the blues."
-Jesse

Doc Watson

2010-09-16T20:19:00.002-04:00

I can't believe I never saw this before. That's all I have to say. That and "how the @#!& does he do this?"

-Jesse

Americanarama

2010-09-14T14:19:00.002-04:00

We just got back from a great trip to Nashville, where we performed at the Americana Music Association Conference. We were honored to play a set at the World Famous Station Inn. I just found a Youtube video from our set (Thanks, HomerMFishbulb!).

And here are some other fabulous artists we met down in Music City.

Our soul sister, Nora Jane Struthers. She can write 'em and wail 'em:

A bunch of Nashville legends decided to make a band. They call themselves 18 South and they do it right. We'll be playing with them at the Albino Skunk Bluegrass Festival in October:

British-American-Scottish-Canadian bluegrass band, the Coal Porters:

Stalwart of Nashville's Lower Broadway music scene, Paul Burch:

Yeeee haw!

-Emily

Ross's new song!

2010-09-08T14:30:00.003-04:00

I just stumbled across a You Tube video from our show in Chicago last month. It's the first ever video of Ross's new song, The Heart of My Mind. The song is gorgeous, as is Zara's singing.

Enjoy!

-Emily

Frank Wakefield

2010-09-01T21:06:00.003-04:00

Frank Wakefield is at least as crazy as he looks. And he looks pretty crazy. He's also largely responsible for my all-time-favorite bluegrass album "Red Allen with Frank Wakefield and the Kentuckians."

The first (and only) time I met him I spoke to him for 20 minutes, during which time he "backed talkwards" consistently without clarification. Then he handed me his nearly priceless Lloyd Loar mandolin (the one he famously baked in an oven and painted white) and disappeared for half an hour while he got changed for the show.

He has almost 200 videos on his youtube channel. I settled on this one because it happens to be the most recent. Check out some others for more pithy observations like "This microphone sounds more like it does than it did a while ago" and (to the audience) "This was fun, I hope you get invited back."
-Jesse

Some gems we've met this year...

2010-08-30T20:22:00.004-04:00

This has been a whirlwind year for the Sweetback Sisters. We've traveled to west to California, Colorado, Michigan and south to Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. We've eaten in a lot of gas stations, slept on a lot of couches, and met a lot of amazing musicians along the way. Here's a sampling of music from a few of the folks we have encountered so far in 2010. Enjoy!

We met Eddie Stubbs (in Nashville) and David McLaughlin (in West Virginia) of the Johnson Mountain Boys:

We met Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum in California:

We chilled with the Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars at the Green River Festival in Greenfield, MA. And then they proceeded to kick some serious ass on stage:

We spent a lot of time with various members of Lake Street Dive, especially our lovely sister Bridget Kearney:

We didn't actually meet him, but Robert Plant did make a brief appearance at our Music City Roots show in Nashville. Someone told us that she overheard him saying he liked us. But he might have been talking about the biscuits...:

OK. That's just a start. More awesome videos to come.

-Emily

Jesse Polka

2010-08-29T13:01:00.003-04:00

This is totally going into the Sweetback Sisters' repertoire. You have to watch both videos. They really are the same tune!

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

-Emily

New River Train

2010-08-29T12:13:00.002-04:00

After perusing dozens of youtube videos of various individuals performing "New River Train" I pronounce this guy the winner:

Andy Griffith gets an honorable mention:

Tony, Doc, Norman, et al... better luck next time.

Why am I watching hours worth of videos of this song? I'm glad you asked. I spent the week in Eggleston, VA recording an album at JoeBass's house, which is right next to the New River and its associated train. We occasionally had to wait for it to pass by before starting a take. I didn't record this song, but I did record two others that mention the New River Train (aka, the C&O Railway.)

-Jesse

Censorship

2010-08-20T01:58:00.003-04:00

I wrote an awesome poem today,
At least I saw it that-a-way.

My Girlfriend thought it was too rude,
The subject matter base and crude.

It was coarse, I will concede,
Perhaps a bit too much to read,

For persons of a tender age,
So you won't find it on this page,

My private thoughts, however witty,
Concerning the town of Johnson City.

-Jesse

High Plains Drifters

2010-08-14T22:53:00.001-04:00

Colorado's flat and dry, with mountains in the western sky.
Kansas is just flat and hot with no tall features I can spot.
Next we cross into Missouri. After that it all gets blurry.
Iowa? Then Illinois? That whole Midwestern ball of joy.

-Jesse

the Primitive Quartet

2010-07-15T13:53:00.003-04:00

For a moment I thought these guys had traveled back in time 30 years and stolen our arrangement of stormy waters, but it turns out it's a different song.

Great name too. I'm assuming they're Primitive Baptists, but maybe they 're just really old school guys?
-Jesse

Very Exciting News!

2010-07-13T23:24:00.003-04:00

We just spent a couple of days in Philly cutting a single at Turtle Studios. Signature Sounds says they'll press it on 7" vinyl when it's done, (do we have the coolest record label or what?) but you 21st century types can also download it from the internets.

Just give us a few days to finish mixing and mastering, and then a month or so to get it pressed.

Let's see... oh yeah, the songs:
1)Be Back Home Tonight
2)I'll Show You Things You've Never Known

By the way I can't recommend Turtle highly enough, they did a great job, and it also happens to be Ross's main stomping ground, so if you need scorching electric guitar on your record (and trust me, you do) it won't be far away.

-Jesse

Summer Festivals!

2010-07-08T13:08:00.004-04:00

I feel very lucky to have been a part of the summer music festival circuit these past few years. Every one of these festivals feels like part dance party, part family reunion, part resort vacation, and part luxurious concert. One of the best parts is that we get a chance to discover and listen to new bands from around the country. I think the group favorite so far is Los Fabulocos from California. None of the YouTube videos really do them justice. But here's one anyway:

So far this summer we've been to the Noreast'r Festival in Michigan, the Live Oak Festival in California and the Huntington Summer Arts Festival in New York. Up next, the Central PA Festival of the Arts in State College, PA; Grey Fox in Oak Hill, NY and Green River in Greenfield, MA. Does the fun never end?

