Sister Sadie (band)

Last updated

Sister Sadie
Origin Nashville, Tennessee
Genres Bluegrass, country, folk
Years active2012-present
LabelsPinecastle Records, Mountain Home Music Company
Members
  • Deanie Richardson
  • Gena Britt
  • Jaelee Roberts
  • Dani Flowers
  • Maddie Dalton
Past members
  • Dale Ann Bradley
  • Tina Adair
  • Beth Lawrence
  • Hasee Ciaccio
  • Mary Meyer
Website sistersadieband.com

Sister Sadie is an all-female American bluegrass, country, and folk band that formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2012. The band formed after the five original members Deanie Richardson, Tina Adair, Dale Ann Bradley, Gena Britt, and Beth Lawrence came together to play one show at the Station Inn in Nashville. The first show was such a hit that they continued to play together as a band, eventually touring and releasing music. Since 2020, they have gone through a few lineup changes and the current band consists of: Deanie Richardson, Gena Britt, Jaelee Roberts, Dani Flowers, and Maddie Dalton.

Contents

They have released three full length albums as a group: Sister Sadie (2016), Sister Sadie II (2018), and No Fear (2024). Sister Sadie II was nominated for a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album in 2019. The group as a whole and its individual members have won several awards over the years, including IBMA Vocal Group of the Year for three consecutive years in 2019, 2020, and 2021 and IBMA Entertainer of the Year in 2020, making them the first all-female group to ever win that award.

History

Background (2012-2015)

Sister Sadie played together for the first time in December 2012 at the Station Inn in Nashville for what was supposed to be one night only. [1] Longtime friends Deanie Richardson, Tina Adair, Dale Ann Bradley, Gena Britt, and Beth Lawrence were already established musicians and members of the bluegrass scene with their own musical projects. [1] [2] Deanie Richardson is an accomplished fiddler who has played with Bob Seger, the Chieftans, Vince Gill, & Patty Loveless. [3] [4] Vocalist and mandolin player Tina Adair has fronted her family band The Adairs for over 20 years and signed her first record deal when she was 17. [5] Gena Britt is an award-winning banjo player who was a founding member of The Daughters of Bluegrass and has been a part of the bands New Vintage, Alecia Nugent, Petticoat Junction, Lou Reid & Carolina, and Alan Bibey & Grasstowne, as well as in her own band The Gena Britt Band. [3] [6] Bassist Beth Lawrence played with the Stevens Sisters, Mark Newton, Alecia Nugent, and in Gena Britt’s band. [7] Singer and guitarist Dale Ann Bradley is a five-time IBMA “Female Vocalist of the Year” winner as well as a member of the Kentucky Hall of Fame. [3] Together, these five friends formed what some would call a “supergroup” and the result was an instant hit. [1] As Deanie Richardson put it “We’ve known each other our whole lives, and it was just a magical thing from the first downbeat at rehearsal, before we even went up there…It was just all about the music and our friendship and how much we loved playing music together.” [2]

After that first gig, the group received calls to play more shows and eventually decided to come together as a band, albeit a side project. The idea was that they would get together and play music whenever they had time and let things develop naturally. [1] The name of the band “Sister Sadie” was inspired by the Tony Rice song “Little Sadie” as well as by the fact that the members felt like sisters. [3]

Sister Sadie (2016-2017)

On June 3, 2016 the band released their debut self-titled album Sister Sadie on Pinecastle Records. [6] It reached #4 on the Billboard Bluegrass Album charts. [8] The twelve-song album consists of a combination of covers and originals, with four out of five of the members taking turns singing lead on the tracks. [3] It received positive reviews. The single “Unholy Water” was written by Deanie Richardson and Bill Tennyson and is sung by Dale Ann Bradley from the perspective of a jug of moonshine. [9]

Sister Sadie II (2018-2022)

