hostage

oh. my. god.

i'm being forced to write something about our recording session. zara is poking me in the back yelling "faster!" and "funnier!" and i'm doing the best i can against my will. i have to come up with a creative way to tell everyone how awesome and fun our recording venture has been going so far. and guess what folks?!? it has been awesome and fun!

i met up with zara and stefan in new york on friday night to drive up to emmy's beautiful house in marlboro, vermont, where we all are staying for the week. it is a beautiful, large window house in the middle of the woods, and with the recent few feet of snowfall, it looks like we're surrounded by a giant white ant farm. the fridge is stocked and we're settling in nicely.

after meeting up with emmy, jesse, joe and our wonderful producer, the esteemed eric merrill, we have spent a weekend of solid, rather exhausting rehearsing and fabulous dinner consumption due to the culinary stylings of chef zara bode. as of this evening, we just finished cutting our first track, "cannonball," at northern track studios, led by the fabulous engineering skills of gary henry.

so far, so good.

Where Have All The Cowgirls Gone?

"Gone Like the blowin' wind, gone like that fifth of gin, you drank before you stumbled in and passed out on my floor..."
(Milnes/You're Gone Again)

Fear not Sweetback lovers we are still here! This is a long awaited entry to tell you so! The fall brought wonderful changes to everyone in the band, so we decided to take a little break to focus on our extra-marital affairs. The horizon has a plethora of Sweetback events in-store, but we're only slowly breaking ground. So we must all sit tight and wait for the magic to happen. New web/product designs are in the works for a whole new look for the Sweets and we're booking shows here and there for the next few months, but are focusing on spots for a late summer '08 tour to promote our long awaited full length CD! WA-HOO!

So keep your britches buttoned, and we'll be sure to keep you in "the know."

Sassparilla Kisses.

Zara

p.s. in the next week or so we will be adding some back-logged blogs to fill in the gaps from the last few months. So scroll down and see if you missed anything!

SPAM SPAM SPAM

Howdy All.

I've heard from many of you recently how it stinks that you can't post a comment without signing in. I sincerely do apologize, but as the moderator of this blog you would not believe the amount of SPAM we receive daily if those little guards aren't put up. We love hearing from you so please follow through! Just don't offer The Sweetback Sisters: pills, webcams, Cameron Diaz, or to invest in your multi-million dollar Nigerian animal shelter. We would however love a "Hello!" or to hear about that amazing song you heard on the juke-box last night.

Tasty.

Sweet Blogger’s Review

Howdy All!

Hope everyone had a wonderful summer, and fall is lookin' good as well. The Sweetback gang are settling back into their respective swinging of things. Stefan and I are back in Ohio, as Stefan attends his last semester at Oberlin Conservatory, Ross is starting full-time as a music teacher in Philadelphia, Jesse is back with Bob Smakula fixin' up WV's stringed instruments, Joe is out and about as always with The Wiyos, and Emily is in Nashville of all places starting up grad school at Vanderbuilt. Quite an exciting time for all.

Dont worry we haven't given up on performances, we are looking into a few weekend gigs during the next few months just to keep the Sweetback ball rollin', and rumor has it we'll also be recording an album sometime in the next few months. Just need to work out logistics, and find a producer. Keep your fingers crossed.

If yer hankerin' for some honky-tonk to hold you over check out our myspace page for a few new live tracks from our last tour! SWEETSPACE/MYSPACE

Oh and once your done with that check this sweet review:  SWEET

Keep in touch, and so will we!

Zara

One Red Paperclip

After a long drive back to the city from Thomas, WV with Stefan, Joe, and Ross. I have a few drinks in the 'Slope, a long sleep, and an incredible brunch at Tom's dinner I finally felt settled back in Brooklyn. I took it easy today to say the least and wandered the internet.I came across the stories of ONE RED PAPERCLIP, the incredible bartering adventures of one Kyle MacDonald and how he traded one red paperclip for a house. Pretty amazing.

So, I thought "Hey, The Sweetback Sisters could really use a van..." Don't get me wrong our Subaru & Marquis team is a force to be reckoned with, but really, it's getting more and more expensive to travel with two cars, and we're always separated during our long drives.