Here's a picture that our friend Beth took of us backstage at Live Oak:

And one from onstage, too:

I hope we see YOU at one of these festivals soon.

xoxo
Emily

Couplets

2010-06-14T22:32:00.002-04:00

I was born on Skyles Creek,
With one pale white and one rosy cheek.

* * *

Ten toes is just 4 too many,
If I had six that would be plenty.

* * *

In the City of Virginia Beach,
Everybody's hair is bleached.

* * *

Living in a suitcase, eating at the bar,
Picking and a-grinning, riding in the car.

* * *

Crazy people are dating my friend,
not one or two, but a whole slew of them.

* * *

Some of these were meant to be parts of longer rhymes or songs, but I think they're better off on their own.
-Jesse

Feeling Worse (Better?)

2010-06-11T18:58:00.004-04:00

I know it's the same song as the last one, but the video quality's way better.
Thanks Buck!
-Jesse

Regions Bank

2010-05-29T00:27:00.002-04:00

Regions Bank's a bunch of scammers
Two-bit frauds and cheap flim-flammers
Ripped me off at every turn it
Seems they don't hold cash they burn it.

-Jesse

the Red Stick Ramblers

2010-05-17T11:26:00.002-04:00

We were very excited to learn that we're going to be playing with these guys at the Green River Festival, since their two albums pretty much take turns in our cd player these days.

one of my favorites:

-Jesse

Sometimes I Feel Different

2010-05-11T09:04:00.003-04:00

Look at you with your fancy shoes,
Your tailored clothes, and your fresh looking 'do.

Look at me!
I live in a tree!
In a t-shirt that hangs to the top of my knees!

-Jesse

Listen At Your Own Risk

2010-05-02T18:55:00.003-04:00

I heard this on the radio a few days ago, and went and looked it up on Youtube. If you listen to this you will spend the next week walking around bobbing your head and singing "Living on Tulsa Time... Living on Tulsa time... da dad dum de da dum de da da da... Living on Tulsa Time"

You've been warned, my bandmates weren't so fortunate.
-Jesse

Asheville on the Eve of May

2010-05-01T11:03:00.003-04:00

I don't have a dirty mind,
the girls are there, and I ain't blind,
but lusting is a mortal crime,
so I'm not even looking.

The girls today are out in force,
in halter tops and denim shorts,
But most of them have men of course,
And I'm not even looking.

In Asheville on the eve of May,
it seems like summer's here to stay,
and love is in the air today,
I'm sure there'll some takers.

-Jesse

Squirrel Ain't Chicken Too

2010-04-29T10:27:00.005-04:00

Squirrel ain't chicken too,
Squirrel ain't chicken too,
Squirrels are made of protein,
You can put them in shampoo,
You can put them in shampoo.

Pig ain't chicken neither,
Pig ain't chicken neither.
Bacon grease makes good shampoo,
So give your squirrels a breather,
Give your squirrels a breather.

* * *

Title track for the new album perhaps?
-Jesse

P.S. I think I might owe Peter Bitenc for the line "squirrel ain't chicken too"

650 AM WSM

2010-04-22T22:33:00.008-04:00

We were on Music City Roots in February, and they just posted some videos. We made sure we got to stand in front of mic stands that said "650 AM" and I got Eddy Stubbs's autograph afterwards.

Ross played a great solo on this one. Where does he come up with this stuff? check it out.
-Jesse

Culinary Advice

2010-04-21T15:38:00.002-04:00

Ramps are not a condiment, they are the main course,
You just season them with bacon or some other fatty source,
No need to chop them up, like an onion or a leek,
You should eat a great big mess so people shudder when you speak.
-Jesse

Feeling Bad (Good)

2010-01-29T12:25:00.002-05:00

A dear friend of the band just unearthed a fantastic video from Youtube of our show this weekend at the Mauch Chunk Opera House in Jim Thorpe, PA! It's tough to get good footage of a live show, but the acoustics of the opera house rose to the occasion. Finally a video worth writing home about!

Thanks user: mchsjtams

Farewell NY

2010-01-28T12:25:00.005-05:00

With last night came the final performance of our January Living Room Residency. It was great to play regularly at such an NYC club staple. But the quick turnaround does leave you feeling a little like cattle when there's no interaction or relation between the post and previous acts of the night. Ah well, music is music, and the show must go on, and so on.

Overall it was a good experience. The sound guys were always nice enough, and the bar tenders tolerated our rock star antics:

"Can I have three pint glasses of water?"
"Ice?"
"No ice."

Yeah, we're pretty baddass around here.

Doesn't look like we'll be returning to NY for a couple of months. So make sure you get your fill at the show @ Jalopy in Redhook this Sunday!!! We will be sharing the stage with the incredible edible Moxie Block. Words do not describe this woman, but an adorable hand-made website will: WWW.MOXIEBLOCK.COM

See you then Brooklyn...

Zara

It was nice to see you, Pennsylvania!

2010-01-25T21:28:00.007-05:00

Things that happened this week:
1) Zara and Stefan got iPhones, increasing the band's ratio of iPhone-owners-to-people-who-can't-check-their-email-in-the-van from 1:5 to 3:3.
2) We played our second show of our January residency at the Living Room
3) I schooled Peter Bitenc in Scrabble. Boo yeah!
4) We opened for Eilen Jewell at the Sellersville Theater
5) We all tasted quail for the first time. Thank you, Sellersville Theater, for buying us dinner at that lovely restaurant!
6) We played a really fun show at the Mauch Chunk Opera house.
7) I learned about how Jim Thorpe, PA got it's name (it was once Mauch Chunk, PA). I won't retell the story here, but you can check out the Wikipedia article.

Here are some pictures of our adventures...

