The Quebe
Sisters
Texas Fiddlers
Okay folks, you don't know me from Adam but I want to tell you about a fantastic trio that I recently heard at a folk music festival in East Lansing ,Michigan. It was the only act I had time to take in but it turned out to be a wise choice. Professionally I'm a visual artist so you may wonder what I know about music since I make my own music just for fun. I began following the Holmes Brothers as they were making their comeback by playing "hole in the wall" places. Now they are all over Europe and I can't find a local concert. One of the few concerts I've paid to see was Allison Kraus and Union Station, just before they won Song of the Year at the Grammies, so I think I have a pretty good taste in the talent I find in other artists.
These young women are known for their fiddling (and they are excellent) but this past Saturday, August 13, 2005, the audience heard a new turn in their music which they absolutely need to follow--three part vocal harmony. Their harmonies in the Big Band and Texas Swing genre blew me away and literally brought tears to my eyes. I was not alone (rarely does one see a standing ovation in the middle of a set). As a father of grown daughters, part of it may be the nostalgia for my own family harmonies but the harmonies born of the same blood can not be beat. You can see the connection, the biological tie, the love, as they look to and cue each other in the moment of the music. They have this "praise God" level of talent that matches the McGuire, Lennon or Andrews sisters and I expect great things from them. The young ladies are wholesome (a word my mother liked to use) beautiful and talented. There is a distinct purity, a cultural virginity if you will, that I hope they don't lose with the demands and pressures of the market place. I don't know how big their venues have been but they are certainly worthy of a national audience. They are certainly worthy of Austin City Limits, The Mountain Stage or Prairie Home Companion. Hey George Dubya, these are your own people--invite them to the White House for a concert.
--Jim Mellick