Chances are that The Secret Sisters can afford more than one guitar these days - although if one of them just doesn’t want to do anything but sing, there will be a backing band with them this week. But back in October 2011, when their “secret” was not that well known, some of us saw them sharing their one guitar as they opened for Paul Simon at Mud Island Amphitheatre in Memphis. It was not hard, then or now, to foresee a fine future for the “old-timey” sibling harmony of Laura and Lydia Rogers. And like the Everly Brothers, they are actual siblings, but unlike the Everlys, there have been no reports so far of feuding between them.
From their early days in their hometown of Muscle Shoals, Ala., known for the many rhythm and blues and rock hits recorded there, The Secret Sisters have harmonized in historic fashion, but never seriously thought they would find careers as singers. Laura went off to college, planning a career in business, but eventually decided to go to Nashville for an audition, even though Lydia was unable to go. Laura did well enough to be asked to return, and she then asked if she could bring her sister, which proved to be a wise move.
When label executives heard the Rogers sisters, recording them soon became a priority, with Universal Republic Records releasing The Secret Sisters’ self-titled debut CD in October 2010, the same year they also recorded songs with Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics and Jack White. A year ago, the Sisters recorded a song, “Tomorrow Will Be Kinder,” which was inspired by the 2011 tornado outbreaks in Alabama. The song was featured on the soundtrack of The Hunger Games in 2012, the same year the Sisters sang on a song, “Peggy Gordon,” on Voice of Ages, an album by The Chieftains.
Noted musician-turned-producer T Bone Burnett was the executive producer of the Sisters’ debut and is producing its follow-up, Put Your Needle Down, yet to be released. Earlier last year, they recorded “It Won’t Be Very Long,” (an old spiritual originally done by Sam Cooke’s Soul Stirrers) onthe latest Willie Nelson album, To All the Girls… , which also features Rosanne Cash, Mavis Staples, Loretta Lynn, Alison Krauss, Norah Jones, Emmylou Harris and others.
The Sisters can be found in additional heavy company these days. In late September, they were part of a star-studded lineup at The Town Hall in New York, “Celebrating the Music of Llewyn Davis,” along with The Avett Brothers, Joan Baez, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Jack White and the cast of the new Coen Brothers movie, Inside Llewyn Davis, about the folk music scene in the early 1960s in New York. They are also featured on thealbum Divided and United: The Songs of the Civil War, singing “Dixie” with Karen Elson.
In February, The Secret Sisters will be featured on two different Norwegian Pearl cruise ship adventures: the Cayamo Cruise, featuring John Prine, Bruce Hornsby, John Hiatt, Brandi Carlile and others; then a week later, they will go on the Sail Across the Sun cruise, performing along with Matt Nathanson, Brett Dennen, Train and others.
The Sisters have performed in Little Rock before, also at the White Water, and this time they will take the somewhat unusual step of playing two nights at the club as a fundraiser for their tour manager, Jay Calhoun, who broke his leg in a dirt bike wreck Dec. 1.
The Secret Sisters’ band consists of Jesse Aycock (who headlined his own show at South on Main on Nov. 6) on guitar and pedal steel guitar; Patrick Ryan on drums; and Little Rock residents Brooks Tipton on keyboards and Michael Inscoe on bass. Tipton has also been a member of the Arkansas band Bear Colony. Inscoe has written and released Don’t Die Alone, his second collection of prose and poetry.
The Secret Sisters 9 p.m. today and Wednesday, White Water Tavern, West Seventh and Thayer streets, Little Rock $10 (501) 375-8400 or whitewatertavern.com
Style, Pages 29 on 01/07/2014