Stefan reads a book backstage:

For the uninitiated, Stefan is ALWAYS reading a book. He reads during rehearsals, when he's eating, when he's driving (no, just kidding, that would be dangerous. He listens to books on tape when he's driving). It's a compulsion.

Jesse warms up in Jim Thorpe:

I learn how Mauch Chunk became Jim Thorpe:
Performing in the town formerly known as Mauch Chunk, PA (at the lovely Mauch Chunk Opera House):

Thanks to Jerry Hoare for the bottom three pictures at the Mauch Chunk Opera House and to Ross Bellenoit for the artsy iPhone pic of Stefan.

-Emily

Very late Christmas show update

2010-01-25T21:25:00.003-05:00

Here's a super late recap of our Christmas shows in December:

1) So much fun!
2) So much Christmas cheer!
3) One good Jingle Cats reference
4) See you next year!

Here's a video from a pre-show rehearsal in the basement of Jalopy:

Till we meet again, fair readers!

-Emily

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...

2009-12-16T09:20:00.003-05:00

I get a little sad when Christmas music comes on in a store and people around me cringe. It's too bad that we're all bombarded with the cheesiest of cheesy versions of Christmas tunes from October through December. These songs are meant to bring people together to revel in a warm collective holiday spirit, not make them reach for the earplugs. How can we rescue Christmas songs from their Muzaky fate?

I have just the ticket: a Christmas singalong! Or better yet, our First Annual Country Christmas Singalong Spectacular! Together, we can imbue all of our favorite Christmas songs with genuine holiday spirit and garnish them with beautiful harmonies.

In case you can't read the information in the image above, the singalongs will take place on Saturday, December 19th at 7:30 at the Guilford Church (Guilford, VT) and Sunday, December 20th at 8pm at Jalopy (Brooklyn, NY).

See you there!
Emily

Sociology

2009-12-08T22:26:00.002-05:00

I know rednecks who smoke weed at work and grow their hair out long,
I know hippies who hunt deer and bear and sing Merle Haggard songs,
the average Okie from Muskogee wouldn't know whose ass to kick,
Cause it gets harder every day to tell a hippie from a hick.

-Jesse

Long Drive

2009-11-30T00:09:00.002-05:00

Road reflectors shine so bright
on the interstate at night,
they mark a lane to drive your car
but never tell you where you are.
-Jesse

Zara's welcome home song

2009-11-15T21:05:00.000-05:00

Zara herniated two discs in her back a few days before we left on our MONTH-LONG tour in September. It was a terrifying (for all of us) and painful (for Zara) time. The band wrote this song for her on the day she got out of the hospital. Bridget gets all the credit for coming up with the "hernitated....sedated" line. Genius.

As a side note, Zara didn't miss a single show! Now that's dedication, folks...

Emily

A Country Christmas Singalong Spectacular!! Coming to a town near you...

2009-11-08T21:59:00.002-05:00

That is, if you live in New York City or Brattleboro, VT.

That's right, folks. We're laying our normal repertoire aside for a few nights this December to present you with a Country Christmas Singalong of epic proportions. We plan to lead you in rousing renditions of all your favorite Christmas carols (or wacky winter-themed songs) accompanied by telecaster, twin fiddles, Sweetback harmony singing... I'm getting a little overly excited just writing about it! Can you tell that I REALLY like Christmas?

Anyway, to make sure we don't miss any of your favorite songs we're opening this forum up to requests. Write them in the comments section! And even if you live too far away to actually participate in the event this year, feel free to let us know what you think we should include on the set list for the night.

xoxo
Emily

Phillies

2009-11-04T13:05:00.002-05:00

The Phillies give me mental strain,
heartburn, stress and stomach pain.
A six run lead, and they give up four.
I just can't watch this anymore.
-Jesse

Have you seen my chicken, part 1

2009-10-30T14:54:00.004-04:00

Click to enlarge. Many thanks to Linda Erday for the chickens...

Potato Salad

2009-10-25T15:08:00.003-04:00

There was a poster at the Hooker Dunham Theater which depicted a womans head coming through her legs in a very strange manner. Believe it or not it was a family show... but that aside, Jesse was convinced that this was not humanly possible. I assured him that it was in fact possible, and had two words that could prove it...

POTATO SALAD

Jesse's not the only poet in the band...

2009-10-19T13:24:00.005-04:00

Biking in China

Some people in China ride bikes everyday
Over bridges and under the arch
I'm peddling along in what would be May
Except for the fact that it's March

Biking all day makes my leg muscles big
My red T-shirt makes me look bright
I'm glad I came here in the year of the pig
Though people treat every year right.

-Emily (circa 1995)

Written following my 7th grade class trip to China. We biked all over Guangdong Province (near Guangzhou). Note that it wasn't a long haul, since I was living in Hong Kong at the time. You can see its proximity to Guangzhou nicely on the fine map I drew around the same time.

Ah, the things one finds when cleaning out the storage unit...

Camping

2009-10-18T16:49:00.001-04:00

Camping is a strange endeavor,
Always done in nasty weather.
At least that's how it seems to me,
Hunched up beneath this hemlock tree.

Bad Ideas

2009-10-17T01:58:00.002-04:00

A few years ago, a news story was aired
that a kid, near my home, had been bit by a bear.
Two days later we learned that the parents had planned
to photo the bear eating from the kids hand.

-Jesse

They Say Virginia is for Lovers

2009-10-14T22:26:00.002-04:00

A talented person in Virginia made this and it got passed along to us...

Thanks!

-Emily

p.s. One of these days i'm going to learn how to make my video clips and photos from tour into a little movie. Oh, man! The blog won't know what hit it!

Winos

2009-10-10T02:33:00.004-04:00

Well, not exactly, but I'll definitely say the Sweetbacks all had our fair share of the fine wines served at our gig this evening. The spot was called The New Hope Winery located in, you guessed it, New Hope, PA. Thanks to all who came out. It was an awesome show!