So I was thinkin' I might try our own little Sweetback Swap. What do you say anyone who can acquire us a van, will receive all 6 Sweetbacks to perform a private concert for your event. Date will have to be flexible to arrange for all players (feel free to pick your favorite bassist), and we'll arrange some of your favorite country requests!

Our Preferences:

• Vehicle in working condition.


• The quirkier lookin' the better


• Diesel (so we can do a vegetable oil conversion!)


• Big enough to fix 6 people, their luggage, instruments, and the creme-de-la-creme an upright bass.

Maybe we can think of some things to sweeten the deal, I'm sure my pops would be happy to offer some visual or Tattoo Art to the recipient! Feel free to make offers, and I'll keep you posted.

Happy Trails!

LISTEN IN LIVE TONIGHT!

Hooo-Eeee! Sorry for the late-notice but tonight’s Sweetback Sisters' Johnson City, TN show will be broadcasted LIVE at 9PM TONIGHT EST!

Click the link, and press the LISTEN NOW tab.

THE DETOUR
(http://thedetour.us/)

woo-hoo!

The Sweetback & The Male Model

Gimmie Pink...

Alright, gimmie squishy...

Oohhh very nice, now Zoolander...

Spectacular, now ROCK!

That's a wrap boys.

The Sweet Sunny South

8:30 am, Thursday: Jesse, Joe and I left our friend Jill's (of the Grit Pixies) West Asheville (NC) house to drive Joe to the Johnson City (TN) airport. The car thermometer read 85 degrees...at eight in the morning! Suffice it to say that it didn't get any cooler that afternoon. Whew! I think we'll plan the next summer tour for Canada or Alaska (or somewhere else with snow-capped mountains year-round).

We've been having a great time in North Carolina despite the heat, though. The highlight so far was our show in Winston-Salem on Friday night. It was sponsored by the Fiddle and Bow Society (really nice folks...they run folk music concerts and other events year-round) and held at a neat performance /tai chi / workshop studio place called Blessings:

Every surface of the room was painted with interesting murals and there were beautiful plants and antique furniture in every corner. The ceiling was painted dark blue and there were Christmas lights strung up so it felt like playing underneath the stars. To top it all off, the audience was made up of serious early country music lovers who clapped loudly when we sang songs from Hank Williams, Ray Price and Roger Miller. Just my kind of folks.



The other exciting part about the show was that we played with yet another bass player (I think that makes 5 in total). As I mentioned, we had to put Joebass on a plane back to New York for some weekend gigs with the WIYOS so we were searching around desperately for a replacement. After calling just about everyone we knew in western North Carolina, we connected with a fine fellow named Calvin Johnson. He plays in his own honky-tonk band, the Mystery Hillbillies, and was just the best sport about learning an entire concert repertoire in one afternoon. And how! He really nailed it. Thanks, Calvin!

Virginia Flats

There comes a time with every touring band when things go wrong, not terribly wrong, just a little, like wrong turn wrong, like going an hour out of the way wrong, and then the ever popular flat tire wrong.

Luckily a few of our Salty Dogs had it covered, and we made it to Charlottesville, VA's Gravity Lounge without a hitch, though just a tad on the late side.

... Note how Jesse eventually loses interest in the project, and starts playing with the air hose....

good work y'all.

Easy as 1, 2, 3

So we would like to send an apology out to anyone and everyone that may have been looking for The Sweetback Sisters as 1, 2, 3 Pleasant Street last night in Morgantown, WV.  After many many emails and communications and confirmations, we drove up to find it closed. Turns out they were never open on Sundays! Hey, I didn't pick the date...

So we went out for a coffee a few blocks away at The Blue Moose Cafe, and bumped into our co-biller Rachel Eddy and we broke the news. The wheels started turning and we say that The Blue Moose Cafe was a perfect spot for us. So with a bat of the eyes, Greg the owner of the Blue Moose, set-up a curtain and sound system. The night was lovely with a small but attentive audience, and if anything it was some time to rehearse!

Next time Morgantown, we'll get it right, but hey not too shabby for short notice. Thank ya WV, we'll see you soon.

Zara

click the link for a link to lovely cafe:

THE BLUE MOOOOOOOOSE CAFE

Honky-Tonk Heaven

I'm sitting in a concrete-block dorm room at Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, WV listening to Tim O'Brien, Mary Flower, Robin Kessinger and Johnny Bellar tear it UP on the porch outside. I must lead some sort of charmed life-- how am I surrounded by such beautiful music all the time?

