It's not every day that I hear a tight really band led by a pair of really solid vocalists, and rarer still that both vocalists are female. That's part of what made seeing Sister Sweet such a treat for me – I  love well done vocal harmony, but it's so rare nowadays. I was delighted to see a band fronted by two lovely ladies who can complement each other so smoothly on their microphones.

And they do work well together. Jessica Salomonsky and Tina Marie have been playing together for over 15 years, and the experience really shows. There were no gaps or uncertain pauses in the music; all the harmonies flowed smooth and free and naturally. It was the first thing I noticed about their show. The obvious temptation is to compare them to the Indigo Girls, but the band would deny that influence. They've been compared to the Indigo Girls before, and they say that it's just because pairs of strong female vocalists are so few and far between. Tina and Jessica play off each other's talents and each other's stage presence very well. It gave me a strong first impression of the band: they're good musicians, they're experienced, and they're having a blast up there.

The second thing I noticed about Sister Sweet is that a person could dance to all of their songs. In our present era of hipsters cross-armed at shows and experimental guitar tones whining over atmospheric drums, it was wonderful to feel that good old involuntary tap start up in my right foot and keep spreading. I talked to their drummer, Mark Henderson, to see what his secret was. He considers himself influenced, to equal degrees, by Jazz improv drumming and the Grateful Dead. It shows. I don't think he repeated a single beat all night, but he kept things danceable. In my book, this is the hallmark of a truly talented percussionist.

Percussion being only half the rhythm in a song, I had to ask their bass player, Tom Crosby, about his story. This guy is amazing – it's like he walked out of the Blue Brothers or something. He got his start playing blues in Nashville, learning by the seat of his pants, getting yelled at to play country in a bar shaped like a barn, the works. And he's kept playing out and getting better his whole life. He and Mark never play the same show twice, he told me. These two have mastered the fine line between keeping a song interesting and making it messy. Between them, they provide an intricate and truly solid foundation for the haunting harmonies of Sister Sweet.

I asked about the dynamics of the band. How do you take a jam band's rhythm section and two singer/songwriters and weld it into a great show? They told me that either Jessica or Tina will write a song, and when it's about 90% done, they'll bring it to the rest of the band, and everyone contributes their own flair to it. “We wanted a rhythm section that was better than we were,” Jessica told me. I'm not going to pass judgment on who in this talented group is better, but I will say that their diversity of background and talent has really paid off – they're tight as a snare drum, and they continue to learn and grow from internal pressure. It's good to see such hard working musicians.

“So how do write your songs?” I asked them. “It's kind of like vomiting,” Tina told me, “it's something that just turns and turns and then vroop!” Both Jessica and Tina agreed that their songwriting came at its own time. “It's like I'm reading someone else's book,” Jessica said, talking about hearing one of her songs performed. “It's a big fat catharsis,” Tina went on to add. Whatever it is, it makes for a great show.

Sister Sweet had a couple guest performers the night I saw them. Van Gullman, Jessica's brother, played banjo with them, and John Leedes, the lead guitarist of Blue Line Highway, who opened when I saw them,  sat in on electric guitar. It was well done. They managed to incorporate the two new musicians without muddying their sound in the slightest, which is no easy thing to do. Sister Sweet asked me to give a shout out to Blue Line Highway. I really enjoyed both bands' performance, and I'll definitely be checking out Blue Line Highway soon.

I admire Sister Sweet for the mutual respect they have. No one in the band ever says, “I'm the show. It's all me,” or anything of the sort. The girls wanted a rhythm section that would really support and even push them, and the guys know that they're working with a couple of very talented women. Mark told me that their harmonies are the heart and soul of Sister Sweet. I don't know if I'd locate their heart quite that narrowly – everyone added a lot to the show I saw – but I would definitely recommend that you check them out.

By Will Murphy.

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Comments(1):

1. There are only a few groups around that

   give me a natural high, you know...that chill down your spine kind of thing? I'm definitely a fan of Sister Sweet. I really love filming these guys, too, and have quite a collection in different places & group combinations. Regretfully, I don't have footage of John & Tina in Whistler's Mother from back in the mid '90's, but good stuff of KSM, BLH, John Leedes Reaction combinations. So many great groups & music in this area I just can't be everywhere forever all the time, but SS are some of the best...anywhere. Very accomplished & a pleasure to hear/see/know.

   Wednesday, November 04, 2009 Paul Magill