After a safe and speedy drive back to Brooklyn, We came home to a nice surprise via GoogleAlerts... NBC NY wants you to go see The Sweetback Sisters! I don't know how our name got in the hands of NBC, but we're sure glad it did. Tomorrow's gonna be a hot show!

"COUNTRY-STYLE: Don’t miss a rare opportunity to catch the Sweetback Sisters live at the Living Room: Zara Bode and Emily Miller layer gorgeous girl-on-girl harmonies over swell honky-tonk melodies – the kind that make Loretta Lynn fans weep – and you just know you’re in for some hot and/or mournful fiddle. Trust us: These guys are brilliant. Saturday, 11PM."

Here's the direct link: CLICK HERE

So we'll see you tomorrow then hmmmm?

The Living Room
154 Ludlow St NY,NY
October 10th @ 11pm
WEBSITE

Sleep Tight!

Oh My Home

2009-10-01T10:55:00.003-04:00

West Virginia may seem sort of down at the mouth,
too poor for the North but too cold for the South.
We don't match the Midwest or conform with the Coast,
but we love where we live a lot better than most.

-Jesse

Vive la Poulet!

2009-09-29T15:03:00.003-04:00

Howdy all...

I'll admit it. I know close to no French, but I did get through that Blog title, so I'll give myself a little pat on the back. I've got France on the mind as we just got notice of our first review over there, all the while I'm sitting in a delicious bakery, Tartine, here in San Francisco. I'm on the otherside of my usual coast, enjoying recovery from the tour/my back injury which I'm not sure if we mentioned here on the blog. I'm sure Emmy will post video soon of her "get well soon" acapella number. VERY impressive.

After a long tour, the downtime is much needed, and it doesn't hurt that the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival is going on here this weekend! AWESOME! Hopefully some year The Sweetbacks Sisters will get to play there, but I wont hold my breath!

So, first things first. Fried Chicken.
New York doesn't know it, but there is some mighty fine chicken to be had in our fine burroughs. I'd like to thank Miss McFadden for sending this New York Magazine article our way. It's entitled EXTRA CRISPY.

Second things second. Fried chicken.
I'm not sure if anyone else told you, but Emily, Jesse, Stefan, and I all experienced a fried chicken beyond belief while in Raleigh, NC. Come 4pm The Berkeley Cafe was not ready for load-in so they suggest we go down the road to the "Mecca" restaraunt. There we were greeted warmly by the 3 team staff: hostess, waitress, and cook (who went out for a cigarette as soon as our order was in (Love it!) I'm a frequent patron of the old-school/mom 'n pop shop/dives so I appreciate these kind of flaws, but boy did we (eventually) get some good grub. Freshly sweet/mixed teas, green beans, beets, macaroni salads, and fried chicken so good it'll make your heart skip a beat (probably not in a good way...) I'll post photos soon. I got some lovely shots here.

I haven't checked it out myself yet, but the entire show at the Berkeley Cafe in Raleigh, NC is now posted at this site The Internet Archive. If you have a show of our you'd like to share put it up there! Here's the direct link as well: http://www.archive.org/details/sweetbacksisters2009-09-23 but I'll tell you right now... try not to get to overwhelmed by the applause. All 10 of our audience members were small but MIGHTY!

Third things third... You guessed it... Fried Chicken.

Okay I'm going to get back to some french buttery goodness, and this cup of coffee.

Enjoy the day where ever you are.

xxxxx
Zara

Ashville

2009-09-23T12:52:00.001-04:00

I find Ashville very nice.
We hit the taqueria twice.
It rained a lot, my feet got wet,
My shoes have not dried out as yet.

-Jesse

Dreaming of Pancakes Past...

2009-09-23T02:08:00.009-04:00

There's a lot of things I like about Virginia. This particular trip I found myself swooning over southern style architecture, the crispness in the air, and the turning leaves. *sigh* But in Charlottesville, VA our dear friends and hosts Jesse Harper and Adam Larrabee brought another style of beauty into our lives. These fine gentlemen brought the The Sweetback crew to a fine establishment called the Blue Moon Diner. Not only do they have fresh 'n tasty ingredients, but they have a way with... powdered sugar.

This particular morning the special was a Christopher Walkin (with Dwight from The Office on the side) These cakes were little pieces of art, and didn't taste too shabby either! But I wont lie, I dont care how fancy you make em, pancakes aren't nearly as amazing without real maple syrup. no way! no how!

Who's hungry???

xxxZarra

Blogging from Greensboro

2009-09-23T01:53:00.006-04:00

We just played at The Garage in Winston-Salem, NC. I love that place!

Here's a picture of a the show courtesy of our friend Linda (who is currently feeding us amazing pesto pasta and Green Flashes!)

And here is a picture of the Green Flashes. The name is no joke!

Thanks, Linda!

Apology

2009-09-21T19:17:00.002-04:00

Gentle readers, I confess,
I've been, of late, inspirationless.
I've had the will and had the time,
To write insipid little rhymes,
But from my pen these have not sprung,
and neither from my keys nor tongue.

So here's what I resolve to do:
Compose each day a line or two,
And post them on this humble site,
At least the good ones that I like.

-Jesse

Passim debut

2009-09-16T09:09:00.003-04:00

As Zara mentioned earlier, we had an awesome time sharing bills with Joy Kills Sorrow last week. They're fabulous! [Check out the video below for audiovisual proof]

The second of those shows was at the legendary Club Passim in Cambridge, where we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Matt Smith, who runs the club, is a top-notch fellow. He ran the evening (and the sound!!) beautifully.

Lots of wonderful people were in the audience, including Jeffrey Remz of Country Standard Time, who wrote a nice review (Thanks!). Here are some excerpts:

"The sextet is a country-based group with bases in those country hotbeds of Brooklyn and western Massachusetts with sweet sweet vocal harmonies courtesy of female lead singers Emily Miller and Zara Bode.