In June 2018 Sister Sadie released the first single from their new album called “Losing You Blues”, which debuted at #14 on the Bluegrass Today Airplay charts. The song was penned years earlier by Tina Adair and her Adairs bandmate at the time, Doug Bartlett. [10]

A month later, on August 24, 2018 the group released their second full length album on Pinecastle Records, Sister Sadie II. [3] This time the album reached #2 on the Billboard Bluegrass Album charts. [8] Like their first album, Sister Sadie II is made up of originals and thoughtfully reworked covers. The songs vary in style from country to bluegrass and feature Sister Sadie’s trademark three-part harmonies. [11]

One of the cover songs on the album is a traditional folk song called “900 Miles”, which has been recorded by artists including Odetta, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, and Woody Guthrie. Sister Sadie’s version is inspired by Odetta’s take on the song. It was arranged by Deanie Richardson and features her fiddle playing and three-part vocals from Tina Adair, Gena Britt, and Dale Ann Bradley. The music video for “900 Miles” features footage of the band performing in an all-black room interspersed with footage of a train barreling down the tracks. It was directed by Jon Roncolato and shot on a sound stage at Belmont University in Nashville. [12]

In 2019, Sister Sadie was nominated for a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album for Sister Sadie II and they won IBMA Vocal Group of the Year. [6] [1] [13] That spring, they made their debut at the Grand Ole Opry and received a standing ovation when they performed “900 Miles.” [14] In March 2019, Beth Lawrence departed the band and Hasee Ciaccio entered the picture as an on-call bassist. [6]

On October 1 the following year, Sister Sadie became the first all-female band to win IBMA Entertainer of the Year. Deanie Richardson told NPR “In bluegrass music, there’s not the big light show and the jumping around. We’re singing about, you know, lying and cheating and murder and love and babies. So I feel like the Entertainer Award is about how you, as a band, are reaching out to that audience. And for us, we’re five women up there who work hard and who live the songs we sing and play from the depths of our guts. And I think that comes across.” [3] [4]

They also won IBMA Vocal Group of the Year and Deanie Richardson took the award for Fiddle Player of the Year, becoming only the second woman in 30 years to win it. [3] [13] That same year, Dale Ann Bradley won the SPBGMA award for Female Vocalist of the Year. [1] [6] [13] On December 5, 2020 they played the Grand Ole Opry again. [15]

Changes for the band (2021-2022)

After 8 years in Sister Sadie, founding member Dale Ann Bradley decided to leave the group in 2020 to pursue her solo career. At that point Jaelee Roberts (guitar & vocals) entered the picture. [3] [16]

Jaelee Roberts had grown up watching the women of Sister Sadie. Deanie Richardson played in the band New Tradition with Jaelee’s dad and Gena Britt played in the band Petticoat Junction with her mom. [3] According to Jaelee, she was “flabbergasted” when she was asked to audition for Sister Sadie because “These are all my heroes playing together in a band. And I had grown up around them. It was such a surreal feeling to get to audition”. [1] Hasee Ciaccio, who also played with Molly Tuttle and Laurie Lewis, had been touring with the band for two years prior, but in 2021 they asked her to become a full-fledged member. [6] [16]

That spring Sister Sadie was featured in the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum’s “American Currents: State of the Music” exhibit which ran from March 12, 2021 to February 6, 2022. [16] The exhibit featured artifacts from dozens of artists. Sister Sadie’s display contained instruments from each of the band members, posters, set lists, and other mementos. [17]

In October 2021, another founding member, Tina Adair, decided to step away from the band to focus on solo work. [2] She was replaced by vocalist & mandolin player Mary Meyer, who joined in January 2022. [18]

In 2022, Gena Britt won the SPBGMA award for Banjo Player of the Year. [19] The band also made the decision to move from Pinecastle Records and sign with Mountain Home Music Company. [3]