Three sixths of the Sweetback Sisters have been here in Elkins this whole week working at the Augusta Heritage Center. Jesse's teaching an intermediate/advanced fiddle class (and playing for dances, leading jam sessions, wowing people with his finger-picking guitar); Joe's teaching people bass moves in the morning and then backing everyone else up for the rest of the day; my mom and I are teaching a class in country duet singing, one in honky-tonk singing and then various workshops (including an hour on yodeling Wednesday) in the afternoons. And that's only a tiny fraction of all the things that are going on here this week. Whoo! It's a slice of heaven...

I put together an afternoon honky-tonk open mic for my students on Thursday afternoon, which ended up being the highlight of the whole week for me. I wanted the students to have a chance to sing their hearts out with the support of a kickin' backup band. Jesse and Joebass agreed to be the foundation of that kickin' band (they're such good sports!) and I got our good friend Joe Newberry to sit in on guitar. Then, through some act of fate, I heard this great dobro player sitting on the porch playing tunes. I asked him to come and play a few with us. This great player turned out to be National Dobro Champion Johnny Bellar. Needless to say, he blew us all away. The whole afternoon was a little piece of honky-tonk heaven. Success!

Official Tour Announcement

Those lovely ladies are at it again, hitting the road with the good boys. We're stopping at a few new spots this time around, so do spread the word as we could use your support. I'm really looking forward to our first stop at The August Heritage Festival (where our own Joe Bass as well as Emily with her mama Val will be teaching at Old Songs Week.)

We still have a few spots left on our calendar August 16 & 19 so if you have any leads feelf ree to send them our way, or we would gladly play your party or event. Just drop a line at thesweetbacksisters@gmail.com

In the meantime check out our snazzy list:

 

The Check’s in the Mail

Booking for the August Sweetback tour is in full swing, and as I was trying to fill in some missing dates and burning up the phone lines (please please let us play at your club, we'll be really good I promise) I decided to try to wrap up some unfinished business, specifically tracking down and sending a royalty check to J. D. Hutchison who wrote "Silver Tongue and Gold Plated Lies."



I first heard the song when Ginny Hawker recorded it on her album "Letters from my Father," but until we recorded it I didn't realize that the writer was the same John D. Hutchison that my former bandmate Tom White (who also happens to be Amanda Kowalski's uncle) told me stories about. Tom went on tour with the Hutchison Brothers once or twice back in the seventies and, let's just say he's still talking about it.

Anyway, when we went to pay out royalties for the the songs we recorded it was mostly a matter of going to a website for a publishing agency, filling out a form and making a credit card payment. J.D. Hutchison and his songs never turned up in any of these sites though, and after a while we nearly gave up on finding him. Finally it dawned on me that we were looking in the wrong place. One email to Tim Peacock, Athens, OH music promoter extrodinaire produced a phone number where I could call the man himself, which I did yesterday and immediately got a message back that he was "tickled to death" that we had recorded his song and an address where we could send him some royalties.

So hats off to a local legend who does it the old-fashioned way. And, yeah J.D. the check's in the mail.

- Jesse

IMPORTANT NOTICE!

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but our 6/19 Rodeo Bar show in New York has been canceled due to renovation restrictions! We will hopefully be rescheduling for later in the summer. We'll keep you posted!

Catch us this weekend at two spots in Charleston, West Virginia!

Sweetback Boys

As much as you love the Sweetback Sisters themselves we wouldn't have 1/2 the sound without those bodacious boys backing us up. So we're having a name drive. Please look over the list, vote, and/or add your own suggestions.
The Sweetback Sisters & their...

1. RAIL BOYS


2. RAILTONES


3. SOUR(patch) BOYS


4. LEMON BOYS


5. RUNAWAY CABOOSE


6. VAGABOND BOYS


7. VAGABONDS


8. MOONSHINE HOBOS


9. MOONSHINE BOYS


10. WANDERING BOYS


11. HOMELESS BOYS


12. FUGITIVES


13. RAILRIDERS


14. CAMPTONES


15. BACKSWEET BOYS


16. BOXCAR BOYS


17. FREIGHTONES


18. BACKGROUND BOYS