The group released their debut, "Chicken Ain't Chicken," a few months back on western Massachusetts indie label Signature Sounds, and it's a keeper. The singers sound like they've been doing it for a long long time with their voices blending together very nicely. In concert, they started out slowly on a song by the late Clayton McMichen of Skillet Lickers fame. The song started slow, but they picked it right up with a good blending of voices. This was telling of what was to come from these vocalists.

But that was not the sum and total of this band. A real ace in the hole was guitarist Ross Bellenoit. He may be short on stature, but he is ultra-long on skill. Bellenoit ripped off numerous sturdy, steely, meaty guitar leads throughout their too short 50-minute set.

The Sweetback Sisters mixed original with covers such as Bob Wills' Feeling Bad, which closed the evening, to Jimmy Martin's Don't Cry to Me. They took the varied songs and made them sound their own... These guys were keepers."

Ok, without further ado, here are some videos. I hope we see you down the road sometime soon (like in VA, WV, TN, or NC in the next two weeks!).

xoxo Emily

An ode to yodeling

2009-09-15T09:55:00.004-04:00

A little "how to" to start us out...

Our friend Nora Jane rocks it on a song that she wrote:

Sing it, Hank:

Und...das beste Jodler in der Welt:

They do it over in the country of Georgia (and how!):

Finally, the Dezurik Sisters are simply the best harmony yodelers I have ever heard:

Watermelon Wednesday

2009-09-10T00:44:00.003-04:00

Did you know that today was Watermelon Wednesday? Well in the sweet town of Whately, MA on any given Wednesday in the summer time you'll find a lil chapel down a windy road, with some killer music along with, you guessed it, watermelons.

Today was a lovely evening for the Sweetback crew complete we nummy treats, and a warm and welcoming audience. It was the first of two bills we'll be sharing with the killer quintet Joy Kills Sorrow. JKS, as they're called if you're 'in the know, are one of the newest bands of the newgrass movement. Each player is incredible in their own right, but we aren't ashamed to play favorites, so we'd say we like the bass player best.

Check em out sometime. Or even better come to see us co-bill at Club Passim tomorrow in Cambridge, MA.

Deal? Deal.
See you tomorrow.

xxxx
Zara

p.s. Did you know in Japan they have square watermelons? They're entirely natural, just formed in cases while they're still growing to "save space in the fridge." Hmmm I don't trust em.

Undie performs a special show

2009-09-07T17:24:00.004-04:00

Guitar interlude: Ross
Maniacal laughter: Ross and Emmy
Unwitting thespian: Un Deux Trois

Grubbins

2009-09-02T17:28:00.002-04:00

New York City's full of treats;
all the things I love to eat.
Roast-pork buns, and dumpling soup,
spinach pie and falafel, too.

-Jesse

A shout out to some talented songwriters!

2009-08-26T18:12:00.003-04:00

On Chicken Ain't Chicken, we were lucky enough to record several songs from modern-day songwriters who write songs for today, tomorrow and yesterday. They really are a talented bunch. Here's to them:

Mary Lucey-Cardine (who co-wrote "They Say Virginia is for Lovers")

Kristin Andreassen (who co-wrote "They Say Virginia is for Lovers" and wrote "Red Shoes Blues")

Josh Ritter (who wrote "Deputy Blues No.2")

Own own Jesse Milnes and our friend Doug Van Gundy (who co-wrote "You're Gone Again")

[NOTE: Doug gets two videos because not only does he play music, but he was also a contestant on "Who wants to be a millionaire" back in the day]

Thanks to all you talented folks!

-Emily

To Blog or not to Blog

2009-08-25T22:54:00.005-04:00

We live in a computer world. Even country music is riding the digital wave. So the websites have to be snazzy, the pictures crisp, and the songs available via MP3, and the blog must be blogged on. Thems some tough cookies, when you just want to sit around and play guitar. But we're working on it, and in the mean time you can check out the new look of the Sweetback Sister's website. It's a quirky server at times, but it allows us the freedom to change it as we please and we vagabond musicians like those kinds of liberties.

I would also like to take this moment to make a public announcement that we will be "tweeting" ALL of the Sweetback September tour! For those of you not well versed in "twit" this means we're on This dorkiness will be available thanks to Ross' iphone. So follow the SweetbackDish Yum!

Talk to y'all soon. And please tell your friends about our upcoming tour!

Love from the big city,

Zara

Like a phoenix from the ashes...

2009-08-25T17:04:00.001-04:00

...the blog will rise again!

Sorry that we have been remiss in our blogging duties. I can't believe that Jesse hasn't posted a SINGLE poem this month. This will soon be remedied, I hope.

In the meantime, I want to pronounce the commencement of our September tour. Here are the dates:

Sept 4: Brooklyn, NY. Southpaw. 8pm. $10. Opening for Big Sandy (old school rock-n-roll of the highest caliber)

Sept 5: Montpelier, VT. The Lamb Abbey. 8pm. $10

Sept 9: Whately, MA. Watermelon Wednesdays. 7:30pm. $15. With Joy Kills Sorrow--bluegrass instrumentation, modern vibe, stellar singing, killer playing.

Sept 10: Cambridge, MA. Club Passim. 8pm. $12. With Joy Kills Sorrow.

Sept 11: Turner’s Falls, MA. The Rendezvous. 9pm.

Sept 13: Philadelphia, PA. The Tin Angel . 7:30pm. $12 (If you’re planning on coming, please buy your tickets in advance)

Sept 16: Ashland, VA. Ashland Coffee and Tea. $12 advance/$17 door (so get your tickets early!). 8pm.

Sept 19: Knoxville, TN. Barley’s Taproom. 10pm.

Sept 22: Winston-Salem, NC. The Garage. 9pm. With the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank.

Sept 23: Raleigh, NC. The Berkeley Café. 7pm. $8.

Sept 24: Asheville, NC. Jack of the Wood. 9pm. $5

I hope that we see you somewhere down the road.

Lobsters and Bacon

2009-07-30T14:14:00.004-04:00

We're heading to the Pine Tree State right now! (I had to look that up. Who knew that Maine had a lot of pine trees?).