On October 4, they released their first single off their upcoming album called “Diane”. [6] “Diane” was originally written and released by country pop singer Cam in 2017. Deanie Richardson heard Cam perform the song at the Grand Ole Opry while she was playing in the house band and she liked it so much that she decided to bring it to Sister Sadie. The song is a rebuttal to Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”. Jaelee Roberts takes the lead on Sister Sadie’s version while Gena Britt and Mary Meyer provide the backing vocals. [20]

That same month, Mary Meyer departed the band and Dani Flowers joined on guitar and vocals. [3]

No Fear (2023-present)

In 2023, Hasee Ciaccio departed and the group was joined by bassist Maddie Dalton. For Dalton, working on the latest Sister Sadie album was her first experience ever playing the bass in a professional setting. [3] Dani Flowers was a longtime friend of the band and said that joining “a band full of women that I already love was a great way to get back into playing music” after taking time off from music to focus on family. [1] Maddie Dalton went on to win the 2023 IBMA Momentum Award for Instrumentalist of the Year and Jaelee Roberts was recognized as the SPBGMA Female Vocalist of the Year. [13] [19]

On March 8, 2023 the band released the bluegrass break up song “Well”, before releasing another single called “Willow” on August 24. [21] “Willow” was co-written by Ashley McBryde and features guest performers Tristan Scroggins on mandolin, Seth Taylor on guitar, and Tony Creasman on drums. McBryde said that Sister Sadie was the “best thing to ever happen to” the song. In October, the band released a music video for “Willow." [22] [23] At the beginning of the next year, they released another single called “Cannonball”. “Cannonball” is a mid-tempo bluegrass song that was written a decade earlier by Dani Flowers and Paul Sikes. [24] This song debuted at #1 on the Bluegrass Today Airplay Chart. [25]

On January 26, 2024, Sister Sadie’s eagerly awaited third album No Fear came out on Mountain Home Music Company. The album is a mix of straightforward bluegrass, traditional country, and folk with some pop and rock thrown in for good measure. It also contains new additions like electric guitar, piano, drums, and a B-3 organ while still showcasing the gorgeous three-part harmonies Sister Sadie has come to be known for. Each member of the band contributed to the album, and it reflects all their personalities. [3] The Bluegrass Situation described the album as combining “the high lonesome sound of bluegrass with a blend of country and pop sensibilities a la The Chicks, Little Big Town, or Pistol Annies." [1] Referring to the new album, Deanie Richardson said that they didn’t go into the project with one genre in mind and that “there’s a space for bluegrass meets Americana meets country meets pop—that’s what I’m manifesting”. She also said that she considers it the best album they’ve made so far and that for the first time, the band’s members have decided to focus one hundred percent on Sister Sadie. [1]

Musical style and legacy

Sister Sadie is generally considered a bluegrass band but their music doesn’t necessarily stick to just one genre, a fact that the members are proud of. Richardson says that their “dream” is for “someone to not try to label or pigeonhole” their music. She said that they don’t go into the studio with a specific genre in mind, they just try to write good songs. Flowers said that they do what “serves the song” versus trying to put the songs into a box that they may not fit into. [1]

Every member of Sister Sadie is a songwriter as well as a musician and/or vocalist and they all contribute when it comes to writing, arranging, playing, and singing the songs on their albums. [1] This means that each album is a collaborative work that showcases the members’ unique personality and style. According to Richardson, every time a new member joins the band “It changes the vibe. It changes the feel. It changes the vocals. It changes everything” yet they “still feel that magical chemistry” that they felt the very first time they stepped on stage together in 2012. [1]

As for being an all-female band in a male dominated scene, Sister Sadie’s members say that they feel lucky to be following in the footsteps of people like Laurie Lewis, Lynn Morris, Hazel Dickens, and Alice Gerrard, who paved the way for women in bluegrass. Britt says they never planned on being an all-female band, “we kind of just got together as friends and as something fun, but when we did it clicked, and we thought ‘this is pretty cool.’ The band evolved from that. I want us all to be respected for our musicality, musicianship, and vocals, regardless of whether we’re male or female." [26] Richardson, who is a gay woman, says she has never had an issue and that she doesn’t feel like “being women has really hindered us…We’ve got a great career. For me and us, I don’t feel like it’s ever been an issue. I know it has been for lots of people, but we just try to stay positive and give it hell and see what happens." [3]