After a rockin' wedding party in northern Maine, we'll be playing in Portland on Sunday (at One Longfellow Square). Then we'll drive back down to the Bay State (Massachusetts, for the uninitiated) for a sweet Cambridge show at Atwood's Tavern. I hear they make a rockin' BLT.

Hope we'll see you at one of those places!

-Emily

Don't Mess With WVa

2009-07-23T21:47:00.002-04:00

Henry Louis "Junior" Gates,
a scholar from my native state,
was held, despite his great renown,
for "breaking into" his own home.

Gates (who's black, we should be struck)
got to his door and found it stuck,
suspicious passers called the cops,
who rushed right there, a crime to stop.

I know that life can be unfair;
injustice in this world's not rare,
but we, as West Virginians, should
all hope that cop gets chewed out good.

-Jesse

Thanks a Lot!

2009-07-15T09:33:00.003-04:00

Chicken Ain't Chicken's for sale at the Ernest Tubb Record Shop! At least the online store. As soon as I get back from this little tour (Green River Festival, ho!) I'm going to search through the stacks at the real shop on Broadway and see if we're in there, too. For some reason, that makes me more excited than seeing us on Amazon or iTunes. I guess it's because I LOVE Ernest Tubb!

If any of you live near Greenfield, MA, check out Green River Festival. It's gonna be awesome!!

-Emily

anthropomorphism

2009-07-13T10:08:00.001-04:00

Oh, window shade above my bed,
Why did you fall and hit my head,
And wake me up at half past two,
What did I ever do to you?

Toby Keith

2009-07-12T11:40:00.002-04:00

I like Toby Keith's music a great deal, but I don't own any of his records. So this morning, when I wanted to play his song "Get My Drink On" for Emily, I went looking on the Youtube. Well apparently Toby never made a video of that one. Luckily these ladies stepped up to the plate.
-jesse

The Unbearable Slowness of Ripening

2009-07-10T14:07:00.004-04:00

I picked tomatoes back in June.
I thought the rest would be ripe soon.
But here I sit in mid-July,
With nothing for my pizza-pie.
-Jesse

The Wilders

2009-07-10T11:49:00.004-04:00

I've thought about putting the Wilders on here a bunch of times but couldn't find a good youtube video of them. Well, that deficiency has been corrected, cause here they are just KILLIN' IT at the Celtic connections festival.
-Jesse

David Mayfield

2009-07-06T18:11:00.002-04:00

I see this guy around town, but I only vaguely knew who he was. This is awesome in too many ways to count.
-Jesse

More Polka

2009-07-02T16:15:00.002-04:00

We haven't had any polka music on the Sweetback Shout in a while. I'll fix that quick.

The accordian player is Jake Zagger, I don't know anybody else's name, but they rock.
-Jesse

Detective Novels

2009-06-30T21:06:00.002-04:00

Paperback novels, full of spies,
Policemen, thugs and lawyer guys,
Lowbrow writing, highbrow crooks,
Don't you love detective books?

-Jesse

Be dazzled!

2009-06-27T20:46:00.003-04:00

Bought a Bedazzler today. First project: rhinestone guitar strap. Now I just need one of those hot-fix applicator guns to really get the rhinestone party going.

-Emily

p.s. I'd love suggestions for exciting bedazzling projects to spruce up our stage attire. Bring on the bedazzling wisdom!

We're on CMT!

2009-06-26T15:40:00.003-04:00

Well... we've made it as far as the CMT blog, anway. Craig Shelburne, the official CMT blogger, put us on his "Summer Playlist of New Independent Music." I'm so honored! The song he liked is "They Say Virginia is for Lovers," by Kristin Andreassen (although he-- and lots of other people-- seem to think it's just called "Virginia"). Kristin is an immensely talented songwriter and we feature TWO of her songs on the album. For those who haven't heard "They Say Virginia is for Lovers" yet, I put a little clip on the sales page of our website. Check it out!

With love from 94-degree Nashville. Stay cool!
-Emily

Don't Try This At Home

2009-06-25T15:33:00.003-04:00

Emily and I are going to see Doyle Lawson at the Ryman tonight. Apparently he has a whole new band these days, which is exciting.
Michael Cleveland is also playing:

-Jesse

UPDATE: Michael Cleveland rocked out, in his inimitably adorable way. Doyle Lawson indeed had a new band and also a fancy new suit.

She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain

2009-06-21T00:24:00.004-04:00

Stefan and I will be performing as, the Hen's Teeth Duo at the Hootenany Art House in Park Slope Brooklyn tomorrow morning. I've done this gig once before, and it's just lovely. The owners are amazing, and have fresh cakes off the griddle, real maple syrup, adorable little children, and mimosas for all the parents. Can't Wait!

Since it's a sing-along event I've decided the morning would not be complete without a rousing rendition of "She'll be Coming Round the Mountain." I needed a refresher on the words, and while looking for the lyrics I stumbled across this youtube gem:

Play That Country Accordion!!!
night night.
-Zara

Juneapalooza!

2009-06-19T20:43:00.025-04:00

First of all, thank you thank you thank you to all the wonderful people who came out to our shows last week. And to all of you who supported our endeavors by buying the CD! Wow! Thanks especially to that guy in Thomas, WV who unwittingly bought the very first copy of the album by tossing some money over the fence at me before the show. If you feel like taking his lead and getting your very own Chicken Ain't Chicken, I can hook you up.

Now I'm going to try to do justice to this whirlwind week without surrendering to my inherent wordiness. Here goes nothing...

Day 1: Purple Fiddle.
Highlights:
--Bridget's birthday! Cake for breakfast, cake for dinner, cake for munchies in between.

--My sleeptalking (apparently I relived the whole show in my sleep and periodically said things like, "Thank you all so much for coming out" and "What a great night!")
--late night pool at the Purple Fiddle hostel with John and other drunk West Virginians. So fun!
Lowlights: Squeaky squeaky bunk beds in the Purple Fiddle hostel.
New best friends: Chris and Ben from Baltimore. Holla! They hit a deer on the way to their camping trip and got stranded at the Purple Fiddle for the night, but claimed that our concert made it all worth it! I think they were just buttering us up for a ride to the auto body shop in Maryland (which we happily provided).

Day 2: M-Room, Philly
Highlights:
--Hezekiah Jones is a really great band. And I don't just say that. They aren't even a COUNTRY band and I love them.
--We got to play with pedal steel for the first time ever! And it was so fun. Thanks, Andy!!
--Ross and Stefan cooked dinner for the band (pasta and poor man's garlic bread), which was totally adorable and lovely. On the other end of the spectrum from Zara's famous roast chicken, but wonderful in its own right.
The sad part: We drove to NYC after the show and, thus, not only had to drive through New Jersey, but had to do it in the middle of the night, which is triply worse. Quadruply worse. See Jesse's post below for a poetic expression of our feelings for I-95 in NJ. Did you know that in a few short miles you can go from heading north on the turnpike to heading south?!? Without ever even changing lanes?!?!

Day 3: Jalopy
Highlights:
--MA-MIE MINCH! MA-MIE MINCH! Mamie Minch!

--Robin drew these beautiful pictures at the show! Check out more art at the ukulelechicken blog!
--the new stickers arrived in time for our show. Metallic gold sunrays on vinyl! My brother Ethan drew the pretty picture.
--Geoff and Lynette just rock. They were setting off on a two week sailing adventure the next morning and still presided over the evening with poise and grace.
--Zara riling up the crowd with frequent air punches in honor of the CD release. Now NO show is complete without air punches. Maybe I'll get Z to make an air-punch tutorial video for the blog, because she really has nice technique.
--Zara's entire extended family. Amazing. And so many good NYC friends in the audience. Thanks so much for coming out!
Lowlights:
--This is going to start to sound repetitive, but we drove to VT after the show, which is now officially my least favorite thing to do. Waa-wah! I guess it could also go in the highlights category, though, because we got to eat lots of Cheetohs and see the sunrise in western MA!

Day 4: Roots on the River
Highlights:
--Sweetest crowd ever! So forgiving of our sleep-deprived goofiness. This lovely sampler video gives you a nice sense of how great everyone was. That dancing couple captured my heart!

--Beautiful festival weather and air filled with general festival giddiness. It just makes a girl feel good!
--Massages by Zoe, compliments of Ray!

--Free beer
--Jenee Halstead (owner of an amazing voice, stellar songwriting skills, and extremely stylish boots), Red Molly (bad-ass 3-part harmony singing and hot guitar picking from NYC), and our new label mate Caroline Herring (awesome singer-songwriter from Hot-lanta).
--this Canadian guy was kind enough to show us his Dodge Sprinter, which he had tricked out with a cooch (that's Canadian for couch) and bunks and book racks and everything.'

-Milly and Molly's birthday dinner chez Amidon (Zara's mom and aunt. They're twins. And their names are... you get it They're just as adorable and wonderful as you might imagine given that information).

Lowlights: None! No, wait. We were all pretty disappointed that we missed Junior Brown the night before. He's a hero of ours (featured in previous blog posts). But we DID get to see the remnants of his git-steel birthday cake from the night before. Now that's art!

Favorite new game: Slack-jaw word association. Try it at home, folks! Believe me, the name tells you all you need to know.

Day 5: Cowboy Festival in Ashfield, MA.
Highlights:
-- Nan's amazing cowboy-inspired food (a LOT better than the schlock they eat in Lonesome Dove)
-- Cowboy cutout for classy photos.

--Pony rides! I didn't actually have time to take one, but I lived vicariously through some of the kids while I ate my delicious dinner of cowboy chili.
--Girl Howdy (killer honky-tonk singing and playing) and all the fabulous dancers who tore up the floor during their set (and, luckily for us, stuck around to tear it up a little more during ours). Actually, the girls of GH themselves did some fine floor-tearing at the end of the evening.
Amazing realizations: "Who has the guitar amp? Do you have the guitar amp? Did it ever make it in the car yesterday?" (Answer: no. But everything worked out in the end. Thanks to Ray and Rose Sinclair!)
New best friend: Nan!

OK! That's it for the shows. I've babbled on for long enough! Thanks again to everyone we saw this week. I hope we run into more of you down the road.

Emily

Wayne Henderson

2009-06-16T12:58:00.002-04:00

The trip home was LOOOOOONG, but since I don't want to spend two consecutive posts whining about driving, and since we spent most of the day in Virginia and since I was trying to explain who Wayne Henderson is the other day, well, here he is:

On the way north last week we stopped at a gas station in VA and they had Wayne's cd's sitting next to George Jones and the usual suspects at the cashier's counter. Cool!

Also, this banjo player is ridiculous. I mean that in a good way, mostly.

And since I'm writing I'll mention that the tour (is it really a tour if it's only five days long?) was awesome, action packed and deserves more thought than I'm willing to give it now.
-Jesse

Turnpike Time

2009-06-12T13:12:00.005-04:00

While driving out of Philly late
We got lost in the Garden State

We turned wrong once, and then again,
By which point it was 2 AM

I wish that from the maps they'd strike
This god-forsaken Jersey Pike.

-Jesse

New York!

2009-06-12T11:40:00.002-04:00

Got in to Brooklyn this morning around 3. So psyched about the Jalopy show tonight. 9pm. Oh, man. Honky-tonk in Red Hook!

I'm gonna eat some good Chinese food today. I love this city.

-Emily

Back in good ol' WV

2009-06-09T15:58:00.004-04:00

Jesse and I are in Elkins preparing for the rest of the gang's arrival tonight. I'm looking forward to a donated chocolate pudding cake (thanks to Jesse's grandparents!) and some nickel-and-dime poker tonight at our beloved cabin retreat on the Cheat River (thanks to Jesse's parents!).