Band Members

Current members

Former members

Discography

Sister Sadie (Pinecastle Records, 2016)

Sister Sadie II (Pinecastle Records, 2018)

No Fear (Mountain Home Music Company, 2024)

Awards

Notable Nominations

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Hiltner, Justin (March 13, 2024). "With a New Album, 'No Fear,' Sister Sadie Once Again Go "All In"". The Bluegrass Situation. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 McKenna, Brittney (May 19, 2022). "Revamped and Revitalized, Stellar Bluegrass Group Sister Sadie Looks Ahead". Nashville Scene. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Nicholson, Jessica (January 31, 2024). "Bluegrass Group Sister Sadie Forges Ahead Following Personnel Changes With New Album 'No Fear': 'We Decided to Keep Going Forward'". Billboard. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  4. 1 2 Hight, Jewly (January 1, 2021). "Bluegrass Band Sister Sadie Embodies Tradition, But Bends It Too". www.kuow.org. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  5. ↑ "Tina Adair - Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention". October 3, 2023. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Romero, Angel (October 7, 2022). "Artist Profiles: Sister Sadie | World Music Central" . Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Sister Sadie's Beth Lawrence And Gena Britt Discuss Their New Album & More | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  8. 1 2 "Sister Sadie | Biography, Music & News". Billboard. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  9. ↑ Goad, John Curtis (July 28, 2016). "Sister Sadie - a strong debut". Bluegrass Today. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  10. ↑ Lawless, John (August 28, 2018). "Losing You Blues video from Sister Sadie". Bluegrass Today. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  11. ↑ "REVIEW: Sister Sadie – II". Absolutely Gospel Music. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  12. ↑ Price, Deborah Evans (August 12, 2019). "Sister Sadie Draws Inspiration From Queen For '900 Miles' Video: Exclusive". Billboard. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Awards by Year". IBMA. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  14. ↑ Opry. "Sister Sadie | Opry". www.opry.com. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  15. ↑ BGS Staff (December 28, 2020). "WATCH: Sister Sadie Sing "Since I Laid My Burden Down" On the Opry". The Bluegrass Situation. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  16. 1 2 3 Lawless, John (February 23, 2021). "Sister Sadie announces two new members". Bluegrass Today. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  17. ↑ Lawless, John (March 15, 2021). "Sister Sadie visits their exhibit at the Country Music HOF". Bluegrass Today. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  18. ↑ Hatley, Sandy (January 19, 2022). "Sister Sadie welcomes Mary Meyer on mandolin". Bluegrass Today. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  19. 1 2 "Archives | SPBGMA". www.spbgma.com. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  20. ↑ Lawless, John (October 4, 2022). "Diane - latest single from Sister Sadie". Bluegrass Today. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  21. ↑ Sawyer, Bobbie Jean (March 8, 2023). "Sister Sadie Dances Around a Tough Conversation on Fiery Bluegrass Number 'Well'". Wide Open Country. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  22. ↑ McGrory, Mikayla (August 28, 2023). "Sister Sadie Delivers Powerful New Single On Ashley McBryde-Penned Single 'Willow'". Music Mecca. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  23. ↑ Lawless, John (October 13, 2023). "Willow video from Sister Sadie". Bluegrass Today. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  24. ↑ Lawless, John (January 4, 2024). "Cannonball - new single from Sister Sadie". Bluegrass Today. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  25. ↑ "Bluegrass Today Weekly Airplay Chart". Bluegrass Today. February 16, 2024. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
  26. ↑ "Q&A with Sister Sadie". www.denverfolklore.com. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
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