We're here in West Virginia to kick off the Chicken Ain't Chicken release tour. Wow! I'm extremely excited to hold our CD in our hands and admire its very existence. We owe a million-and-a-half thanks to Jim Olsen at Signature Sounds and our esteemed producer Eric Merrill for getting this thing out of our collective Sweetback living room and (hopefully!) into some other living rooms. Actually, I guess I can be pretty confident that it will get played in at least ONE other living room (right, Mom?). You will be able to get a pre-release copy at any of our shows in the next week [Philly on June 11th; Brooklyn on June 12th; Bellows Falls, VT on June 13th; Ashfield, MA on June 14th], at selected websites (The Sweetback Sisters, Signature Sounds) starting on June 16th, and at a record store near you (or anywhere else on the internet) starting on June 30th.

The first show (!) is tomorrow night at the Purple Fiddle. The show starts at 8:30 pm. In case you've never been to the Purple Fiddle, it's a SWEET restaurant/music venue in the crushingly picturesque town of Thomas, WV. Even if you can't make it on Wednesday (though we'd love love love to see you there) you should try to make it out there sometime. It's worth it. You're guaranteed to see a lot of fiddles that are painted purple. They even sell local brew.

Love from the Mountain State (not to be confused with the GREEN Mountain State-- we'll be there on Saturday)

-Emily

Duncan and Brady

2009-06-04T17:50:00.004-04:00

NWA was hardly the first band to sing about killing policemen. Why did nobody freak out when the Johnson Mountain Boys did it? Anyway, I've always liked this song.
-Jesse

ps. If I could grow a mustache like that you'd better believe I'd do it.

Ebay Fiddle

2009-05-31T17:14:00.003-04:00

Fiddle from the intertubes,
I can't believe I purchased you.
Busted neck, ugly cracks,
I think I'd like to throw you back.

-Jesse

www.TheSweetbackSisters.com

2009-05-30T01:39:00.007-04:00

Howdy All!

We're all prepping for the big release and slappin' on the business hat. CDs, Posters, Merch, EPK, Press clips, websites, booking, promotional photos... Why didn't anyone tell me being a band is such hard work? It's like Christmas, but with country music.

Where many of our projects are still in the works I'm happy to announce that the brand new Sweetback Sisters site is up & running! www.TheSweetbackSisters.com took a lot of very long nights, but I done built us a website! Check it out HERE! Oh and do tell me what you think, we want to keep things user friendly.

Let our devoted readers hear it first that there is an unheard sneak release off the new album Chicken Ain't Chicken up on the photos page."It Don't Show on Me" is finally on disc! So sweet. Be sure to have a tissue handy.

I must be off to dream land, but I was just going through my content check list for the website and sadly our quotes page didn't make it, so, I thought I'd humor you all here:

Word on the Street:
(from reputable and disreputable sources alike!):

"It's the Opry era of living legend Kitty Wells' heyday resurrected, thanks to the harmonies of leading ladies Emily Miller and Zara Bode (whose vocal resume includes work with Amos Lee and Northern Harmony), which shine with an almost theatrical precision."
--Jed Ferris, Charlottesville Daily Progress, 1/5/2007

"There's something not quite genuine about you two."
-- Garrison Keillor as Guy Noir
St. Paul, MN

"Can I look at your fingers? I think they're on fire."
-- a fan to Ross in the hotel lobby after the APHC show
St. Paul, MN

"I wanna buy you a STEAK!"
-- drunk soldier to Zara
Johnson City, TN

"Look at her! She's got plenty of it."
-- some guy to another guy (in reference to Emily)
Cincinnati, OH

Sweet dreams cowdudes and ladies!

Zara

The Song That Never Ends

2009-05-28T18:40:00.001-04:00

Posted Without Comment.

Sock it to me

2009-05-26T13:43:00.004-04:00

There are days I go without singing. No music either. I sometimes go as far as a whole day without talking. It's not a choice, just distracted loneliness and happenstance. But when I'm on stage, or even just in a living room making music with friends... I can't image a second without the sweet sound of music. And that obsession can carry on through my days. Times when I hear a melody on the car radios idling outside my window, or a terribly cheesy song at the laundromat and I still can't help but harmonize, loudly.

There's something so utterly satisfying in snuggling myself between the notes I hear. It's the joy of accompaniment, camaraderie, and only one of the reasons I love Emily Miller so darn much. Harmony is like a big 'ol musical hug.

If you have a 1/2 hour to spare today, here's a BBC radiocast of "R.E.S.P.E.C.T - The Art of Backing Vocals." It was really lovely to listen to, with various tricks of the trade, and a nice shout out to country music. CLICK HERE

I've always wanted to be a professional backup singer. If not for the music, then definitely for the outfits. I hope there's still time for that.

XXxxZara

U.P.S.

2009-05-22T11:50:00.003-04:00

Of all known parcel services,
United is the wretchedest.
Their driver says I don't exist,
and won't deliver packages.

The office, open after two
(not until two? can that be true?)
Is staffed with friendly ladies who
declare my check will not go through.

They won't take cash, won't take credit,
neither check nor gold* nor debit.
Money order is, they say,
the only way that I can pay.

I begged them, but to no avail.
I pleaded, but my pleadings failed,
So, as a witch might wield a curse,
I'll place a pox on them in verse.

May their trucks dissolve in rust,
may their financiers go bust.
May their stock price crash and fall,
and may their creditors come to call.

May insurance frauds and cheats
write red across their balance sheets,
and may fate forestall these ravages
until I've retrieved my packages.
-Jesse

*I didn't actually offer them gold, but I'm pretty sure they don't accept it. On the other hand who knows, I mean money orders? really?

Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys

2009-05-21T15:55:00.002-04:00

Among other notables in this edition of the Bluegrass Boys are Gordon Terry, who still looks like Eric Merrill, and native West Virginian Charlie Cline who is reputed to be the only Bluegrass Boy who played every instrument in the band at some time or other (except of course mandolin.) Playing the banjo here.

creepy!
-Jesse